Kith & Kin, Lincoln Park

Kith & Kin
1119 W Webster
Chicago

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, March 1

The Victims: Christina, Kent

The Damage: $40 or so each.

The Background: Although I love my new neighborhood — depending on how you define your boundaries, I’m somewhere in and between Wicker Park, Ukranian Village, West Town, and Noble Square — there are a few major drawbacks:

Lack of good east-west transportation
Lack of good straight north-south transportation
Lack of good  northeast-southwest transportation
No lake

So getting from where I live to Lincoln Park is not entirely easy. When it’s light out, I don’t mind hopping on the Ashland bus to go north or south and then the Chicago or Division or North Avenue buses to go east or west. But while it’s still dark — and if there’s still snow on the ground — I find myself taking a lot of taxis. A lot. (Probably still costs me less than buying a car of course.)

That being said, if you’ve been following my blog for a while now, you know I don’t mind traveling for food. So a taxi to dinner is no hardship, especially if I expect good grub on the other side.

The pimento cheese spread at Kith & Kin isn’t exactly my idea of good grub. Kent wanted it. I just went along for the ride. But it was the worst sort of bar food. The texture was sickening. Processed cheese, processed. (I’m sure it was high quality processed cheese, processed. Heck it might have even been real cheese, processed.) With mayonnaise. And the barest hint of pimentos. I am a Yankee and Kith & Kin specializes in southern food, so you can blame my Yankee heritage for my feelings about this dish, which is apparently much loved in the south. (Kent is from Indiana. I’ve just researched whether this makes him a Yankee or not, and the verdict is mixed. Some say the Upper Midwest counts as Yankee territory. Others say it’s just New England and the Northeast.)

For my main dish, I opted for Kith & Kin’s Buttermilk Fried Chicken, which everyone raves about. It looked quite nice on the plate. Like really good fried chicken. But although the fried crust had a good crunch to it, it was oddly tasteless. So too the white gravy. Worst still, the chicken just wasn’t HOT. The plate was hot, but the chicken was not.

The Service: Service was prompt and friendly throughout. No complaints there.

The Atmosphere: Loud. Really really loud. They need some soft fabrics or something. I don’t like shouting over cheese spread.

The Verdict: Obviously very popular. Just not this Yankee’s bag.