Howry and Ijichi hooked up with Pak through the collaborative pop-up series Hungry as F*ck, where they originated the dish that would give birth to Mom’s: deep-fried Spam musubi, a Hawaiian snack of sushi rice and Spam wrapped in nori. It’s just one of Howry and Ijichi’s tributes to what they call Japanese comfort food. But in some ways it’s a full-circle embodiment of yoshoku—a branch of Japanese cuisine that adapts Western dishes—which could arguably be traced back to the mid 19th century. Now characterized by dishes like Okinawa taco rice, kare raisu (curry rice), and omurice (rice omelet), yoshoku was cultural appropriation back when it was cool.
Like many of the vendors at Politan, Howry and Ijichi have a tightly focused menu, and nearly everything on it is essential. Dipped in togarashi-sriracha mayo, the Spam musubi is an Insta-ready riot of textures and flavors: fatty, snappy, salty, crunchy, and soft all at the same time. Sweetly roasted “happi potatoes,” drizzled with Kewpie mayo and tonkatsu barbecue sauce and topped with a dancing wave of shaved bonito flakes, are a tuberous take on the street pancake known as okonomiyaki, while the chefs’ version of gomae, often a dense, murky spinach-sesame salad, is a market-driven rogue, in July broccoli tossed with sweet and nutty sesame sauce and a crunchy black-sesame brittle spiked with a tingling dash of togarashi.
111 N. Aberdeen 312-278-3040 chicago.politanrow.com/moms
