Evanston Lunch Group™ @ Red Hot Chilli Pepper 4/20, 12:30 pm
Evanston Lunch Group™ @ Red Hot Chilli Pepper 4/20, 12:30 pm
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Evanston Lunch Group™ @ Red Hot Chilli Pepper 4/20, 12:30 pm
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Post #1 - March 25th, 2018, 10:02 pmRed Hot Chilli Pepper. It’s the only Midwest branch of a small Calcutta-based Indo-Chinese restaurant chain (there are a couple of other outposts in California). And it’s in Evanston, so it’s a perfect victim, er, subject for the Evanston Lunch Group™ to examine Friday, April 20 at 12:30 pm.
In the space that was formerly Giordano’s Stuffed Pizza, it’s tucked underneath an office building across the street from the site of the former Davis Street Fishmarket.
It’s a second restaurant from Ramakant Kharel, who also runs the Indian/Nepalese Mt. Everest Restaurant a little over a block away on Church St. He knows foods from that region, so it’ll be interesting to see/eat his take on Indian versions of Chinese food.
The lunch menu
All are welcome. See you there!
Red Hot Chilli Pepper
500 Davis St (at Hinman)
Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 563-8085
Friday, April 20, 12:30 pmLast edited by nr706 on April 17th, 2018, 12:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #2 - March 26th, 2018, 8:16 amI'm in. Thanks for arranging, nr706.
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Post #3 - March 26th, 2018, 11:49 amHmmm. Intriguing--though I have to wonder about a dish labeled "Braised mutton" which is described as featuring goat meat. It's a smallish menu but I may still be forced to play hooky from work to join you. A firm maybe for the moment.Gypsy Boy
"I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food." (Erma Bombeck)
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Post #4 - March 26th, 2018, 1:46 pmGypsy Boy wrote:I have to wonder about a dish labeled "Braised mutton" which is described as featuring goat meat.
That seemed strange to me, too. But apparently, in India, it's not uncommon to use the term "mutton" to refer to goat meat.
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Post #5 - March 27th, 2018, 5:37 pmWe're in! Thanks, Tom.
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Post #7 - March 28th, 2018, 2:49 pmnsxtasy wrote:And we can celebrate 420 Day!
Are you bringing us a special dessert, Ken?
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Post #8 - March 29th, 2018, 12:04 amI will be there.
4/20 is also, infamously, A.H.'s birthday. Could the two seemingly distinct "celebrations" be linked in some way? Munchies with gobs of schlag?Toast, as every breakfaster knows, isn't really about the quality of the bread or how it's sliced or even the toaster. For man cannot live by toast alone. It's all about the butter. -- Adam Gopnik
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Post #9 - April 1st, 2018, 5:45 amSorry I will have to miss this one. Sounds interesting and tasty. Looking forward to a report.
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Post #10 - April 12th, 2018, 6:59 pmnsxtasy wrote:And we can celebrate 420 Day!
Brownies, perhaps? Or is there another secret ingredient associated with that?EvA wrote:Are you bringing us a special dessert, Ken?
Valuable links you can use, without the sales pitch: http://208.84.112.25/~pudgym29/bookmark4.html
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Post #11 - April 19th, 2018, 12:29 pmI'm still in, but now without a +1. I'm not sure if that's a +0 or a +1-1. So says the math major...
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Post #12 - April 20th, 2018, 9:32 amGun reform rallies vs National Get High Day vs our Evanston Lunch Group™. Always plenty of things to do in Chicagoland!
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Post #13 - April 20th, 2018, 2:24 pmI've posted photos from today's lunch in the discussion about the restaurant.Last edited by nsxtasy on April 20th, 2018, 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #14 - April 20th, 2018, 2:28 pmMost of that stuff looks like a gloppy mess, but the Firecracker Shrimp looked interesting. Do they offer the same preparation using fish filets, by any chance?Steve Z.
“Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven
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Post #15 - April 20th, 2018, 2:43 pmMany of the dishes had a similar flavor profile, but I particularly liked the goat (mutton), which had a strong flavor of anise. I would return for that dish, and also for the surprising hot Firecracker Shrimp. I'm not sure if they had a fish version on the longer dinner menu.Toast, as every breakfaster knows, isn't really about the quality of the bread or how it's sliced or even the toaster. For man cannot live by toast alone. It's all about the butter. -- Adam Gopnik
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Post #16 - April 20th, 2018, 2:45 pmstevez wrote:Most of that stuff looks like a gloppy mess, but the Firecracker Shrimp looked interesting. Do they offer the same preparation using fish filets, by any chance?
The lunch and dinner menu offer "fish in a choice of sauce", so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they are referring to a filet type fish. But this would be in a sauce, not the "firecracker" preparation (see below). Maybe they could do that upon request.
The Firecracker Shrimp was my personal favorite of all the dishes. It was similar in preparation to the "dry chili chicken" served at local Szechwan restaurants - shrimp lightly breaded and fried with a lot of dried red peppers (although in their version, they removed the peppers before serving). The shrimp were tender and tasty. The heat level was rather extreme; I'd put it at about 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. It was far hotter than the other dishes. It was the one dish I'd go back for, although next time I would ask them to tone down the heat a bit. I like heat, but not THAT much heat. And in all fairness, this was the one dish for which they asked if we like hot/spicy and we said yes.
The lamb, chicken, and crab dishes all had similar (if not identical) sauces. Heat level was moderate, maybe a 4. They were okay. The mutton (goat) was the one dish I did not like at all. I also did not care for the masala soda. Different strokes, I guess.
HTH
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Post #17 - April 20th, 2018, 3:30 pmI pretty much agree with Gary on the food. I'm glad I tried the masala soda, but one sip was sufficient. The menu shows firecracker chicken in addition to shrimp--these were very good. Some of the dishes did tend towards glop; we should have tried harder to order some dry dishes, I guess. The clear coriander soup was nice from the taste I had. The hot and sour soup was mostly thickened broth with no meat, tofu, or vegetables to be seen.
