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The Recommendations of a Hungry Rabbi

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jan 25, 2007 7:00PM

2007_01_evang.gifLast Saturday the Green Mill was packed with family, friends, and fans of Evan Garfinkel, who passed away November 3rd, 2006. Blues fans will know Garfinkel as the drummer for Vini and the Demons and a friend of Bo Diddley. Foodies, members and voyeurs of LTHForum knew him by the name "hungryrabbi", where he wrote laugh-out-loud funny, insightful, and never boring accounts of restaurants and food.

A friend of Chicagoist attended Garfinkel's memorial and shared her copy of the program with us, while we were riding the Metra Rock Island Line to Tinley Park for an all-you-can-eat-and-drink special at Durbin's for the NFC Championship game. It was then that stupid us finally put it together that Evan Garfinkel was "hungryrabbi", and then we started to wonder how smaller the world would be without his writing and talent.

The back page of the program listed favorite restaurants of Garfinkel's, under the heading "Food Evan thinks you gotta try." After the jump, we've listed those restaurants, along with choice quotes from Garfinkel, as a posthumous tribute. For more tributes and testimonials to Garfinkel, go here, read LTHforum's thread on his passing, or read Mike Sula's tribute to him on the Reader's food blog, which in just 140 words eloquently summarizes what everyone loved about Evan Garfinkel.

Jim's Polish (On-ramp Dan Ryan Expressway at Roosevelt Road)
"Get the pork chop sandwich with everything on it."

Sam & George's (S&G) Diner (3000 N. Lincoln)
"About as close as you'll get to a diner in Jersey."

Marianao (2240 N. Milwaukee)
"Meets all the standards of the Havana Health Code."

Army & Lou's (422 E. 75th)
Muddy Waters used to eat here. So did Evan Garfinkel.

Café Luigi (2548 N. Clark)
"Russians from NY that make better pizza than Italians in Chicago."

Little Three Happiness (209 W. Cermak)
"There's the BIG Three Happiness on the corner. This is the little one across the street."

Silver's Seafood (4829 N. Broadway)
"This place is re-freakin'-delicious, brosky."

Café Matou (1848 N. Milwaukee)
"You will not get a better prix-fixe meal for the price."

Gioco (1312 S. Wabash)
"It's your birthday, get in the car. We're going to Gioco."

The Brauhaus (4732 N. Lincoln)
"The liver dumpling soup is like manna from Heaven."

Sicilia Bakery (5939 W. Lawrence)
"OK. There are a few Italians in Chicago that know how to make a-pizz. This is one."

Podhalanka (1549 W. Division)
"It's like a dark, dingy little cave of a restaurant that you'd find in Europe. It's great!"

Lazo's Tacos (2009 N. Western)
"Not to be confused with Arturo's Tacos next door."