 Souk
When I found out that a fellow Loud Bassoon staffer was on an upscale-restaurant kick yet hadn't been reviewing any of the visited restaurants, I was livid. Well, that's overstating it. I was mildly annoyed at most, but still I wondered if the Loud Bassoon Fine Dining Guide would ultimately turn out to be primarily a checklist of Subways and Taco Bells. So I was glad to get the opportunity to harangue our lazy friend (SIC) into a mutual visit to a restaurant of his choice. SIC chose Souk, a classy Egyptian place in Wicker Park, which, while mostly very good, did prove the notion that upscale is not necessarily better. However, not having been to any other Egyptian places, upscale or not, I suppose I'm hardly in the position to judge. But then who is? I'd love to get Hamza El-Din to review restaurants for us, but it doesn't seem bloody likely.
We were accompanied by a third companion, who upon looking at the menu was justifiably flummoxed by the prices and selection, being a meat-and-potatoes sort with no money. I'm a meat-and-potatoes sort, too, but I'm Vegan, so I always have to give a shot to places that offer new vistas of Vegan cuisine, or else I'll be stuck pretty much eating cereal and asparagus (often at the same time). SIC, of course, is just pretentious as all get-out, and so can be found at a place like Souk simply to see and be seen. (?) To me, the prices were certainly off-putting, and I was disappointed by the paucity of vegetarian options. The appetizers were almost all veg-friendly, but there was only one veg. entrée option, and that one necessitated two substitutions to make it Vegan-friendly. Why do I do this to myself, you ask? Hm … good question. Before the meal, a tray of flatbread and olive oil was brought out, as well as a cup of spices to dip the oil-soaked bread in. Nice starter. We split two appetizers: hummos and eggplant falafel. Musketeer #3 was upfront about this place not being the ideal scenario, but SIC and I both enjoyed it quite a bit. The hummos was easily – let me repeat that again for emphasis – easily the best hummos I have ever had, including my extensive travels through time and space with my amorphous sidekick Bahji, who was made of hummos. The falafel was very good, though I prefer chick-pea falafel to the eggplant variety. The entréés were good. Companion 3 had filet mignon with mashed potatoes. I had some kind of platter that entailed spinach leaves stuffed with basmati rice, some kind of fried eggplant, and a side of ginger/garlic potatoes, which were excellent. I have no idea what SIC had but it was apparently very good, judging by his pleasantly aromatic farts. Companion XX and I had water to drink, while the comparatively wealthier SIC had wine. The atmosphere was unique, and many extra points awarded for having functioning hookahs at the bar. None of us was brave enough to actually try the hookah, but you have to admire a place that offers one. We wondered whether the place is regularly raided by police task forces doing "hookah testing" to make sure "nothing funny is going on here."
Service was alright, though the host was cold and distant, like my DAD. We parked quite a ways off and walked, which was good, since parking around that part of Wicker Park (the Milwaukee/North/Damen intersection) pretty much smokes my hookah. Conversation was good and later, we stopped at a Walgreens for toothpaste gum. Prices were too high for what it was (which was almost, but not quite, gourmet fare): the bill ended up totaling about $90 for the three of us, and that did not include any hookah smoking or white-slave harem room visitations (I am assuming, though I did not see one here, that any Egyptian restaurant has an obligatory harem room stocked with choice white slaves). Though the visit didn't "souk" I will be satisfied having visited this place only once in my life before I die. I will regret never being able to appreciate Indian or Egyptian food to the fullest extent before I die, though. Sorry for all the talk about death, but I am scheduled to be executed in ten hours.
Review by Deep Dickens, July 1999 |