Big Ma's - North and Kedzie

NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 19:09:14 EDT
Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
X-UserInfo1: F[O_BXCEVBTUCR\[@BJD]V@APZXTPO\MAPVZKB]MPXHTEPIB_NVUAH_[BL[\IRKIANGGJBFNJF_DOLSCENSY^U@FRFUEXR@KFXYDBPWBCDQJA@X_DCBHXR[C@\EOKCJLED_SZ@RMWYXYWE_P@\\GOIW^@SYFFSWHFIXMADO@^[ADPRPETLBJ]RDGENSKQQZN Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 23:09:14 GMT Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:21599

I went to the Puerto Rico fest in Humboldt Park a few weeks ago.  I like to try the different home-cooked things that people turn out to make some extra dough ( not restaurant stalls ).  So I stuffed myself on this and that, and headed to North Ave for the bus back downtown.  There was a little place on Kedzie, on the north side of North, Big Ma's, and desperately thirsty, I went in for a can of Pepsi.

Looked like a new place and seats about 30 at a counter and tables.  So I sit at the counter.  That's when I noticed: the guy has a bookshelf behind the counter where he keeps the dessert cakes and pies, and it has to be five or six feet of high-end cook-books - Escoffier, Julia Child, Graham Kerr, etc.  You don't see that every day, so I made a point of returning, which was a good decision.

Big Ma's is strictly breakfast and lunch, and they make everything right there except some of the breads and rolls.

Ham and swiss omelette: nice cubes of tender, fresh, flavorful ham in the omelette, a pile of tasty potatoes ( hand-diced hash browns ), and toasted cholla bread.  I skipped lunch that day.

Returned to try the Sloppy Joel.  Very meaty. They asked me spicy or mild, which causes them to use one or another of the bar-b-que sauces they also make right there. Piled onto a huge, fresh Kaiser roll, and served with rice, which was a surprise.  There is also a veggie version of the Sloppy Joel, but I have not clawed my way to the top of the food chain just to gorge on veggies.

Returned for the slow-broasted chicken breast.  Broasting chicken was a big fad in the late 50s and early 60s, and then seemed to fade away.  I always liked it.  Big Ma's offers a fair choice of sauces, including Thai sweet chile, salsa verde, cipotle, creole, and BBQ, which they say they make right there.  Experimenting with the sauces was a very interesting way to eat broasted chicken breasts.

The owner, I forget his name, is a friendly guy and he says yes, he has read all those books over and over and lives to cook and constantly experiments with recipes.

Additional feature: There's no predicting this, but if the owner has been experimenting with baking, the results seem to be available free while they last.  So I topped off that Sloppy Joel with a nice free slice of Key Lime Pie.

Sanitation: nice and clean, with the kitchen pretty much in view of the counter.

Location: 1616 N. Kedzie, around the corner from Philip's Bakery.

Entertainment: the idiots who towel-dry the cars which come out of the Robo-Wash across Kedzie get into fist-fights about god knows what, according to the owner.  I have seen none of this, yet.

Next time, soon: Wanting to try the Baked French Toast -- cinnamon-vanilla batter, and covered with Frosted Flakes, no less.