I have a hard time with Japanese food in this city. This entire restaurant category is dominated by high-end fusion spots that may serve excellent food, but are as equally focused on selling you cocktails and creating a "scene" and doing something different with sushi. You know the kind of places that I'm talking about.
They type of Japanese restaurant that I savor is the kind of place that a Japanese family would bring the kids and in-laws. I go for the kind of place that isn't just about the fancy new maki, in fact sushi probably is only one element of a meal at my kind of Japanese restaurant. You don't have to valet park at my kind of Japanese restaurant, the bill won't break the bank, and you can't get a saki-tini. Oh yeah, and the food has to be fresh, changing daily, and very, very good.
Actual Japanese people like to eat at my kind of Japanese restaurant.
The problem is that there are woefully few examples of my kind of Japanese restaurant in Chicago.
Katsu is excellent, but can really stretch the wallet. There are a few Korean-owned Japanese places along Lincoln avenue, the best of which, Tampopo, I find mediocre. I have had some good meals at Sushi Mura on Southport and Torajiro on Diversey, but neither really makes me want to come back. Sushi Kushi Toyo, Sushi Kushi Too, and Akai Hana are all very good but are slightly out of my driving range for a simple, quick meal. Tanoshii has completely fallen out of favor with me. And don't get me started about the cheap garbage from the "fill-your-tank-with-sushi" joints like House of Sushi and Noodles or Shiroi Hana.
My kind of Japanese restaurant is Renga-Tei.
Renga-Tei inhabits an unassuming corner spot in a strip mall on Touhy Ave. in Lincolnwood, just outside of the city limits. As soon as you walk in to the place you get the feeling of being in any old diner, except this diner is Japanese. It's usually full and bustling. The mix of middle-aged and younger waitresses move briskly to serve the mix of clientele that is dominated by Japanese families and others from the surrounding neighborhoods.
My meal always starts with their outstanding go-mae, steamed spinach in a thick sesame dressing, and then progressing to hot appetizers of agedashi tofu (fried tofu in broth) and/or the hamachi kama, grilled yellowtail collar (succulent, sweet meat). The sushi is what I call "good enough sushi": it meets my reasonably high standards of quality. I usually enjoy a spicy tuna hand roll and a few pieces of nigiri (my wife is partial to the delicate "super white tuna", which is just a marketing term for the fish called escolar. Don't eat too much, it contains an oil that we can't digest very well.). A friend also recently turned me on to the salmon skin hand roll, which I enjoy very much.Cooked entrees is where Renga-Tei really shines. Friday night you can get the outstanding katsu curry: a bowl of a curry beef stew served with rice and a nice big fried pork cutlet (katsu). The katsu is crisp and fresh, the stew is rich and soft--a marriage made in heaven. Really, any of their katsu entrees will satisfy completely.
There are plenty of "combo" meals served in bento boxes and "one-bowl" meals that will warm you from head to toe.
I am usually disappointed by dishes like tempura and teriyaki in most Japanese restaurants. Most places improperly cook their tempura and their teriyakis are cloyingly sweet. Renga-Tei suffers from neither of these problems with their crisp and evenly cooked tempuras and bright and slightly sweet teriyaki.
Don't go to Renga-Tei if you want "interesting" rolls or fusion ingredients. Do go to Renga-Tei if you want very good, home-style Japanese food in a corner diner environment. You won't leave disappointed.
I was proud to nominate Renga-Tei for a LTHForum.com 2006 Great Neighborhood Restaurant Award. They won one, and the award plaque includes some of my words.
Check out Renga-Tei at 3956 W Touhy in Lincolnwood, (847) 675-5177. Parking lot available. It can get crowded on the weekends. They take reservations but they're not really good with them. Closed on Tuesday.
Other places mentioned in this article include:
Katsu, another LTHForum.com Great Neighborhood Restaurant. 2651 Peterson in Chicago, (773) 784-3383.
Tampopo at 5665 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, (773) 561-2277.
Sushi Mura at 3647 N. Southport Ave. (773) 281-9155.
Torajiro at 432 W. Diversey, Chicago (773) 477-5000.
Tanoshii at 5547 N. Clark, Chicago, (773) 878-6886.
House of Sushi and Noodles at 1610 W. Belmont, Chicago, (773) 935-9110, whose website oddly says that they're in Bucktown.
Shiroi Hana at 3242 N Clark St, Chicago, (773) 477-1652
Sushi Kushi Toyo at 825 South Waukegan Rd, Lake Forest, (847) 234-9950
Sushi Kushi Too at 495 Central Avenue, Highland Park, (847) 681-8997
Akai Hana at 3223 Lake Ave, Wilmette, (847) 251-0384
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