As I noted in my  Chicago Diary 2009, this visit to Chicago  is brief,  essentially only four nights, so we wasted no time before setting out  to sample  some great food.  The first restaurant  my friends chose for me to check out was a Japanese cuisine and sushi restaurant, Takashi, in Bucktown on Chicago's North side. The restaurant takes its name from chef Takashi Yagihashi.

When I first moved into my Yaletown apartment, our neighborhood Yaletown Honjin became our favorite place for take-out sushi.  It is a pleasant 5 minute stroll along the sea wall and then through the park, to the restaurant. We would phone in our order, enjoy the salt sea air on the way to fetch the food, and then hurry home with the myriad aromas of freshi sushi tantalizing us.  A little dash of wasabi in the soy sauce... and sea food heaven!  And now when my family comes to visit, inevitably within the first day or two someone will ask "so when are we calling in the sushi order?"

We were planning to see Antigone Unbound later  at the Leaky Heaven Circus Studio above the Russion Hall, so finding ourselves in the general vicinity of Chinatown we decided to wander around and find somewhere for a casual supper. I remembered that there was a place inside the Tinseltown complex that I had wanted to check out so we took the escalator to the second floor and wandered into Kentizen. It was still early,  around 5:30 and so we took a window table and studied the menu. As we were debating the merits of Japanese food versus Chinese food, the manager suggested we check out the buffet.

At the corner of  Richards and Helmcken stands a small Japanese restaurant with an unusual name, + Alpha.  As they point out, the term means "something extra" in terms of food and service and certainly whenever I walk in there for a bite, the place is  buzzing with activity, the food consistently good and the service is always efficient and friendly.