Life has been so busy these past couple months with lots of travel and excitement! But, it's nice to be back home and check off new restaurants around Chicago that I've been wanting to try. For those of you that have followed The Taste Archives for a while, you know Japanese food is the cuisine I eat the most, and my favorite food. So for me to call this restaurant my new favorite spot is no small accolade, and it’s one that’s well deserved.
Kai Zan in Humboldt Park has been top of my list for sushi restaurants for quite some time. I booked this reservation about a month out, and we sat at the sushi bar. When it’s just the two of us, the sushi bar is our favorite spot to be because you’re right in the middle of the action. Here's what we ordered, and normally I'd include "here's what I wouldn't order again," but everything we ordered was fantastic. Highly recommend checking out Kai Zan for a date night. The place is small, so not ideal for group dinners.
Karaage: starting off strong with the Karaage. Torino Ramen in Wilmette is home to my favorite karaage. While Torino's karaage is still incredible, Kai Zan has just taken over. The chicken was so tender on the inside, and just the right amount of crispy on the outside. I could have truly eaten 5 orders.
Smoked Hamachi: this was such a well-done simple dish. The smoky asian pear with the buttery hamachi made every bite of this refreshing, and delicious.
Fiesta Maki: this was a really refreshing roll that was simple and packed with a lot of flavor. I loved this, especially if you are looking for something on the lighter side.
S.O.S. Maki: salmon skin rolls are not everyone's cup of tea, but I thought this was quite good and had a good crunch to it. If I was to rank all of the maki we ordered, I would probably put this one at the bottom, but it was still really good.
Spicy Toro Maki: wow. This one was incredibly good, and the fatty toro melted in my mouth. The crispy kale pieces with the tobiko at the top brought a lightness to this heavier roll. This is also deserving of great presentation points.
Flaming Tuna Maki: we were full after those first three rolls and ready for the check, but we were so interested in trying one more of their popular rolls on the menu, especially after how good everything was. So...we ordered it. I'm glad we did, because it ended up being our favorite. I love shrimp tempura and tuna, and the truffle dipped scallions were a great touch to this roll.
