The Southern - mmmm....

Let me start by stating the obvious: I am not a Southern. Well, big surprise, you might say, you are not even American!True. Don't get mad at me, I said I was going to state the obvious. And for a reason. You see, too often I bump into people that have never eaten the original version of a specific dish, but who claim that the version they have eaten is the best in the world. Examples: people that say that the best pizza in the word, or the best risotto in the world or the best fois grasin the world are to be found at this restaurant in Chicago, or at that restaurant in Vegas or at that French place in Napa. And I always have the same question for them: have you ever eaten a real pizza in Naples? Have you ever eaten a risotto in Milan? Have you ever eaten fois gras in Paris? 99% of the times, the answer I get is no, BUT.

Well, “no but” is at the base of all contemporary evils in the food world (and beyond). If you haven't tried the original thing, you cannot say that the version you liked is the best version of that dish. You simply cannot. And if you still want to go ahead and do it, well, you are stupid and obnoxious. And that's all there is to it.

Why do I say all this? Because I LOVED the food at the Southern in Chicago. But maybe there is a Southern reader out there, and he/she is thinking that I simply don't know what I am talking about. And he/she would be right: I really don't know if the food at the Southern is 100% Southern. But what I do know, is that the food tastes amazing. And this is reason enough for me to go back there.

Now, although I am not an expert in Southern cuisine, I did travel (and eat) in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee...). And I always loved food there (with some exceptions: Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah was such a disappointment!). But it is difficult to find Southern food that is both extremely tasty and that it doesn't make you sick for a whole day (at least for me).

Well, the Southern does it. And I love it.

(Hey, I realized that I didn't say what the Southern actually is: DUH! It is a restaurant with Southern food, with a beautiful patio, and a very nice bar atmosphere, and a very good cook from Georgia. 'Nuff said).

The Good

Oh, I could be very brief here. The food is GOOD. Full stop.

Or I could go on forever...The food is tasty and complex without being arty farty. No bullshit mousse in your plate (this is for you, Perennial: why do you have a fish taco on the menu, if then your dish is sashimi with mousse of tortilla? I mean, how on earth did you even think of mousse on tortilla. And especially, why? WHY? But I am going off track here...)

We were talking about how good the food was at the Southern... I have eaten there twice, once for dinner and once for a Sunday brunch. The two menus are different. For dinner I had Johnny cakes, (mmmm), hush puppies, fried green tomatoes, mac & cheese, and a fish that I cannot remember. It was all exquisite, (apart from the fried green tomatoes, which I personally though were very acid).

What I do love is also that you can also take a gigantic pitcher of iced tea for the table. I know, no big thing, right? But I like this type of details...

One item which is notably missing from their dinner menu is fried chicken. Actually, it is on the menu, but you need to order it 48 hours in advance, because the chicken must be soaked in buttermilk all this time to achieve that wonderful crispiness and taste that I had heard so much about. When I went for dinner, hoping for fried chicken, I was disappointed, because I didn't know of the 48 hours rule...and that's why I went for brunch on Sunday...

Yes, the Sunday brunch menu features a different menu than the dinner one, and for $14 you can taste their famous fried chicken, with gravy and ham and homemade biscuits. Did I say HALLELUJA? It was SO good. I love fried chicken: but every time I have it, there are always small parts of it that gross me out: a tiny bit that it slimy in your mouth, or a part of the chicken that looks a little bit undercooked. If you have been eating fried chicken as much as I have in my life, you know what I am talking about. Well, this was the first fried chicken where this didn't happen. The meat was tender, perfect. The fried skin so gentle, crispy, taste and light...Even my wife – who normally doesn't like fried chicken, was pleasantly surprised.

Fried chicken, gravy, ham and home made biscuit

Then let's talk about their grits (for the fellow Italians out there, grits are very similar to polenta, but with a more granular texture, and are normally eaten in the South with cheese and shrimps). Did I say HALLELUJA? They were so good.

Grits & cheese

Other people in our parties had shrimps and grits and gave their thumbs up (and this particular person was from Texas, so I guess she knew what she was talking about, unlike myself). Other dishes we had included a country M'am (a sort of big sandwich of French toast with eggs on top – I think), a burger, Charleston Benedict (a different version of eggs Benedict, with crabcakes and eggs poached to perfection), stuffed doughnuts (that unfortunately I didn't try...), eggs sardou (creamed spinach, artichokes' hearts, poached eggs).

Grits $ shrimps and country M'am

The only underwhelming dish was that of my wife's: a mac and cheese with hard eggs and sausage, that – albeit very good and creamy – went somewhat lost in the array of powerful and wonderful flavors of the other plate. But I didn't take pity on her, and I only gave her a very small portion of my chicken...

The bad

Nothing bad to report from the first visit. In our second visit though, we had to wait just a bit longer than the average for our food. The waiter apologized for that, and we were in good company, so we didn't mind. I guess that if the company hadn't been good, we would have minded. A lot.

But that's about as bad as it gets.

A message to the owner/cook: When do you have availability for a fried chicken dinner????

Overall score: 8/10

The Southern

1840 West North Avenue

773 342 1840

Chicago