Chicago Eats: Green Zebra (closed), Twisted Tapas, Mercadito

Green Zebra, West Town (since closed)

Green Zebra is a vegetarian, tapas-style restaurant. I loved every dish that we chose, and my friends and I sampled almost every dish on the seasonal menu Our favorites were housemade gnocchi, the buckwheat pasta and the corn cake. All three were absolutely incredible. I wished the corn and potatoes had more flavor. We also had an artisan cheese plate (I only liked one of the cheeses) and squash blossoms (good).

For three people and a baby the bill was around $140 with drinks.

Buckwheat pasta

Corn and potatoes

Squash blossoms

Twisted Tapas, Rogers Park

Graham and I went to Twisted Tapas for date night recently when we wanted to branch out from our usual sushi place. We had bruschetta, crab cakes, fish tacos, and spicy potatoes with aioli sauce. I liked the crab cakes and spicy potatoes the most. The bruschetta was nothing special and the fish taco was OK.

Spicy potatoes

Bruschetta

We didn’t order a lot and drank water so the bill was about $36.

Mercadito, River North

I met Jessie (from Just Jessie blog) at Mercadito for tacos one night and I could not believe how good they were. I mean really good. I had the espada tacos (blackened swordfish with spicy aioli and cabbage-jalapeño slaw) and my mouth is watering just thinking about them now. I paired that with a watermelon margarita (Mi Amiga Sandia on the menu) that I also could use at this moment. I want to go back!

Espada tacos

Mi Amiga Sandia margarita

We also ordered a trio of salsas with chips. The bill was about $40 each.

 

What great restaurants have you been to lately?

Previous restaurant posts:

• Clarke’s, Taverna 750 and Growling Rabbit
• Asahi Roll, Toast, Happy Camper