First Look: Belly Shack

Photo tour: Belly Shack

Some foods seem like they were made to go together. Some never should share a bill. And then there's the rare spectacular combination that flies under the radar far too long--until a place like Belly Shack, the second counter-service BYOB from the team behind Avondale noodle bar Urban Belly (brothers Bill and Mike Kim and Bill's wife, Yvonne Cadiz-Kim), sets out to do something different.

The week-old restaurant, a super-casual spot located underneath the Blue Line "L" tracks at the Western stop in Logan Square, is going about its quiet revolution by melding flavors and ingredients from Asia and Latin America (and elsewhere). It's not a new brand of fusion, but it's one not often seen in the Midwest. And it makes a lot more sense when you realize it's a hat tip to Kim's Korean and Cadiz-Kim's Puerto Rican heritage. The result is a fine tribute to any partnership: innovative, vibrant and, at times, surprising.

Starting with the dining room aesthetic, you get the sense that Kim and Cadiz-Kim are doing things their own way. Cadiz-Kim's sister, LA-based filmmaker Yasmina Cadiz, collaborated on design and music selection in the small, wedge-shaped space. Cadiz-Kim calls the look "reclaimed industrial," which translates to recycled light fixtures, concrete floors, particle board accents and a charcoal-walled dining room covered with black-and-white artwork and typography meant to evoke street graffiti.

If you've been to Urban Belly, you're already familiar with the unique service model: Order and pay at the counter in the rear of the space, then retreat with your assigned number to the communal table in the center of the room or one of the more intimate tables around the perimeter. Food arrives when it's ready, not when an entire party's order is complete, and you're expected to grab your own silverware and water from a service station. If you prefer servers who fall all over themselves to fold your napkin when you get up to use the restroom, Belly Shack's not for you.

But all this streamlining of service places added focus on the food, which perhaps not coincidentally demands more attention than the fare at most neighborhood counter-service joints. Though the menu is brief, featuring just five sandwiches, a couple of salads, a handful of sides and a single soup, there's a lot going on--sometimes all in a single dish. Case in point: the "hot and sour" soup ($4), an intriguing mashup of the Asian menu staple and chicken pozole. A fragrant broth brims with highlights from each dish (egg, vinegar, hominy, tortilla strips) as well as ingredients common to both, such as fresh cilantro. If you were to close your eyes and taste a spoonful, you wouldn't have a word to identify it--except maybe "yum."

Other dishes take a more subtle approach. Korean BBQ Kogi ($10) plays off the success of LA's Kogi BBQ trucks, though Kim's version leans more Korean than Mexican; chicken rubbed with fresh lemongrass and peanuts ($9) skews Asian too, except for the Iranian flatbread with which it's served. Both are excellent, as is the one dish, a side of maple syrup-roasted squash dusted with Vietnamese pho spices ($5), that displays a dash of Americana.

When combinations don't work, it's more an issue of texture than flavor. Brussels sprouts with chorizo ($5) are tasty but mushy. A flatbread sandwich filled with soft Asian meatballs and mint-flecked rice noodles ($9) also could use crunch, though the spicy meatballs compelled us to finish ours nonetheless. When dishes miss the mark, it's not by much.

Besides, with a few exceptions, we defy you to find better versions of these dishes anywhere in town. They simply don't exist.

M. Kathleen Pratt is the Metromix dining producer. kpratt@tribune.com

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