Ina Mae Tavern and Packaged Goods - Chicago Restaurant Week

 

 

I have liked Frontier, and Chef Brian Jupiter's food since I first went there and while Chef Brian is still the Executive Chef there, he wanted to open a place of his own that honored where he had come from, New Orleans.  He opened Ina Mae Tavern and Packaged Goods, named after his grandmother, last year to fulfill that wish.  I went there for Restaurant Week to check it out.  I knew that I liked Chef Brian's food and also Cajun food, I was interested to see how these two would come together.  Admittedly, I knew that it wasn't going to be a huge stretch, because the food that he presents at Frontier definitely has a Southern twist.  The restaurant is located on a corner on a side street in Wicker Park and looks like a neighborhood corner bar.  The sign is even an old school Old Style Light sign.  Walking in, the front still looks like a slightly divey neighborhood bar with the bar across from the door.  There are tables in the front and back, mostly two tops for diners, and a flat screen television on the brick outer wall playing sports.  Seated in the back of the restaurant, I got to get a look of the place.  In addition to the brick outer wall, there was a facade of a building top over the bar area with weather warn wood siding.  The siding continued on the inside wall as well and with the accessories on the wall, I got the feeling of an old school worn down (though sturdy) fishing shack.  The menu was laid out on a single piece of paper (on both sides) and kind of reminded me of a diner menu layout, though with much more seafood.  The beer and cocktail list was on one side of the menu.  I ordered a gin cocktail called The Rex Organization which kind of seemed a combination of several cocktails including a Pimm's Cup and a Moscow Mule.  In addition to Pimm's #1, it included Sipsmith Gin, Ginger, Lemon, Agave, Cucumber Juice, and Lots of Mint.  It was very botanical and full of flavor.  It was sweet, tart, spicy, and had a nice minty finish.

For my appetizer, I started with Crab Stuffed Shrimp.  I like shrimp and love crab, so this was a perfect pairing.  The shrimp was grilled with the tail on and the crab, which had the consistency of a crab salad, was added in the curl of the shrimp.  It was served in a bowl with plenty of butter and topped with microgreens and some ground red pepper.  It was sweet, spicy, buttery, and very good, and I really enjoyed it.

A lot of the menu is filled with seafood, both boiled and fried and while a selection was offered on the prix fixe Restaurant Week Menu (in addition to being able to augment the prix fixe menu from the regular menu), I decided to go in a different direction and ordered the NOLA Spaghetti, It was similar to a Jambalaya using spaghetti instead of rice and included Andouille Sausage, Crawfish, Crab Meat, Shrimp, Tomato, Beer, Butter, and Garlic (as well as a lot of Parmesan). It was spicy and meaty with a lot of different flavors and textures.  It was really good and I bit into something new every time which I really enjoyed and it allowed me to have several staples of Cajun cuisine in something that was a little different.

Finishing off, I went with a NOLA classic, the Beignet.  I thought, when I ordered it, there would be several, but no, there was one.  It was okay, though, because the one was enormous.  A beignet is a light and fluffy puff pastry, so it is largely hollow, but it is generally covered in powdered sugar.  A pastry of this size I would normally eat by hand, though with the large amount of powdered sugar, to try to minimize the mess, there was really no way to completely eliminate it.  I ate it with a knife and fork, and I did avoid completely looking like a ghost, though I did end up wearing some powdered sugar.  Despite that, it was very good and a nice finish to a very good meal.  I will definitely have to return for more seafood and/or po' boys.