The Hot Spot

Ratings Guide:
Half handshake, half chest-bump hug – 5 stars
Chest bump – 4 stars
Fist bump – 3 stars
High five – 2 stars
Handshake – 1 star
Manly ass slap – ½ star
Fone and fone – 0 stars


Restaurant: The Hot Spot
Location: 2824 W. Armitage


I’ve done a complete 360 on The Hot Spot. I started hot, got cold, and now I’m hot again. I’m like a 52-year-old lady going through menopause (minus the mom jeans, though I have the FUPA to pull them off).

Here’s the story.

HOT
My wife read about The Hot Spot in Time Out when it first opened up. It sounded great. Breakfast is our favorite meal of the day (not that I mind any meal), so we keep a lookout for places to go, and the Hot Spot sounded perfect. I’d already decided I liked it even though I’d never gone. And it would stay that way for some time. We never found our way to the place.

COLD
Fast-forward about a year and a half. We move from Ukrainian Village to Logan Square. Suddenly The Hot Spot is just a stones throw away from our new place (it wasn’t that far from our old place, but it shows just how lazy we are). So my wife’s family comes up and we head over for breakfast on a Saturday. I loved it the moment I walked in. I love the décor, the atmosphere, and the fact that we don’t have to wait even though it’s ten in the morning. If we were at Bongo Room I’d be standing outside for an hour (which I never complain about since Bongo Room has the best breakfast of all-time). Here? We sit right down. My favorite part is the breakfast bar. Great for grabbing a solo meal. I start off with a coffee and I’m pretty happy with it. There’s a lot to choose from on this menu. Luckily there was a group of us, so we got to sample a lot. They’re known for their Logan Berry pancakes, so my brother-in-law gets those. My wife ops for the lox bagel while her sister gets an omelet. I go for the Belgian waffle. Nothing special, but was in the mood for it. Not good. The waffle was just OK. The omelet was just OK. The lox bagel was just OK. The only thing that was above average was the Logan Berry pancakes. I was devastated. I brought it up with a co-worker (Anne) who had been there and she felt the same way. We decided the problem was that everything just kind of tasted like something you’d make at home. There was nothing unique about any of the dishes. This was worse than the time I saw Anchorman for the first time and nearly sent a letter to Will Ferrell asking for my money back (no joke). I had such high expectations and when the experience didn’t live up to those expectations it makes it worse than it really is. With Anchorman I declared it one of the worst movies of all-time. But then I made myself watch it again. And again. And again. And again (and again multiplied by about 100). And now it’s one of my favorite movies. After this first Hot Spot experience I wasn’t sure I would ever go back. I’m glad I changed my mind.

WARMER
My buddy Dave and I meet for breakfast every Thursday. Gives us a chance to catch up, chat, discuss football lines, and so on. One Thursday neither of us were working so rather than head downtown for breakfast we kept it close to home. The Hot Spot just happens to be directly in the middle of our places. So, we chose to meet there. This time around I got the Huevos Rancheros. What a treat. Just a slop of eggs, beans, salsa, sour cream, and chorizo served in a skillet. You just mix it all together and enjoy. I couldn’t get enough of it. Why didn’t I get this the first time? This changed everything. Maybe The Hot Spot was better than I gave it credit for.

HOT
So I’ve been back several times since, and each time I’ve been satisfied. From the burrito to the breakfast sandwich to the rancheros I haven’t had a bad meal since. The key is to not order the simple things on the menu that you can make at home. Omelets, pancakes, and even the French toast. All just average. And it’s because there isn’t anything unique about them (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I told Anne about my new love for the place and explained the change, and she said she never ordered anything but the plain pancakes or eggs, so now I know why she never truly enjoyed it.

The service is always great. The clientele is diverse. The atmosphere is bright. The prices are reasonable. And I love the food (now).

There you have it. The Hot Spot is like a goiter - it’ll grow on you.

Chest Bump.


Got a question? Send it to born2fork@yahoo.com.

Sol de Mexico

Ratings Guide:
Half handshake, half chest-bump hug – 5 stars
Chest bump – 4 stars
Fist bump – 3 stars
High five – 2 stars
Handshake – 1 star
Manly ass slap – ½ star
Fone and fone – 0 stars


Restaurant: Sol de Mexico
Location: 3018 N. Cicero


Back when I first started writing reviews for this site my buddy Geoff begged me (maybe I’m exaggerating) to go to Chilpancingo with him. It was his favorite restaurant in the city, and he wanted to be there when I went (probably because he wanted to be mentioned in the review that would follow). Well, I never went, and Chilpancingo closed down. But I have good news for Geoff – Carlos Tello opened up Sol de Mexico. Why is that good news? Well, Carlos is the brother-in-law of Geno Bahena and Geno was the owner of Chilpancingo. So, thanks to Carlos’ mother-in-law (and Geno’s mom) the mole covered food that made Chilpancingo famous (at least according to Geoff) lives on at Sol de Mexico. Still with me?

So I headed there a couple of weekends ago to check it out. The leather-bound menus have the Chilpancingo logo on the outside, but it’s all Sol de Mexico on the inside.

First off, I want to apologize in advance. I didn’t take anything with me to write down what I ordered. And most places have an itemized list of what you ordered on your receipt, but the receipt at Sol was hand written, and I couldn’t read a lick of it. And after all that, I had a couple of bottles of wine (not by myself) because it’s a BYO joint. So, I’m gonna do my best to try and remember what I ordered, but this isn’t going to be my best piece of work (which isn’t saying much).

There are a bunch of ways to go about ordering food here. The menu has a long list of appetizers, tapas selections, and entrees. So, you can just order a bunch of apps and share some tapas, or some apps and entrees, or tapas and entrees, or just tapas, or just entrees, or apps and tapas and entrees. Really the possibilities are endless (not really, as my 10th grade algebra teacher would tell you that there are exactly seven possibilities). And I’m sure you can figure out what choice we made.

Here’s where things get a little cloudy, so bear with me. I do know we ordered sopecitos because my wife had read about them in the Chicago magazine. They are four cute little boat looking things with different fillings – two with chicken and some mole sauce, one with guacamole, and one with some refried beans. And they were tasty, but I wish they were bigger (shocker). Speaking of, I think McDonald’s should come out with a limited edition Mini Mac, where you take a Big Mac, but make it pretty much bite size. Kind of like Minnieburgers or sliders. Then you can serve like two or four (actually, I’d like twelve) of the Mini Macs in one of those Big Mac boxes. Girls would think they’re adorable and want to have them and walk around with them like they were a purse dog and guys could pretend they were healthier because they’re smaller. I think they would sell. But maybe that’s just me.

Um, where were we? Oh, the sopecitos were good. We also got a bowl of guacamole. Not bad, but nothing special. I know that someone ordered an entrée, which was pork related. Someone ordered an app as their meal, and it was quesadilla related. My wife ordered an app that was quesadilla related and another app that was who-knows-what related. And I ordered four different plates of tapas (though I have NO idea what the four plates where). Here’s what I do remember. I liked my wife’s quesadilla, I liked two of the plates I ordered, and I loved two of the plates I ordered. And that’s about all I remember about the food.

Here are a couple other things I remember:
- Trying to order my food in Spanish. The waitress was amused. My wife was not.
- The waitress telling us that we had to take our empty wine bottles with us, because they couldn’t throw them out, because someone might find them in the trash and accuse them of selling alcohol. Um, what? Just bizarre.
- The place looking like not much from the outside, but inside being very comfortable with some really good food. Honestly, when we pulled up we thought there was a chance that it was a glorified Burrito and Taco #4. We were pleasantly surprised.
- The meal cost about $50 a couple ($60 with tip). That doesn’t include alcohol. Not a bad price, but I could see this place getting really pricey if you come with a big appetite, as I easily could have ordered about three more plates of food.

And sadly, that’s about all I got for you. Pathetic? Absolutely. Is it as good as Chilpancingo? I have no idea. Is Geoff mad that I never went to Chilpancingo with him? Who cares.

So, take the rating for what it’s worth. I enjoyed this place and would go back, even though I couldn’t tell you what I ordered. Fist bump.



Got a question? Send it to born2fork@yahoo.com.