Yusho

(Disclaimer: Please excuse the theft of pictures from Yusho's website, I didn't take pictures as I didn't know I was starting a food blog.)

A few weeks ago Nick and I decided to head up to Logan Square and try Mathias Merges' new casual dining spot, Yusho. Chef Merges served as executive chef of Charlie Trotter's before opening up this yakitori inspired hot spot. Given the Chef's fine dining background and the restaurants Asian inspired theme, I was very excited to give this place a try. I had very high expectations for this place as it was named Eater's restaurant of the year.  Unfortunately, my experience didn't match my admittedly very high expectations.

We started out with chicken skin served with Japanese mustard. The mustard was very nice but the chicken skin was flavorless. The next dish that came out (20 minutes after the chicken skin) was the grilled tofu with chrysanthemum and pineapple, also unremarkable. Another lackluster offering was the gobo root. The Gobo root itself was very fibrous and quite hard to chew.

2x Fried Chicken

The highlight of the meal was the 2x fried chicken. These were three extremely juicy chicken filets, heavily breaded and deep fried twice. The best part of the dish was the intense lime flavor. I have a feeling the chicken was marinated in lime juice, had lime incorporated into the breading, and was garnished with fresh lime juice.

Beef Tongue

Other highlights included the beef tongue (which was inexplicably brought out twice) and the blood sausage (served with an Asian steamed bun). The octopus and sweetbreads were also delightful.

So as far as the food, there were many amazing dishes and a few that I didn't find very appealing. The main problem with Yusho is not the food but the service. When I sit down ready to pay good money for a nice meal, I want a waiter immediately. When I order a dozen small plates, I want them brought out one at a time, spaced out properly. There were often long delays after a dish was served, only to have three brought out at once. In addition, a number of dishes were brought out twice. This is unacceptable. Yusho needs to work on coordinating their service if they want to be a long-term success in Chicago. If the management at Yusho is confused as to why they didn't receive any recognition from Michelin this year, I can explain it in one word: Service.