Belly Shack

Bill Kim is a Korean Kendall College grad who learned French cooking from greats such as Jean Banchet. He then spent time with Charlie Trotter (a lot of great chefs seem to have spent time with Charlie Trotter) and at Trio before ending up as executive chef of Le Lan, a French-Asian Fusion restaurant. Having an urge to go downscale, he started Urban Belly, a neighborhood Asian noodle shop in Avondale. Last year, he opened up a counter service BYOB in Logan Square called Belly Shack which is essentially a Latin-Asian Fusion sandwich shop (his wife is Puerto Rican but he also wanted to address the neighborhood). The building is located under the el and the design inside is very industrial. It has a big plate glass window in the front and there is a communal table in the middle of the space with several two tops on the sides and a cement floor. I have eaten here a few times and the flavor combinations are pretty interesting. I said that I would stay in this year so I will focus on when I went on January 2. As it is a counter service place, the menu is mounted behind the counter and it doesn't change from lunch to dinner. I had Korean BBQ Beef with Kimchi, Ssam Paste, and scallions served with flat bread. I also had maple glazed yams that were served in an acorn squash. The sandwich was spicy and sweet and very good but with the yams, I wish I had remembered that my phone as a camera (as poor as it is) because it was very pretty. It also tasted good but you can't taste a picture. As I said, this was my second visit, but it is a place that will get more visits from me. I eventually want to try the bacon chocolate chip ice cream.