Soon you’ll swoon over El Sueño: A Scrambled CAKE restaurant review

El Sueño

9850 Milwaukee Avenue, Glenview
(847) 298-9090

Don’t be fooled by the drab exterior. Here are ten reasons El Sueño will leave you swooning. If you have any remaining doubts after reading this, click over to the Scrambled CAKE photo album at Chicago Parent.

1. They just opened this spring and their reputation is growing quickly. Hurry in soon while you can still get seated without a wait. This place is going to draw crowds.

2. Freshly made salsa. ¡Bueno!

3. Easy on the wallet. Every item on the menu is under $15.00 and the portions are huge. Our family of four could have enjoyed a filling meal with about half of the amount of food we ordered. Fortunately, the veggie burrito makes an excellent breakfast (even cold, but shhhh…I could lose my food writer credentials for admitting to enjoying cold leftover burritos).

4. Did someone say veggie burrito? They offer a special vegetarian menu.

5. Your meal includes a cup of bean soup (made with bacon). “Great soup,” says nine year-old, Smartypants.

6. See number 3. The affordable food means you’ll have a few pesos to spend on a margarita or three.

7. Their innovative menu features traditional Mexican foods with a modern twist, such as pumpkin tamales and duck tacos. Traditionalists can enjoy El Sueño's authentic Mexican breakfast buffet on weekend mornings.

8. Kids meals are $3.95. Options are a chicken or cheese flauta, quesadilla (Mexican grilled cheese, made with tortilla instead of bread), or for the child with absolutely no sense of adventure, chicken nuggets.

9. The kids have gulped down their food, but you are just starting to savor the fiesta of flavors in yours. No need to let them ruin your meal, simply send them to the mini-kids theater in the back of the restaurant where they can watch cartoons until bedtime. You can keep an eye on them from your table thanks to windows conveniently built into the theatre room wall.

10. Great service; our waitress was very attentive and patient.

A few cautionary notes:
* There are no baby-changing facilities.
* Bring your Lactaid and Beano. Seriously, your family will thank you.

If there is a wait because by the time you actually make it out to Glenview the place is wildly popular and you’ve got a hungry child with you who doesn’t have a deadly sesame allergy, head next door to Pita Inn for some good and also inexpensive Mediterranean food.

Starving children at the Ethiopian restaurant

Addis Abeba
1322 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 328-5411
Entrees run $10-$15 per person; many vegetarian options

It pains me to make such an obvious and cheap joke, but it's true. We arrived at Addis Abeba after a busy three-hour beach clean-up and the boys were tired and hungry. While waiting for our food the boys were moaning loudly, "We're starving! When is the food coming?"


I'd say it was worth the wait.

We started off with a shorba, a satisfying cold soup made of yogurt, honey, cucumber, and mint. Given that the boys like all of the ingredients I was sure the soup would be a hit, but the "starving children" stopped after only a taste. Oh well, that meant more of the yummy soup for me and DH.

After soup, we moved on to the main meal. We selected the "combos" which allowed us to try small portions of several items. The meal is served on a single platter mesob (traditionally a hand-woven basket, but the large metal substitute is likely more sanitary) and accompanied by a basket of injera, large flat Ethiopian bread. To eat, one tears off a piece of the spongy bread and scoops up the food in small mounds. Once the novelty of eating with his hands wore off and he'd filled his rumbling tummy Smartypants decided he didn't like the food after all. The rest of us enjoyed the whole meal.

Our choices included:

Asa: fish cut into cubes and sauteed in Ethiopian herb butter seasoned with garlic and pepper. I found it a bit salty, but Splinter could not get enough of it.

Yebeg Alitcha: this lamb stew is always a hit.

Yeater Kik Wot: DH really liked this dish of yellow split peas cooked in spicy wot with garlic cloves and cinnamon.

By the end of our meal, the platter was wiped clean and we'd exchanged several gursha by rolling samples of the food in injera and feeding them to each other. According to the menu it's a traditional way of showing somebody that you care.

If you've got adventurous eaters definitely give Addis Abeba a try!

Read Up and Dine Out: The Magic Pan (crepes)

Many moons ago one of my boys picked up a book titled Crepes by Suzette. This fun, colorful book is full of mixed media collages based on photos that author Monica Wellington took on her trips to Paris. Readers follow Suzette as she takes her crepe cart around the city. In addition to a crepe recipe that has become a favorite of my boys, the book has a glossary of French words as well as descriptions of the famous artwork that Wellington alludes to in her collages.

But perhaps you're not up for making crepes. Then by all means, run, don't walk, to The Magic Pan. Remember The Magic Pan from your youth in Chicago? I only recalled the name of this revived Lettuce Entertain You joint. I must not have eaten their food as a child, because their chocolate crepes are unforgettable. Yum! If you are on Weight Watchers you may consider skipping a day or two worth of meals to save your points for one of these. They also offer savory crepes including a pizza crepe that the boys still talk about, but didn't seem to enjoy so much when eating it. The savory crepes seemed very rich; I recommend saving all those calories for dessert.

Since our visit to Magic Pan crepes have become a morning staple in our house. They're a good substitute for pancakes. I even find them easier, less messy, and more versatile than pancakes as you can pair them with a variety of fillings.

For a good dessert crepe, take a single-size Dove Bar ice cream treat (bonbons? I can't think of their name and they are long since devoured) and let it melt in a hot, fresh crepe. Not quite the *magic* of The Magic Pan's chocolate crepes, but a close second.

Indian Garden

Indian Garden
2548 W. Devon Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 338-2929 2548

Summary: We recommend the lunch buffet. Full of vegetarian and meat options, it's an ideal way to introduce children to northern Indian cuisine. Plus, kids eat free; You don't have to spend an extra $10 or so just to learn your kids don't like it.

Rambling version: On the children's CD NO put out by They Might Be Giants there's a song about John Lee, super taster, a real-life superhero. A man who can't drink coffee or beer for their bitter tastes, but loves sweet treats like ice cream and pie. "John Lee, supertaster, tastes more than you do. Everything has a flavor, some flavors are too much." I instantly recognized myself in the song. I am a supertaster. As such, I'm very sensitive to strong, bitter tastes and even the slightest hit of hot spices can set me off.

Granted, I come from a home in which the most exotic spice to grace our food was sea salt. When I was in college and overheard someone in the dorm cafe ask for pepper I was stunned. I always thought pepper was on the table just to keep salt company. In my 18 years, I'd never actually seen anyone use it. So ultimately, my sensitivity to spices is an unfortunate combination of nature and nurture. Unfortunate because DH loves spicy food. On our second date, he took me for some exotic, cuisine. It was hot and spicy and I couldn't handle it after about two bites. DH was incredibly disappointed in my lack of fortitude; I didn't sleep with him that night either. Frankly, I'm not sure why he even asked me out again.

The other day our family had a lovely trip to Devon Avenue and stopped to eat at Indian Garden. The lunch buffet was about $9 per adult and kids ate free-what a deal! And while the smells were enticing and the food was tasty, I just couldn't hack it. I mostly stuck with the nan (bread) and water.

"Are you okay?" My friend asked midway through the meal, "Your face is all red."

"You should feel her nose. It gets really cold when she eats spicy food," volunteered DH as he closed in to touch it. "And when our mom eats spicy food her nose sweats," the boys giddily announced to the entire restaurant.

No one said being a superhero was easy.