Umamicue — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Overall Thoughts: Definitely come early because it’s a small and popular space with few tables. It was quite packed when I arrived around 6:15pm on Friday, but luckily I was able to grab a table that cleared out ~15 minutes after ordering. It’s dark and loud inside, but the vibes are fun and laid back. The food took awhile to come out, but I enjoyed it a lot! I loved the unique fusion of Texas BBQ and Vietnamese flavors. Despite BBQ being traditionally meat-forward and the menu being small, they still had a few tasty vegan options available. We didn’t order any drinks, but they have some solid happy hour deals, so I’d be glad to come again in the future for happy hour to drink. Overall, prices aren’t bad either and reasonable for the area.

Food I tried: Lions Mane Mushroom Nuggets (4.5/5): The nuggets were wonderfully crispy and flavorful, but the side mushroom sauce really stole the show. It was so umami and flavorful, I was literally scooping up the leftovers by the spoonful.

Cucumber Salad (4.4/5): It’s a simple, easy dish, but they didn’t miss— very solid with good balance of flavors.

Brisket Banh Mi (4.6/5): This was very tasty, and really saw the best of the 2 flavors come together— traditional Viet pickled veggies and flaky bread and smokey BBQ brisket. Parts of the brisket were slightly dry, but overall it was tender enough.

Crispy Duroc Pork Belly (4.3/5): This was simultaneously the crispiest and fattiest pork belly I’ve ever had. The skin was incredibly crispy and tasty, and the inside was incredibly tender (though some parts of it were way too fatty for my liking). —

Price (relative to peers): 4.3/5 Food: 4.5/5 Ambience: 4.5/5 Service: 4.5/5 Overall...

Ugh, it kills me that this isn’t a 5star review - I was so excited by the concept of an Asian interpretation of southern BBQ. But at the end of the day the food underwhelmed 😢.

While the food wasn’t bad, it was forgettable. I think you can do better elsewhere. The flavours didn’t clearly speak to, nevermind fuse, either Austin or Hanoi. Imho a 2nd rate asian cookbook cook could have done something similar at home.

It’s a pop up located inside Spilt Milk, so the adventure of finding it adds to the cool factor.

Spill Milk is a cool local bar, the service and atmosphere was great no complaints. Umamicue isn’t there every day so check the website for hours, and when I was there (7pm) at first I couldn’t order because they were finishing up a catering order (in a local bar? 🤷‍♂️) and was told to have a drink and come back in 10 they’d let me know what’s left. When I got around to ordering there was no brisket left, ordered what there was: egg rolls, pork belly banh mi, cucumber salad.

As I said above, the dishes were forgettable.

I still suspect that there’s something here, maybe it was just a bad day or maybe I was unlucky not to get brisket, but on the day the best dish was the cucumber,...

The experience at Umamicue is TOP TEIR! Charles is not only a true pitmaster, but a wizard with combinations. The Bahn Mi is out of this world, and the smashed cucumbers made me actually like pickled things (I normally hate vinegar)!

The brisket brought me right back to Austin,TX and the crispy pork belly was absolutely insane. Pair that with the best crab Rangoon I’ve had in my life, and this place just HITS.

All of that to say, you won’t be disappointed with anything on the menu. The food is great, the ambience is fantastic, the drinks at Spilt Milk are awesome, I can’t say enough positive things. Just go and you’ll thank...