Chicagoist at Salud

By Rachelle Bowden in Food on Oct 7, 2004 6:44PM

Last night Chicagoist headed over to Salud Tequila Lounge for a tasting of Executive Chef Jose Gonzalez's new fall menu. We admit it.. we've passed by Salud about 3 billion times and have never gone in. We didn't really even know they served food. And boy-oh-boy were we pleasantly surprised!

The menu is full of fancified Mexican. It's quite spicy and there aren't a lot of things that don't include meat or seafood. So if you're a wussy hot food hater who doesn't eat meat you're screwed. That said, what we tried was delish. Our favorites were the Con Camarones Y Coco (sauted chicken breast and shrimp over coconut-chipotle rice). This one tastes sweet when it hits your tongue but while you're not expecting it, the coconut rice bites you and you feel the heat. It's an interesting mix of tastes. We also enjoyed the super tender roasted pork tenderloin with cilantro wine sauce and jalepeno-garlic potatoes (Al Macita) and many of the seafood appetizers. For dessert we gorged on an hot apple/raison empanada with a scoop of tequila ice cream, drizzled with a sweet tequila sauce. (You can never have too much tequila!)

Of course Chicacgoist, being the lushes that we are, did not neglect the drinks. Between all of us we're pretty sure we tried every one on the menu at least twice. Favorites were the Mango Sunrise (made with mango necter), the Tequila Mojito, and the Vampiro (think super hot bloody mary). Of course the straight-up shots of tequila went down nice too.

We were at Salud from about 6 - 10 pm and it was happenin' but not so crowded and loud that you couldn't hold a conversation. The back room is especially nice with comfy couch-ish seats. We think that it'd be a swell place to take a date after work. You could get drinks.. a few apps.. and if things are going well you could kick it up a notch and order dinner. If things aren't going well.. at least you go home drunk!

And yes. Salud is the reason we're sticking to for being so slow to post this morning! Oh, our aching heads!