Just so you know: If you have dinner at the two-month-old eatery Coobah (3423 N. Southport Ave.; 773-871-2030), the drummer for the alternative-rock band Veruca Salt will be preparing your food, a fact that may be either thrilling or frightening, depending on whether you have a subscription to Rolling Stone and which side of 40 you fall on.
Either way, you’ve got to hand it to chef Jimmy “Tasty J” Madla. Unlike so many in the horde of musicians, models, actors and athletes who’ve opened restaurants in New York and L.A., he knows his way around a stove.
He got his first cooking lessons as a kid, from his Filipino father, actually discovering the kitchen before percussion (he later went to culinary school at Kendall College and apprenticed under Dirk Flanagan of Meritage Cafe). “I’d always played in a band,” he says of his dual careers, but after he made it as a sous chef at Zaven’s and before “the Veruca Salt thing fell in my lap,” he and former roommate John Litz, who co-designed Coobah and is co-owner with Madla, “used to sit around and fantasize about starting a restaurant.”
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“I’m still in the band, but things are in a state of hibernation right now,” he adds.
On a recent night, the place was nearly empty at 7, but by 9 it was nicely loaded, especially at the bar (pardon the pun), where Litz has installed a skylight with four large waving fans shaped like fronds. That turned out to be appropriate, since the appetizers, salads and tamales on the seasonal menu–which Madla designed to reflect the Spanish trade route to Manila by way of Havana and Vera Cruz–make good bar food and happen to be the most interesting dishes on the menu.
Arriving as early as we did, a friend and I felt a little bit like early-bird diners. Seated in vintage schoolhouse chairs, underneath giant metal lights that Litz designed from salvaged nut-and-bolt holders, we were loudly serenaded first by tango music from the sound system and then by a thumping soundtrack that reminded my friend of her cardio-boxing class, but slower. I would rather have heard some Veruca Salt.
To get into the spirit of things, she ordered a J-Lo from the rum-centric specialty drink list: “frothy sangria, with red sugar rim and pineapple chunk served shaken.” It was a very pretty deep garnet color, but it didn’t remind me of J-Lo.
We started with a shredded spinach salad with smoked pepper and bacon dressing that was spiky and satisfying, and the tortilla soup, which was just plain old butternut squash soup with some tortilla strips. The ham croquetas were mild and crispy, but the shrimp and sausage lumpia (a Filipino egg roll) had a lot more flavor, especially dipped in one of the three house sauces (a blood orange chimichurri, a charred tomato salsa and a jalapeno and black cherry mixture). We also tried a couple of tamales, and both liked the cider braised chicken version better than the artichoke and goat cheese, which lacked much flavor or texture (they were fluffy, actually, which was odd).
The Sandwich Coobah was just like the pressed sandwich you get from Cuban joints–roast pork, ham, Swiss and sliced pickle–but without the grease and cheap bread (which I happen to like). The caramelized plantains that were a side option were delicious. Tilapia came baked in a paper tamale, or en papillote, and was light yet buttery, with a scattering of mushrooms, leeks and herbs.
After a dessert of bread pudding with coffee ice cream, and a particularly good warm Mexican chocolate and banana cake with a huge blob of whipped cream, which may have unduly influenced us, we decided that the food was just fine. The young couple next to us, though, a guy in a black turtleneck and a pretty woman, told the waiter they thought the food was “phenomenal.” Of course, the same guy thought it was OK to use the extra space on my friend’s chair to get rid of the bread basket that was taking up too much space on his own table. So whom you trust is up to you.
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– The Clean Plate Club restaurant group is auctioning off four of its Evanston restaurants for private parties on Super Bowl Sunday. Pete Miller’s Seafood and Prime Steak (1557 Sherman Ave.; 847-328-0399), Davis Street Fishmarket (501 Davis St.; 847-869-3474), Merle’s Barbecue (1727 Benson Ave.; 847-475-7766), and Nevin’s Live (1450 Sherman Ave.; 847-869-0450). For details, call the restaurants or go to www.ebay.com
– Just in time for the Chinese New Year (Feb. 1), chef Jim Hoveke of Ben Pao is demonstrating techniques for making Chinese hors d’oeuvres; 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at Williams-Sonoma, 900 Michigan Ave. 312-587-8080. At Ben Pao (52 W. Illinois St.), celebration of the Chinese New Year begins at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 with a traditional hot-pot party (the predecessor of the fondue party, using boiling broth) for $40 per person. Other festivities, including a Lion Dance, continue through Feb. 2. For more information, call 312-222-1888.
– Richard Gresh is the new executive chef of Caliterra, in the Wyndham Chicago Hotel, 633 N. St. Clair St. Gresh, formerly executive chef at Green Dolphin Street, replaces John Coletta, now with the Carlucci Restaurant Group. Robert Greene, Gresh’s former sous chef, is fillingexecutive chef duties at Green Dolphin Street.