Chicago and Japan Town

The best place for any Japanese person to feel at home in the US is Japan Town. I would like to see this franchised and spread across the entire world. When I was living in LA, we would go to Little Tokyo to eat and have a great time. I would be able to get my Japanese comics and toys and my mother buy her groceries and Japanese goods at the store, all in one day. Finish up the day by choosing one of the dozen restaurants depending on what you feel like eating. There's nothing else like the experience.

So now that I travel on business to different cities every week, I make sure to look up where the nearest and best Japanese food restaurant near the hotel where I would be staying.

Japanese Food in Chicago
When visiting Chicago for a short and time and if you're looking for good Japanese food, just remeber that everything is closed on Sunday afternoon. From the Sheraton Chicago where I was staying, I walked about 2 miles to Cocoro, where I read that they have the best authentic ramen. I found it closed on Sunday afternoons after walking for 30 minutes in 90 degree weather. Every other place within the city was closed on Sunday afternoon.

There is a Japanese center in Chicago, but it is about 20 miles away from Downtown chicago. There is an Asahiya Japanese bookstore. There used to be a Yaohan (a japanese department store chain with stores only in the US) there and was called Yaohan Plaza.

Eventually, after my long walk from my hotel to Cocoro, which was closed, and back to my hotel, I ran myself into a Marrriott and asked for the nearest Japanese Food retaurant. The concierge pointed me to Oisy. First off, I knew this place would be a joke because they spelt Oishii wrong. Also, they had izagaya on the store front. For those unfamiliar, an Izakaya is the japanese equivalent of a Tavern with more of an emphasis on food than it's European or American counterpart.

So I go in here and there are no Japanese people neither operating nor dining. Also, they decor was a modern chic atomphere, which never does it for me in a Japanese restaurant.

The food is not worth mentioning here. I had the bento which included the usual assortment of bite sized food. Salad, tonkatsu, some sushi. I should mention here that I had to order a bowl off rice on the side, because the bento did not come with rice.

After a beer, the price came down to about $18. Not worth it for the taste.

I should mention that there was a plasma screen TV, which was showing what seemed lke Japanese broadcasting. Probably just a random recording of a Japanese TV show and displayed as a post-modern style consistency of the joint. Not only were they mocking Japanese television, they turned off the sound so i wouldn't even have been able to watch it.

In summary, this place is a last resort when all other Chicago japanese retaurants are closed on Sunday afternoons.

JapanAmerican rating: 2 out of 10. A last resort.