Date Night at Giant, Logan Square

After a full day of cleaning the house (and some miscellaneous yard work), Liz and I cleaned up and headed back to Logan Square for date night. Several months ago, back in March, she made reservations for us at a place called Giant.

She also sent me several links about the restaurant, and its owners – check out this Chicago Tribune article (if the link prompts you with a paywall blocker, try the top link on this Google search).


We arrived a little early, but were seated right away. The place was already packed, and abuzz with activity.

Warning: it’s pretty tight quarters. Our table for two was just next to that pole in the ceter of the photo, to the left of the guy wearing the pink shirt.


My lovely date.


The menu – full of small plates, meant to be shared. Smaller at the top, and get larger as you move down.


We started off with the Super Uni Shooter, which you’re meant to pop into your mouth, whole. It was surprisingly complex, as each bite led to a different set of textures and flavors.

These are, apparently, quite popular. And after having had them, I can see why!


The Soft Shelled Crab, wrapped in a scallion pancake. The cilantro (here and elsewhere) was a nice touch.


Sortallini. All hand-made, and delicious. If I had one complaint, it would be the actual size/amount of the dish… but it really was quite delicious.


Having some bread served alongside this helped. As I’ve been trying to avoid bread more these last two weeks, this was like eating ice cream (which we would also have, later on).


Tri-Tip Steak. This was probably my favorite of the larger plates, though I mean… come on. Steak? Of course.

One plate I forgot to photo: the Marinated Zucchini. A good started, and again made really interesting with ciltantro.


For dessert, we had the Cajeta Ice Cream – which I would glady come here for again, just to have this. Perfect size, and a perfect way to end the meal.

We also ordered the S’morgasbord, but realized we were too full – and had to take it to-go.

My advice for anyone coming here – you will get more full than you expect. When we got the dessert menu, Liz and I were ready. But by the time it arrived, we were both thinking “uh oh, I’m feeling a little full.”

Startign with the pasta options and moving down, I’d say 3 or so plates would be good. Add to this one or two starters at the top, and I think that’s a solid meal.

I feel lucky that Liz got us reservations here, so long ago. I was fighting a headache since about noon, and it just started to ebb a little by the middle of our meal.

After dinner, Liz floated some options of going to a nearby bar – or possibly walking along the Bloomingdale Trail. But I was pretty tapped out, so we had a rather early date night. In hindsight, I wish I would have stuck around just a little longer – as we’re not back here in Logan Square all that often.

Tonight was a nice little reward, after a long, long day.

Related:
The Six Forgotten Giants
The Home Improvement Megarun
Mipso @ Chicago Winery
Date Night: Drinks at The Aviary
Date Night, 2006

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