Evanston lunch group, Sabor Poblano, Sept. 18, 12:30

The Evanston lunch group will be meeting at El Sabor Poblano, 7027 Clark Street, on Wednesday Sept. 18 at 12:30. (The restaurant is located between Greenleaf and Lunt on the east side of Clark.) Here is a link to Mike Sula's review in the Reader: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/r ... d=70489448
As always, everyone is more than welcome, but let me know who is coming so I can let the restaurant know how many we will be, as it is pretty small. Bring cash. The restaurant does not accept credit cards.
Buen provecho!

As of 09/17, we are 9 or10:
rgl201
chapulin
nr706
GAF
B2B
nsxtasy (+1?)
ckreider
lougord99
diversedancer

I'll be there!

I will join you.

Yes, I’ll join you, too.

I'm in, maybe with a +1, will let you know about that between now and then.

I'm in, too.

If it is not to late, I would like to join you.

Of course it's not too late. We would be delighted if you could join.

I expect to be there too.

nsxtasy wrote:I'm in, maybe with a +1, will let you know about that between now and then.

We will both be there.

The facebook page for Shinsen says they open at 4 PM, probably warrants a phone call.

For future reference:

1. The Safari Lounge Eritrean-Ethiopian restaurant near September's lunch opens at 6 PM per sign in the door. It's actually not in the strip mall building, but the older red brick building next door, though the street entrance is closed and a new door cut facing the strip mall parking lot, so I presume they now share the parking lot.

2. Qaato Halel Nigerian (sometimes called West African) restaurant is a few doors south of the Safari lounge. Primitive interior, but IIRC highly recommended by a friend expert in african restaurants. I have their menu and can post it, or it is online http://places.singleplatform.com/qaato- ... ref=google Oops, ELG went there in 2009.

3. A few blocks west of Clark on Howard (actually in Evanston): Good To Go Jamaican at 711 Howard (there is a hungry hound ABC7 report that came up when I was looking for the next restaurant) Ooops, ELG wen there in 2018

4. A few doors west of the above is "Taste of Jamaica", which shows in google street view (and appeared open as I drove by), but not shown on google maps at 741 Howard, Evanston. I have long suspected that Google takes payoffs to suppress competitors from their maps, this is one more bit of evidence. Hmmm, this showed in my spreadsheet of restaurants as "Amazing Kale Burger", which (confirmed) is closed.

5. Then there's Yamon Jerk Grill, cooking over open pimento wood fire at 1651 Howard in Chicago. https://www.yamonjerkgrill.com/

6. KI african restaurant shows in Google street view, although El Sabor Poblano was still the previous tenant, so perhaps KI isn't really coming soon or any time.

diversedancer wrote:4. A few doors west of the above is "Taste of Jamaica", which shows in google street view (and appeared open as I drove by), but not shown on google maps at 741 Howard, Evanston. I have long suspected that Google takes payoffs to suppress competitors from their maps, this is one more bit of evidence. Hmmm, this showed in my spreadsheet of restaurants as "Amazing Kale Burger", which (confirmed) is closed.

Do you think Google Maps sends a vehicle to update a street every time a storefront rotates in-and-out of business?

Regards,
Cathy2

will post photos from our lunch within the next day or two

Cathy2 wrote:

diversedancer wrote:4. A few doors west of the above is "Taste of Jamaica", which shows in google street view (and appeared open as I drove by), but not shown on google maps at 741 Howard, Evanston. I have long suspected that Google takes payoffs to suppress competitors from their maps, this is one more bit of evidence. ...

Do you think Google Maps sends a vehicle to update a street every time a storefront rotates in-and-out of business?

Regards,
Cathy2

Please reread my post again. "Taste of Jamaica" *IS* in the street view, but no push pin in map view.

I don't expect street view is anything but street view. The map view gives names of businesses, and is usually updated LONG before the street view. I have seen this countless times, including El Sabor Poblano which is searchable or visible if just browsing in map view (push pin), even though the street view shows some prior business (wire transfer?).

Often the map view (push pin) is updated even before a restaurant opens, such as "Al Bawadi Grill" on Dempster in Niles. It has been a pushpin for months, with a clickable website for the OTHER one in Bridgeview. During this time it was under construction (saw service trucks there a few weeks ago), and somewhere (local newspaper online? ) I saw a story it planned to open in May IIRC. The parking lot was finally empty of service trucks the last two times I drove by (this week), hopefully just waiting for final inspection and licensing.

I think I remember the map view being updated for restaurants that never opened, though I can't think of a specific example now.

I assume the push pins on map view come from city licensing lists or phone company/yellow page sites, but maybe they come from the owners telling Google, does anybody know? There are push pins that make no sense, so I suspect they are automatically generated somehow.

The comment about payoffs from competition have previously been a business being mis-located. One was a dance studio. You could put "Studio Viva, Palatine, IL" into google maps and it would take you to a push pin in downtown Barrington, still identifying it as being in Palatine. There was a competing dance studio 1/4 mile away from the correct location (don't bother looking, current location is different, PM if you want the whole sordid story). I talked to the owner and she said she told google several times, but they would not fix it. Most or all others were restaurants, with the mis location only being a block or two away..

Read the news: Google, Amazon, and other big companies tech get caught cheating all the time.

Maybe not in this case, maybe it is that the business owner must tell google maps and that one didn't think of it, but it seems suspicious.

--Carey

diversedancer wrote:Maybe not in this case, maybe it is that the business owner must tell google maps and that one didn't think of it, but it seems suspicious.

Instead of all this pedantic bullshit how about someone talking about the food at the Evanston LTH group Sabor Poblano lunch?

I've been once, liked it, would love to hear others opinion.

I thought most of the food was very good - especially both moles.

One of my favorite ELG dining experiences. Never had picaditas before and can’t wait to go back for them and for the enchiladas made with moles. Side order of tortillas were perfect for scooping up any remaining sauce. Quesadillas were delicious there are lots of other choices on the menu that I am looking forward to trying,
A nice plus was our lively and attentive host/server. He answered every question in detail and cheerfully, often adding his own suggestions for what we would enjoy most.

I've posted pictures of our meal in the topic about El Sabor Poblano (click here).

That was the first time ever that I recall enjoying plain corn tortillas, they were soft and tender. Maybe they had some wheat in them? I always wondered why tortillas had to be all one or the other. Both moles were good, and I liked the hot beverage. But I really look foward go going on a weekend to get the goat dish.