Jake Melnick’s in Chicago

Jake Melnick's Corner Tap in Chicago

The one night I was in Chicago, my sister and I had made plans to visit our friends Shaf and Fiyaz and have dinner at BIG & littles. The problem is, B&L apparently rep Labor Day hard and when we arrived they had a sign waiting for us that they were closed for the holiday. Not cool. But we were able to quickly find another restaurant to take its place. A place that was voted to have the Best Wings in Chicago: Jake Melnick’s. In case you didn’t believe me:

The sign outside

You have to be pretty confident about your wings if there’s sign that big hanging on your wall. It was everyone’s first time there, and after a very detailed deliberation of what we were going to order, we went with (well, of course) wings (lots of wings) and a lot of other things that will make you wonder if I really care to fit into ANYTHING for Fashion Week.

Inside
Wing Combo: Traditional and Poncho's

We started out with the wing combo, which comes with their traditional buffalo wings and their grilled “Poncho” wings. First bite: blown away. It was really, I mean really good. So good, in fact, we had to play a round of rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets the last buffalo wing (Fiyaz won). But we didn’t feel too salty because we just ordered another tub anyway.

Another round of just the buffalo wings this time

Because I was really craving truffle fries from B&L, we tried to compensate by ordering another bowl of fries here. They have a choice of original fries, chili fries, parmesan/garlic fries, cheddar, drizzled with bleu cheese, or chili & cheddar. Fiyaz wanted the original. We ignored him and got the parmesan/garlic fries instead.

Parmesan garlic fries

Man, we’re so fat. But this was so worth it. It reminded me of the fries at DuMont Burger in Brooklyn. But better. Yeah, I said it. Oh, but there’s more…

Mac and cheese

Baked mac and cheese. Ordered mostly because for some reason, my sister thinks Easy Mac is the best kind of macaroni she’s ever had. It was heartbreaking. I don’t know how I’m related to her. Though, this mac and cheese was definitely not Jake Melnick’s strongest point. A little too mushy with the cheese. Now is when some of my NYC loyalties kick back in by telling you Cafeteria’s truffle baked mac and cheese and Delicatessen‘s…um reallly cheesey mac and cheese totally trumps this one any day. But you know, it is a wings joint so I can’t hate on it for that too much.

By now, you are probably wondering how we are still alive with all this heart-clogging greasy goodness. The answer is, I’m not sure. But we did throw in a very random Chinese Chicken Salad for good measure.

Chinese chicken salad

A big entree plate was a perfect amount for the four of us. Again, I’m not sure why, but it totally made sense at the time. The lightness balanced out the meal just enough.


Restaurant Info:
Jake Melnick’s

41 East Superior St.
corner of Superior and Wabash
Chicago, IL 60611
312-266-0400
River North


REPORT CARD

Meal: Dinner
Occasion: A reunion of sorts
Price: $$
(Out of three stars)
Ambiance: *** (It’s a sports bar, so if that’s what you’re looking for…)
Food: ***
Service: *** (Oh yeah, our waitress ROCKED)
Would I go back?: I think I’m mentally already there again.

x
Shy


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1 Comments

  1. lol you’re a tut.

    Posted 9.7.11

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