A young woman arrived late to join two friends at Radio Anago, a new Japanese restaurant in River North. Hugs and kisses were exchanged, then the newcomer delicately bent her knees, and then her waist—and then indelicately planted her butt on the floor.
Under the glow from squat $300 brass table lamps, nigiri shine from the spare brushing they’ve been given of nikiri, a cocktail of dashi, sake, mirin, and usually soy that sushi chefs use when they trust you’re not going to dunk their lovely fish and perfectly steamed rice into a puddle of soy sauce muddied by green-tinted horseradish paste. You can do that here—tables are armed with cut-glass soy sauce dispensers, paste is provided—but try not to.
With the maki you begin to see the level of restraint Chan is exercising, minimizing the stupid crimes against fish that are committed all over the globe in the name of novelty. If anything there’s a slightly lopsided fish-to-rice ratio, but the California Tamaki Gold grains are excellent. That said, these are American-style rolls: spicy tuna enveloped in firm rice and snappy nori; scallop with warm liquid applications of miso and spicy mayo; sweet king crab with avocado rolled in tobiko, the Pop Rocks of the fish-egg universe.
It’s a dark bird: boneless butterflied chicken thighs, buttermilk brined and coated with a batter that incorporates houji, a ground roasted tea that turns the crust a deep brown, almost black. Sodikoff says he wasn’t trying to revive or even pay homage to one of the hoariest and most vulgar culinary cliches of the 80s, but simply felt this blackest of chickens in this darkest of dining rooms needed something to brighten it up.
Sodikoff says he wants the music and lighting at Radio Anago to contribute to the sense that guests are dining underwater. I don’t think the aggressive score quite jibes with the ascetic pleasures of the sea creatures served here—though the Pump It Up dance machine outside the restrooms is an irresistible touch. Still, the pure, no-bullshit approach to the fish makes a trip to this inky sea bottom of a dining room worth the plunge. v
226 W. Kinzie Radio Anago
