Tommy Setiawan wants you to know that the egg noodles that come in a bowl of pempek telor at Rickshaw Republic are always served cold. If you, like a certain unenlightened Yelper he’s become aware of, want them warm, he will see that you get them warm. But you should be advised that on the streets of Palembang in South Sumatra where Setiawan’s wife, Elice, grew up, they are served cold, and that’s the way they serve them by default at the city’s newest and only Indonesian restaurant.
This sort of intel isn’t at all intrusive; frequently it’s illuminating. Chicago hasn’t had much opportunity to explore this vastly varied and underrepresented cuisine since the short-lived Angin Mamiri closed (though caterers the Rice Table are still around). Setiawan, who used to run a restaurant in Boston with Elice, is joined by his son Oscar in the front of the house, where intricately carved wooden birdcages, parasols, and puppets dangle from the ceilings, and fearsome masks and wood carvings adorn the walls, an environment created by the designer Suhail, whose work you might remember from the late Tizi Melloul, Del Toro, or DeLaCosta.
There’s a weekly rotating list of three “Mommy specials” that diversify things a bit. One week it may be the aforementioned soto ayam, and the next a meatball soup, brimming with crispy fried-beef-stuffed wontons and tofu, or deep-fried empanadas stuffed with chicken, boiled eggs, and vermicelli, or a heaping mound of spicy mie goreng: egg noodles stir-fried with finely minced beef balls, chicken, and egg.
2312 N. Lincolnrickshawrepublic.com 773-697-4750
