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A Sho Thing

Ever since Shochu opened I’d been hearing great things about it. That didn’t really surprise me; I’d recently attended a media dinner at sister restaurant Deleece and was impressed by Chef Josh Hansen’s cuisine (and that had nothing to do with the fact that he’s a bass player in one of my favorite local bands, honestly - you can read why here.).

Phil Rosenberg of reCareered accompanied me to a media dinner at the new spot. He was my WhiskyFest buddy so I knew he’d be up for checking out a restaurant named after a liquor. Shochu is from Japan and has surpassed sake in sales there. It’s similar to vodka in that it can be paired with just about anything but it’s lower in calories. Some of them are made from buckwheat and barley and therefore have more flavor. There are even types that are distilled from sweet potatoes! Of course, they have them all on their list and Phil and I tried one of each type on the rocks (to clarify - not one of each on the list. My liver’s not THAT strong.). The Kannoko (barley) by far had the most similarity to whiskey, but it was still light. The Kurokame was understandably sweeter since it’s one of the sweet potato Schochu’s, and the Kumesen awamori, from rice, was more similar to vodka. The list also includes cocktails made with the liquor, several Japanese beers, and wines by the bottle or the glass.

Back to the food. When we were seated they said one of my favorite phrases - “try as much as possible.” We did, and it’s easy to do, because their cuisine is basically Asian tapas. We started off with the green curry duck breast with mizuna salad and the marinated skirt steak, which had been recommended by both people we asked. Then we had the shrimp and asian pear and the bacon wrapped quail breast. Both of those were grilled and served with seven sauces. We had fun trying the different flavor combinations with wasabi avocado mayo, blueberry teriyaki, sansho bokoujou, sweet thai chili, persimmon hoisin (favorite), miso lychee aioli, and white soy dijon vinaigrette. I’m still having cravings for the ono with peanut, scallion, and avocado. Since I’ve been on a wing kick lately, of course I had to try theirs. The sambal brown sugar sauce was sweet but not cloying and the wings were, of course, big and meaty. By this time we only had room for one maki, so we tried the smoked salmon, avocado and cilantro. At first it seems they’re very small, until you realize the filling is larger than normal and there just isn’t as much rice.

There was so much more we wanted to try. The bacon wrapped dates and the grilled lamb chop and the kobe tartare and the blueberry teriyaki quail, but we had to save room for dessert. The green tea cheesecake with honey caramel was tasty, but the chocolate yuzu cake with its initial hint of wasabi and a finish of cocoa was worth skipping the others. Besides, now I can come back. Often.

Good news for Wrigleyville and Lakeview residents and Cubs fans hungry after a game: Shochu serves until 2am Sunday through Friday and 3am on Saturday! No more pizza or burgers or tacos when you can get this kind of food.

On a final note, the service was quick and knowledgeable and pleasant. Since it was a media dinner expectations are higher, but the place was packed. I was also downright shocked to see how tiny the kitchen is. I walked by at one point and poor Josh looked like an octopus. The important thing is that from the guests’ standpoint they must have a kitchen the size of Wrigley Field’s bleachers.

Shochu, 3313 N Clark St, (773)348-3313
Hours: Sun - Fri 5pm to 2am, Sat 5pm to 3am

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