One look at the nightly specials menu at West Town’s Arami should jar anyone out of his sushi-ordering routine. Sushi chef B.K. Park, a veteran of Mirai, Meiji, and Aria, leaves the spicy-mayo-tempura-crunch frippery to everyone else, instead focusing on the fundamentals of traditional Japanese cooking: rice, fish, soy, seaweed.
Arami’s BYO days are numbered, but I’d expect an interesting beverage program from owners Troy and Ty Fujimora, who also own Small Bar and the Exchange. —Kristina Meyer
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A nice selection of tap and bottled craft beers boosted by an evangelical staff creates a pacing dilemma when combined with the menu of 11 thick hand-spun specialty shakes, including flavors like black cow, banana-Nutella, and malted milk ball. For the most part McLean’s simplest efforts here are the best.
Things are even simpler next door at Sono: lots of wine, antipasti, bruschetta, some salads, three pasta dishes, and of course, pizza, “80 percent” of it all, a server informed us, coming out of the 1,000-degree tiled wood-burning oven into a small room that has waitstaff stumbling on table legs between the tables and the bar.
1236 W. 18th | 312-733-9601
2210 N. California | 773-276-5625
3749 W. Fullerton | 773-489-3748
1829 W. Chicago, 312-243-1535
aramichicago.com
Burger Bar
1578 N. Clybourn, 312-255-0055
burgerbarchicago.com
Sono Wood Fired
1582 N. Clybourn, 312-255-1122
sonowoodfired.com
