May 28, 2025
Tammy’s take:
When I heard that there was a Filipino restaurant in Chicago with a Michelin star, I had to try it. This was before The Bear, the FX hit show, made it famous. After The Bear, there is a line out the door every day. Mai, the cute 22- year-old Vietnamese girl who stood behind us in the rain, told us when she ate chicken adobo at Kasama two years ago there was no line.
Most of us were standing in the pouring rain as if it was no big deal. Except Grant. He felt enough discomfort that he walked across the street to the gas station to buy us an umbrella.
Just like Swifties stand all night in line to get a ticket to a concert to get a chance to see their star, we were all in line to see magnificent food. And just as Swifties cry with joy admiring Taylor, I may cry, too, when I face the food created by Chefs Genie Kwon and Tim Flores, the married couple who left one of Chicago’s best restaurants- Michelin two-star Oriole – to start Kasama.
A horrible thought came to mind. What if we were not doing it correctly and wasting our effort? Were we supposed to place our name on a waiting list? What if we got to the front of the line and they said we had to wait another thirty minutes or more because we didn’t add our name to that waiting list? I asked the couple in front of us if there was a waiting list we were not aware of. To my relief, they shook their heads and explained there is a sign on the door with instructions to just wait in line.
I’m really bad at remembering names so out of the four people I met in line I only remembered Mai. As we waited in the cold and wet weather, we got to know Mai and her mom. Mai’s mom did not speak English. She was dressed in a bright red fancy dress, as if she was going to a Vietnamese wedding. Like any protective mom, she shielded her daughter from the rain by holding a bomber jacket over the two of them. It made me think of how my 73-year-old mom still holds my hand in hers when we cross the street because she fears I will get hurt. No matter how old we are, moms still worry. I know because I am a mom and I have that same worry with my 20-year-old son. (Though I don’t hold his hand.)
Mai said her mom was catching a flight back to Vietnam that evening but they were going to Lou Malnati’s for dinner, which may explain the red cocktail dress adorned with cloth shaped into two giant red roses. Lou Malnati’s is supposedly the best deep dish in Chicago.
Mai told us how she landed her first job after college. She will be working in the marketing department at a beauty company in Florida. She sent out 500 resumes and she had to be persistent. I asked if she had family in Florida and she shook her head. She was young and about to embark on an adventure. A part of me felt a twinge of envy at her courage and youth. Mostly, I felt happy for her because she reminded me a little of Natalie with her round face and milky white skin.
After a while the rain let up a bit and we were inside the door of the restaurant. We got to ooh and ahhh at their large pastry display until they asked for our order and prepared to seat us. I was salivating at the beautiful mango tarts shaped like a bright yellow roses, laminated brioches crowned with lemon cream, piped pink macaroons, crispy cookies (chocolate, sesame, and coconut) the size of large saucers, luscious pandan eclairs filled with coconut jam, and rice krispies covered in bright green piped matcha cream. A banana tart made with saba banana and caramelized white chocolate mousse caught my eye, as well as the exotic ensaymada brioche filled with ube and coconut pastry cream and ube and huckleberry basque cake.
We ordered the Filipino breakfast for Grant (fried egg, garlic rice and longanisa sausage), the mushroom adobo for me (soy braised mushrooms, fried egg, and garlic rice), one of the ube and huckleberry basque cakes, a black sesame coconut macaroon, an ube and coconut ensaymada, a Boston chocolate brioche bun with caramel filling, and one maiz con leche drink. As much as I wanted the beautiful sunny colored mango tart, I’ve eaten mango tarts before and I wanted to try new dishes.
They seated us at a table next to Mai and her mom. Mai ordered the Filipino breakfast, the “Oh, Hot Yam!” drink, and a ham and cheese danish for her mom. She told us her mom does not eat much; she’s just here because Mai loves to eat. Then Mai joked that Grant and I are her relationship goal – she wants to find a partner/friend who loves to eat as much as she does.
When our food arrived, I scarfed down the adobo. It was a tad salty for my liking. Grant took a bite of it and agreed. Grant’s maiz con leche was a sweet miso corn milk tea that came in a large pink tea cup. “Mmm, this is good!” he exclaimed. I took a sip and agreed. We both couldn’t get enough of it. It was milky and perfectly sweetened with corn with a hint of savory miso.
The black sesame coconut macaroon and ensaymada were okay. I wouldn’t order those items or the mushroom adobo again. But for the ube and huckleberry basque cake and maiz con leche, I would stand in the rain again to experience. The basque cake was crispy and chewy on the outside like a cookie and layered with ube pastry cream and housemade huckleberry jam, like a cake. What a genius and delicious creation! I would be willing to stand in snow, heat, and humidity to eat that. I wish I had gotten more than one.
Grant’s grub guide:
We drove past Kasama and even in the rain, the line was out the door. Tammy asked if I’d changed my mind and wanted to try the American breakfast place instead. But we were already here and I was okay, so I circled the block and found a parking space. It was a little tight. I glanced across the street and noticed a bigger spot between two cars. I let the traffic go by, pulled out, and parallel parked. First try, even with the big Nissan rental SUV!
We walked to the long line and there’s maybe a dozen people ahead of us. Tammy’s puffy jacket shed most of the water. My coat is older and when my shoulders started getting cool, I knew I was gonna get soaked. The couple in front of us had raincoats and umbrellas. The stocky Asian dude in front of them only had a green cloth hoodie that was dark and blotchy from the rain. Past his wet shoulders, a gas station sign half a block away gave me an idea. They might have cheap umbrellas so I told Tammy I was going to check.
The owner was behind plate glass and thought they were all out. No rain ponchos either. The owner sent one of the younger employees to check if they had umbrellas in the back. In the meantime, I wandered the aisles, looking for garbage bags. I could cut three holes in the bag to put my arms and head through, although I didn’t want to look like a weirdo. Weird and dry or cold and wet? Hmm . . . Fortunately, the younger guy brought out half dozen little black umbrellas. I paid the seven bucks, thanked them, tossed the wrapper in the trash, and walked out. Popped it open and headed back. On the corner, four young Asians were eating out of brown takeout containers. I wondered if their food were from Kasama. Either way, I was not going to eat outside in the rain even if we got our food ten times faster.
Tammy hadn’t gotten far. We huddled under our new umbrella and a young Vietnamese gal and her mom got in line behind us. The mom was holding a coat over both of their heads. Tammy started chatting and they were very friendly. Mai just graduated from college in Wisconsin and brought her mom to Chicago for a little vacation. She had eaten at this place a couple years ago and said it was worth the wait. She was a foodie who loved to travel and eat. When we told her where we were from, she pointed at her baseball cap, embroidered with “San Francisco”, and said she’d been there, too.
We finally got through the door. The lobby was full so Tammy and I waited outside. When the crowd eased up, Tammy offered to let Mai and her mom go first. Fortunately, there was enough room for all of us to squeeze in the foyer. The line wrapped behind the seats at the bar and we could watch the folks eating while the wait staff passed by with full plates on the way out and dirty dishes on the way in. We were in the way and I saw one waitress frown. She didn’t say anything.
As the line crept forward, we edged closer to a pastry counter full of baked goodies. The thick cinnamon roll with an inch of creamy white frosting would be too heavy after my breakfast. I was tempted by the shiny morning bun with nuts. The thin oatmeal cookies called to me because they looked crispy. While I am not a big fan of oatmeal cookies, I am a big fan of crispy, caramelized anything! Next, a row of chocolate chip cookies whispered my name. I am always down for chocolate chips and I could stuff it in my pocket and eat it later. I drooled and licked my lips. The thin slices of mango on a tart tempted me, the blueberry tart not so much.
Ooh, Boston cream with caramel filling! Donut! It was big, hopefully not dense and filling. I glanced at the other stuff but it is hard to beat chocolate. The ham and cheese danish was flaky, but I was already planning a savory breakfast so my interest dimmed. The blueberry muffin top had some appeal because I love warm blueberry muffins. Since Tammy makes a mean muffin and these were obviously not warm, it was another easy pass. I ended up going with the Boston chocolate and caramel cream donut. We finally reached the counter and placed our order. You pay first, then they assign you a seat. A few minutes later, Mai and her mom sat down next to us and we chatted and they asked us to take their picture.
Tammy got the mushroom adobo with a fried egg over garlic fried rice and a side of gently pickled vegetables. My plate was almost the same except I had two kinds of sausage: half a link of thick longanisa (tasted like a sweet linguisa) and a pork char-su. Both were good, not extraordinary, just good. Tammy gave me a bite of the adobo and I liked the flavors a little better than the pork. The garlic fried rice was the tastiest part of our breakfast; savory, delicately seasoned, and tossed with garlic oil. The pickles were slightly tangy and went well with the rice. Dessert for me was the Boston cream cronut filled with a perfectly sweet caramel cream. I also really liked the maiz con leche, a warm milk latte with a hint of corn. Tammy liked it, too, and we were happy to share.