I walked through the door at what turned out to be a few minutes
before opening time. The staff was busy
readying for service and I felt bad for interrupting, but right away John
Manion smiled and invited me to have a seat while they finished things up. I felt like a welcomed guest in somebody’s
home. La Sirena Clandestina is a tiny
place, decorated humbly but warmly with candles and flowers. The setting, the smiles and the relative
quiet at 4PM were a great respite from the more typical hustle and bustle of
other hot new West Loop restaurants.
Things are surely different at prime dinner time and later, but I
suspect that at its core, this place will always be warm and welcoming.
The two dishes I had were good, though I wonder if it’s that
same vision to be a welcoming respite for all comers which held the food back
from being what I’d hoped for. Take the
Acaraje, for instance: black eyed pea fritters which were split and stuffed/
topped with dende-poached shrimp and pickled onions, with dime-sized circles of
dark-orange (not that) hot sauce brightly decorating the plate. It was a pretty dish to look at, and an
enjoyable one to eat, with a crisp outer shell giving way to relatively light
interior, much like some of the better falafels around town. The oil poached shrimp had a soft texture and
mild, sweet taste. What’s to complain
about? Nothing, perhaps, but this was my
first time trying Acaraje, so I did some research after dinner. While there seem to be variations, it sounds
to me like many of the best and most authentic ones are packed with powerfully-flavored
dried shrimp, often pounded with nuts
into a paste, and crispy bits of shrimp shell that provide big taste and crunch. La Sirena Clandestina’s dish was good, but it didn’t
seem to push the envelope in any way. It
was safe. As with John Manion himself when
I entered the restaurant, the Acaraje wouldn’t turn anyone away.
The same seemed true of the crispy chicken thighs. They were very nicely done and served with
the advertised rapini, chili and garlic.
It was balanced. It tasted homey.
The use of garlic was very restrained, with
just a few ultra-thin fried sliver.
Ditto for the chile. Certainly I
knew they were both there, but for my taste, much, much more punch would have
made the dish better.
It’s a wonderfully
inviting space with well-prepared food and one of the friendliest staffs I’ve
encountered. The restaurant deserves to
do well. Based on admittedly limited
menu exploration though, the food at La Sirena Clandestina doesn’t quite resonate with me as I’d hoped.
La Sirena Clandestina954 W. Fulton Market
312-226-5300
I found the hot sauce served with my chicken hearts to be plenty hot, but the hearts themselves were a bit tougher than I'd have liked.
ReplyDeleteThe flavor was not dialed back on the ceviche or the garlic frites (which you can smell from the other end of the bar). The empanadas were also some of the best I've had. Fluffy, baked little pockets where I couldn't tell which filling I liked more (goat cheese, pumpkin seed & mushroom or a ragu of wild board & pork).
I can certainly see the argument that the flavors are "safe". But, they are still far more interesting than, say, Embeya.
I would be remiss if I left out the cocktails, because I was pointed to LSC (...oh no, that's unfortunate) by a trusted bartender who had fallen in love with the bar. He said he'd been so enamored by the drinks that he hadn't even begun to investigate the food. Despite the high praise, I ended up feeling that such comments may actually do a bit of a disservice to the cocktails, because as interesting as they are (Pisco, Fernet, Cucumber and Ginger, in one extremely well balanced example), I found them most successful in how well they meshed with the flavors on the plates. And, that is something that has been relatively lacking in my recent explorations.
ReplyDelete