El Che | Chicago

Seafood Parillada at El Che

Bone Marrow at El Che

Grilled Sweetbreads at El Che

I found El Che while researching a replacement for the closed Lawry’s The Prime Rib. El Che has found a way into my heart, not because it replaced Lawry’s, but because of how they use FLAME. All of the food is cooked on an all wood burning solid fuel cook line. You see it when you enter, and it drew me to it like a moth, well, to a flame.  t is so impressive to watch. The wood is out into a burn box to create burning coals, which then after they fall to the bottom, are shoveled to different cooking grates and rotisseries. There are horizontal rotisserie, vertical rotisserie, broiling grates, hanging hooks, and grates that can lift and lower. It’s like watching a restaurant cook in Bartertown in Mad max Thunderdome, if there were a restaurant in that town/movie.
    
But don’t get bogged down thinking all they do is burn meat. This is how they cook everything. Seafood, vegetables, appetizers, and meats. I had on my first visit (yes, there have been multiple visits) ordered the Parillada. That platter had the marrow bones (bone marrow is like eating meat butter), sweetbreads, sausages, along with multiple grilled meats. Then on my second and third visits had the attached pictured seafood Parillada. This is amazing. Thank you, chef Tanya, for choosing this on my second visit. Here it comes. Lobster, prawns, oysters and scallops are grilled, then served on a platter swimming in a creamy seafood sauce with crab roe in it. Then they dump a big bowl of shoestring fries over it to soak up the sauce. This is pure decadence, served up on a platter. I am looking forward to my next visit, whether it be in one or two, or more years. I will be back for this alone.