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Best Bites Chicago

Ube, mochi, and Chicago-style hot dog bun, The Bakery at Fat Rice

Ube, Bakery at Fat Rice
Ube with purple yam, coconut, and sweet dough

Why it’s a Best Bite: It’s no secret that Fat Rice is a favorite of mine for both dinner and brunch, so I was excited to check out their take on a Macanese bakery. In July, the Fat Rice team opened this daytime pastelaria along with an adjacent, red-lit cocktail lounge called The Ladies’ Room that’s reservations-only.

Birdcage lighting, The Bakery at Fat Rice
Colorful birdcage lighting

I couldn’t help but love the bakery’s decor. From the pastel-painted storefront to the vibrant birdcage light fixtures, color was everywhere – including the pastries. Cracking open my ube bun revealed a yam filling in an almost shocking shade of royal purple. Its texture contrasted nicely with the crispy coconut that formed a golden crown on top.

Anywhere else in the city, you’d expect that a breakfast pastry modeled after a Chicago-style hot dog would just be an overdone novelty, the stuff of downtown tourist traps. But here, they totally pulled it off. The poppy seeds, onion, celery salt, and bright green relish with chunks of Vienna beef hot dog brought me straight to the ballpark, just with a more elaborate bun.

Hot dog bun, Chicago-style, Bakery at Fat Rice
Hot dog bun, Chicago-style, with Vienna beef and classic fixins

I added the mochi almost as an afterthought, since I tend to enjoy it in all forms, and am grateful I did. The stretchy rice-flour exterior was flecked with coconut and then stuffed with peanut, black sesame, and other crunchy seeds. Sweet and salty doesn’t even cover it – this was borderline addictive.

Mochi, Bakery at Fat Rice
Mochi with black sesame, peanut, coconut, and seeds

The details: The Bakery at Fat Rice, 2951 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago.

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Categories
Best Bites Chicago

This week’s Best Bite: Hong Kong-style French toast, eggplant & more, Cha Gordo brunch at Fat Rice

Hong Kong-style French toast, radish cake, minchi hash, Fat Rice
Peanut butter and banana-stuffed Hong Kong-style French toast with jam and fruit; pan-fried radish cake with stir-fried seasonal vegetables; minchi hash with stir-fried minced pork and beef, sunny egg, coconut rice, and bok choi

Why it’s this week’s Best Bite: Since opening in Logan Square just under two years ago, Fat Rice has quickly become a darling of the Chicago restaurant scene and has even earned national attention for its Macanese cuisine, a distinctive fusion of Chinese and Portuguese flavors. Even though I’ve blogged about Fat Rice before, the Cha Gordo (or “Fat Tea,” a spin on Macanese high tea) brunch was a unique enough experience to merit its own post. The dim sum menu made it easy to try more dishes than at an average morning meal, so we ordered a little of everything.

I have to begin with the Hong Kong–style French toast, a decadent study in contrasts. The peanut butter-banana filling and peach-berry compote were comforting and familiar, but otherwise, the toast was out of the box: it was deep-fried in a batter spiked with lime zest, then scattered with slivers of young coconut and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. It was what might result if a school lunch PB&J went on an exotic vacation. I couldn’t get enough. The minchi hash, reminiscent of Korean bibimbap, and the unexpectedly smoky pan-fried radish cake were both excellent as well.

Sweet and sour stuffed eggplant, Fat Rice
Sweet and sour stuffed eggplant with shrimp and pork

This brunch also strengthened my conviction that the eggplant at Fat Rice is just better than the eggplant anywhere else. The texture of each slice was soft without being mushy, soaking up an irresistible sweet-and-sour sauce, and the shrimp and pork stuffing added a richer dimension that felt very brunch-appropriate. We also wanted to make sure to partake in the “tea” portion of the Cha Gordo, so we shared a boozy carafe of black tea mixed with spiced whiskey, sweet vermouth, tea shrub, and mint. While I’d gladly drink it year-round, it really set the mood for a laid-back feast amidst flowers, string lights, and fresh air on the charming side patio.

Boozy bourbon tea
Carafe of boozy bourbon tea with spiced whiskey, sweet vermouth, black tea, tea shrub, and mint

The details: Fat Rice, 2957 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago.

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