Dec. 09--ShopHouse, the Southeast Asian chain from Chipotle, opened its first Chicago location in the Loop on Tuesday. (A Schaumburg location opened last month.)
The fast-casual concept offers build-your-own noodle or rice bowls, pulling in flavors from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. There's a small menu of beverages, including beer, and one rich but sanely portioned dessert. As with Chipotle, there's a strong environmental message in the sourcing of ingredients, and the menu is billed as 100 percent gluten-, wheat-, and dairy-free, with no GMOs.
Some thoughts from an opening day visit: ShopHouse does a good job at offering some of the beloved flavors of Southeast Asia in ways a diner who doesn't know much about the region can swallow. The ingredients are largely familiar (steak, chicken, corn, green beans) and the degree of heat for spicy dishes and ingredients is denoted graphically on the menu with a flame symbol. The max, a four-flame red curry, is indeed spicy but not overwhelming.
The menu offers four bowls with pre-selected ingredients, but the real fun is in creating your own as you pass down the cafeteria-like line and see what on display catches your eye. Start by choosing a base: jasmine rice, brown rice, cold rice noodles or salad. Add a protein: grilled chicken satay, pork and chicken meatballs, grilled steak laab or tofu. Then select a vegetable, a sauce, a garnish and some toppings. If you're not sure, the staffers behind the counter will help guide you. What you end up with in surprisingly short order is an attractive, flavorful and amply portioned bowl suitable for a quick lunch or dinner.
I tried the pork and chicken meatballs ($8) with jasmine rice, spicy and slightly charred green beans, a gutsy red curry sauce and crushed peanuts; and the grilled chicken satay ($7.50) with brown rice, charred corn, a smooth and rather mild peanut sauce, pickled julienne vegetables that offered a nice crunch, and a sprinkling of crushed peanuts and crispy garlic bits. The meatballs were stellar: well-seasoned, nicely textured. The satay was a tad too finely chopped for me. But the chicken tasted of chicken, a plus these days, and had a pleasantly smoky flavor.
There's one dessert: a coconut rice and mango parfait. It's a small portion but filling, the creamy texture of the rice pudding cut by the spry and vividly colored mango puree.
Drinks include Bruce Cost ginger ale, Harney Sons iced tea and five beer options, including Singha, Daisy Cutter and 312 Urban Wheat.
A late lunch on opening day found ShopHouse bustling but the staff behind the counter never appeared to falter. Tables were cleared quickly. The dining area is small but efficient with individual tables, counter seating and a long communal table with 14 fixed stools. Large color photographs on the wall, patterned floor tiles, wood tabletops and plenty of light streaming through the storefront windows make for a pleasant environment.
ShopHouse, 24 E. Jackson Blvd., 312-588-0064. Open daily.
wdaley@tribune.com
Twitter @BillDaley
