Cafe Iberico Restaurants in Chicago - Lonely Planet Travel Information

Address
739 N La Salle St, Near North
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Phone
312 573 1510

Transport

underground rail: Brown Line to Chicago

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Lonely Planet review

The creative tapas burst with flavor. Among the standouts: salpicon de marisco (seafood salad with shrimp, octopus and squid), croquetas de pollo (chicken and ham puffs with garlic sauce) and vieiras a la plancha (grilled scallops with saffron). Most of the small dishes average around C$5 . Iberico's heady sangria draws wearied Loop workers by the dozens in the summer.

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In Spain, eating tapas is not a fancy affair. Dive bars are scattered like drizzles of olive oil on almost every street corner. In addition to their regular offerings of alcoholic beverages and coffee, almost as an after thought, there are usually a few shockingly good "tapas" dishes available as well. There is no white table cloth. No ambient music. Sometimes no chairs! Just some really good meatballs. Or croquetas. Or olives. A far cry from what tapas have become in the United States: glamorized, gourmet-ized, expensitized. For this reason, I believe Cafe Iberico is the only truly authentic tapas experience in Chicago. It's more of a Spanish dive bar than a fancy dinner destination. Latino pop music blares as the sangria flows. And flows. At $13.95 a pitcher (its a large pitcher) you can go with this flow. The great authentic food, extremely reasonable prices and casual vibe has made it a gigantic success. Show up for a soccer game, and you'll be welcomed by most of the Spanish population of Chicago. On the weekends, experience the pre-clubbing diners getting some food in their tummies before they dance the night away at one of the many nearby clubs. Hint: If you don't feel like being squeezed in like a Spanish anchovy, go on a weeknight. Another hint: If you can't find room at the bar, there is another bar hidden downstairs where you are less likely to be trampled "running of the bulls-style" by busy food runners who have ten queso de cabras stacked in each hand.