Evita Steakhouse Review

By: Zachary Sarmoen

Over the past year and a half, I have been on the hunt for new additions to my rankings of Chicago’s best Kosher restaurants. Evita Steakhouse, an Argentinian staple located on Lincoln Avenue, recently made the list with its warm atmosphere, welcoming service, and impressive display of high-end meats. Evita has a range of offerings—from beef, to lamb, to chicken, to fish, and even vegan options—stemming from Argentinian roots, while also being Kosher certified by the CRC. This means that all offerings at Evita Steakhouse are Glatt Kosher and that the restaurant is closed on Fridays and Saturdays.

Upon entering Evita, I was met with a very warm and welcoming atmosphere. The restaurant was full of locals, which in combination with soft lighting and brick walls lined with decorations and chalk boards, contributed to a cozy ambiance. The dining room is spacious and easily accommodating to the party of five that I dined with, and for those seeking an even more intimate dining experience, there is another secluded area of the dining room available. While I was dining at Evita Steakhouse, I had the pleasure of witnessing a couple become engaged in this area of the restaurant with the help of the restaurant’s planning, which I felt spoke to the welcoming and familial atmosphere.

After being sat at our table, my friends and I were greeted with water, complimentary bread, and a list of specials and recommendations. Our waiter was friendly and helpful in explaining the menu, and he even helped us craft the perfect mix of items for us all to share. We opted for the Appetizer Sampler, the Bone Marrow, the All American Burger, the Fried Chicken Sandwich, the Chivito Steak Sandwich, the Bife De Chorizo Steak, and the Churrasco Mariposa Steak. After tax and gratuity, the cost came out to just under $100 per person– a veritable steal given the high quality of Evita’s meat selection.

Our first course at Evita was their appetizer sampler, which gives a taste of five of their best appetizers at a discount. The sampler included empanadas, corn ribs, onion rings, pastrami flatbread, and french fries. The empanadas are usually beef, but on the day I was there, they served chicken empanadas. The exterior of the pastry was perfectly crispy and flaky, but I was most impressed with the chicken filling, which was shredded and well spiced while also being tender and juicy; the empanadas also came with a chimichurri to add a bit of freshness to the rich bite. Next on the plate was the corn ribs, which our waiter described as their take on elote. It was essentially quartered corn cobs that were grilled, seasoned with tajin, and topped with a ranchero aioli. If you have had elote, this dish is what you would expect when you hear street corn on the cob, but it was delicious nonetheless with the aioli providing some balance to the heat of the seasoning and the corn itself being a sweet and slightly smoky vessel to carry the flavors. Beer battered and topped with a sweet chili sauce, the onion rings were one of my favorite bites of the night. The onions themselves were thick cut, so they did not feel lost to the batter, but the batter still got to shine, being incredibly crispy and well seasoned. However, the star of the show for the onion rings was the sweet chili sauce they were topped with—it worked perfectly to cut through the richness of the onion rings while also being so tasty, I found myself dipping the fries (which were simple crispy salted standard-cut fries) in what was left of it on the platter. The last bite of the sampler, and my personal favorite appetizer, was the pastrami flatbread. The flatbread consisted of a thin and crispy Neapolitan style crust topped with barbeque pastrami and sauteed onions, cherry tomatoes, and garlic aioli. The pastrami itself was very tender and its savory, fatty flavor shined through without being overpowered by the barbeque sauce or crust. With such an excess of the meat, it did require something to balance out the fat and salt, which I felt the fresh tomatoes and garlic aioli did a successful job of doing. The appetizer sampler is a must try for a bite of everything, but if I was picking favorites, I would opt for the pastrami flatbread and the empanadas, both of which I found to be a unique and delicious balance of flavors and textures.

The only other appetizer we ordered was the bone marrow, which I was very excited to try, as I have never had bone marrow before. The bone marrow was roasted and served with toasted crostinis, an herb salad, and red wine infused salt. All that a good bite required was some of the bone marrow and salt on a crostini. The bone marrow itself packs a punch of flavor, providing a fatty, meaty taste that was accentuated by the salt, and since the bone marrow essentially melts on your tongue, the bread provided a strong textural element for some crunch.

The first of the entrees we shared was the All American Burger, which consists of a grilled prime black angus patty, beef bacon-tomato jam, onion rings, pickles and lettuce on a pretzel bun. We also got sweet potato fries as our side which were as expected—crispy, sweet, and salty. The burger patty itself was very thick and fatty which lent to it being quite juicy and flavorful. The pickles, lettuce, and onion rings provided some much needed textural contrast, while the bacon-tomato jam kept the dish moist and not calling for the addition of ketchup or any other condiments. The burger overall was very good, but be prepared for something rich due to the bun, the burger, and the onion rings and sweet due to the jam, as the only thing to really cut through these were the pickles.

Next came the Chivito Steak Sandwich, which may have been my favorite bite of the entire night. The sandwich consists of a 6 oz steak grilled medium rare on French bread, topped with mix greens, tomatoes, slaw, and garlic aioli, and we got coleslaw as our side—which helped provide a nice bite of something light and fresh when needed but was not standout. The steak itself was well seasoned and perfectly cooked, and it had the right amount of fat where it was flavorful but there was still some bite to meat that made it more ideal for a sandwich as opposed to an extremely tender cut that may be better served on its own. Additionally, I felt the French bread was a great vessel for the sandwich, providing crunch to the exterior without making each bite very bready, so the meat could shine. The toppings also accomplished what I felt the burger was missing some of which was providing a balance of freshness, acidity, and creaminess to cut through the richness of the steak and the keep the sandwich moist.

The last sandwich we tried was the fried chicken sandwich, which consisted of multiple schnitzel cutlets, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and garlic mayo on French bread. For our side, we got green beans—which were cooked to my liking, keeping some crisp to them and being well seasoned with garlic and salt, although the serving size was notably smaller than for the fries. The fried chicken sandwich accomplished a similar balance of flavors as the steak sandwich with a similar array of toppings on the sandwich to provide some freshness and moisture, but with perfectly thin and crispy chicken cutlets, I think it one-upped it on the texture. The chicken itself was very moist, especially for how thin it was cut, and the french bread was also relatively thin, preventing the sandwich from becoming too bready with both the bread and the chicken breading. My one suggestion when eating the fried chicken sandwich is to get a side of coleslaw to eat with it; I think it pairs very nicely for some additionally creaminess and acidity.

It is not often that I can find a Kosher restaurant that is serving high end steaks, so safe to say, I was excited to try the two pictured above. We ordered the Bife De Chorizo (the cut closer to the bottom of the picture), which is a strip steak, and the Churrasco Mariposa (the cut closer to the top of the picture), which is butterflied eye of the rib. Both steaks were incredibly well seasoned, very fatty, and cooked medium rare. One note on the seasoning of the steaks was that they seemed to have sugar incorporated into the rub, which helped provide more of crispy crust due to caramelization, in addition to an unexpected —but not unwelcome— hint of sweetness to the steaks. Between the two, I found the strip streak to be my favorite because it was more tender due to being a thicker cut and overall had more marbling and thus flavor that helped it be a stronger standalone bite. However, the butterflied eye of the rib was still delicious with a similar flavor profile but a slightly tougher texture than the strip steak.

Overall, my experience at Evita Steakhouse, from the service to the ambiance to the food, was a fantastic one, and I highly recommend it not only to those seeking out Kosher spots in Chicago, but to anyone looking for a great steakhouse. There are a wide range of options depending on whether you feel like indulging in a large and expensive steak or want to keep it simpler, and the restaurant is accommodating to a range of dinner styles, whether it’s just friends and family or if you are looking for a proposal spot.