Dumplings may be dandy, but they can’t cure a hangover.
Tripe soup, however, can-at least that’s what we’ve been told by some local restaurateurs who sell gallons of the stuff every weekend. This information may come a little late for New Year’s Eve revelers, but we thought it would make for a great day-after-New-Year’s World Eats debut (don’t worry, dumplings will still be a monthly part of this new and improved ethnic treats feature).
Though lots of cultures have their own versions of tripe soup (okay, we’ll warn you now – it’s made from the lining of a cow’s stomach), we’re only interested in those that can soothe a queasy stomach and stop our head from ringing the day after over-imbibing. These soups include:
– Turkish iskembe corbasi (ISH-kem-beh CHOR-bah-suh), which you can find Sundays at A La Turka Restaurant on North Lincoln Avenue for $4.
– Greek patsas (pot-SAHS), which you can buy on Saturdays and Sundays at Megaloniso Coffee Shop on West Lawrence Avenue for $4 a bowl. Like its Turkish counterpart this whitish soup features thin strips of honeycomb beef tripe (although sheep tripe is more traditional), and a lemony or vinegary condiment.
– Puerto Rican mondongo can be bought at most Puerto Rican restaurants on weekends, but we like the one from Cafe Central on West Division Street, which is also features pig’s feet, tubers and starchy vegetables like plantains, potatoes and squash. Cafe Central owner Ralph Cruz says this $4 dish “is very popular for breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings.”
– Mexican menudo (men-OO-doh) may be the best known of these soups with its big flabby pieces of tripe along with ancho and guajillo peppers and often an order of beef hooves on the side. According to Danny Guitierrez Jr. of Nuevo Leon on 18th Street, where you can find the soup for $3 or $4 every day, “The hotter the menudo is-temperature-wise and spice-wise- the more you sweat out what you drank the night before.”
More Top Picks Murphy Beds
Tripe soup: the ultimate hangover cure
Headache in Turkish: pronounced bash arisuh
Greek: pono kefalo
Spanish: dolor de cabeza
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What’s your favorite tripe soup? tell us at chicago.tribune.com/go/worldeats
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