A new restaurant on the South Side of Chicago explores the cuisine of the African diaspora. Mahari held its grand opening in Hyde Park on Jan. 17. Executive chef and owner Rahim Muhammad describes his menu as a “Creole take on African Caribbean and Latin food.”
It’s global and personal for both Muhammad (who previously consulted at Stussy’s Diner and Chemistry steakhouse) and beverage director Lisa Brown (The Promontory).
Their families are both “Creole out of Louisiana,” Muhammad said. “So we just took our roots and traveled back and saw how we were connected.”
At Mahari, he said, they celebrate their roots through the different routes of the African diaspora. That starts with small bites, including his calas, also known as Creole rice fritters, traditionally a sweet breakfast dish served with cafe au lait. But chef Rah, as he’s known, makes savory deep-fried salmon cala, served with mango chutney and a clementine salad.
“It’s pretty different, but recognizable,” the chef said. “This is a spin on salmon croquettes and rice fritters.”
The prawn and polenta, another small bite dish, also differs from its cousin shrimp and grits.
“We do ours as a polenta cake,” Muhammad said.
A grilled giant river prawn comes with a pan-seared polenta cake that’s crispy yet soft. The red curry sauce comes from sous chef Christina Mighty, who’s Jamaican, Muhammad said.
Large bite dishes include their Caribbean lamb burger.
“It’s a spiced lamb burger with grilled pineapple, some Haitian pikliz on top and smoked gouda,” Muhammad said. The pikliz is a spicy slaw, and the dish includes a side of yuca frita, or yuca fries.
“And we also get a freshly baked brioche bun from our neighbors across the street, La Boulangerie,” he added. The bakery celebrated the grand opening of its newest location in Hyde Park last fall.
At Mahari, which they translate as ‘gift’ in Swahili, Muhammad also notes his cazuela de mariscos.
“It’s a beautiful seafood stew,” he said, from the Caribbean region of Colombia. His dish has a pineapple coconut stock holding scallops, mussels, prawns and crawfish, with basmati rice and an avocado créme.
The Afrodisiac Island cocktail by Brown also draws from the Caribbean with Ten to One rum. The Black-owned brand, founded in 2019, is co-owned by American singer Ciara. The drink mixes rum, pomegranate, smoked pineapple juice and fig honey.
The Café con Plátano, though, may be the chef’s favorite, he said, made with a Ten to One dark rum and coffee liqueur.
“It’s our version of an espresso martini,” he added, with plantain demerara sugar and coconut cream.
For dessert, the puff-puffs have become an early favorite, said Muhammad, who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Chicago in baking and pastry. They remind him of beignets, he added, but they’re an African snack, similar to doughnut holes.
“But I also like our sandía cheesecake,” Muhammad said. The watermelon cheesecake, seasoned with the complex chile-peppered berbere spice, is served with lemon coulis.
Mahari seats 70 inside its colorful dining room, with African rubber trees and snake plants, and standing space for 15 or so in the bar lounge area. Afrobeat and salsa music will be punctuated by a bongo drum for birthdays, Muhammad said. A seasonal outdoor patio will seat 50 more in the courtyard when the weather warms.
The restaurant hits close to home.
The chef was born at Chicago Lying-in Hospital in Hyde Park, he said, but every summer, his family traveled “to a little town outside of Baton Rouge called Hillaryville, where we had sugarcane fields and watermelons growing.”
“All of my aunts cooked Creole food,” he added. “So I picked up on a lot of that growing up.”
1504 E. 55th St., maharirestaurant.com
More openings, in alphabetical order:
Fondita Miguel
Chefs Miguel Escobar, Michael Lachowicz and Sérgio Angel of the French brasserie Aboyer have added a Mexican neighborhood taquería to the North Shore. Fondita Miguel opened in Winnetka on Dec. 13, 2024. Neighbors will find tacos, tortas and burritos filled with beef birria, chicken tinga and more, plus the tacos are available American style (lettuce and tomato) and Mexican style (onion and cilantro).
544 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka; 224-472-5048; fonditamiguel.com
Gus’ Sip and Dip
Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group has created a new cocktail concept named for the historic Gus’ Good Food restaurant that once stood on the same ground from 1906 to 1966. Gus’ Sip and Dip began pouring in the River North neighborhood on Dec. 31, 2024. Beverage director and partner Kevin Beary (Three Dots and a Dash) has created a menu with 30 classic cocktail-inspired drinks, intentionally lower priced for the neighborhood at $12 each, including a Breakfast Martini garnished with a honey-buttered, gluten-free toast point. Dipped sandwiches feature a wagyu beef dip with whipped horseradish and au jus, a French dip-inspired cousin from Los Angeles.
51 W. Hubbard St., 312-736-0163, gussipanddip.com
Taquizas Valdéz
Chef and laboratory engineer Ivan Valdéz has written a love letter to his late mother, Rosa Valdéz, celebrating the taquizas, or Mexican taco buffets, they catered in backyards together. Taquizas Valdéz opened in the Old Irving Park neighborhood on Dec. 14, 2024. The chef (West Town Bakery, Homestead on the Roof, Quiote) serves composed tacos including his signature pollo al limón and tortas on house-baked bread. On weekends the restaurant transforms into a panadería, or Mexican bakery, with pastries, café de olla (a spiced coffee drink) and more.
3038 W. Irving Park Road, 773-681-0227, taquizasvaldez.com
In restaurant closing news:
Hard Rock Cafe Chicago, open in River North since 1986, its giant neon guitar sign once a beacon to teens and tourists, will rock off on March 29. (Axios Chicago first reported the news.)
63 W. Ontario St., 312-943-2252, cafe.hardrock.com/chicago
Jaleo by José Andrés and Pigtail, the Spanish restaurant and downstairs cocktail bar opened in River North in 2021 by the chef, restaurateur and humanitarian, closed permanently on Jan. 25. (Eater Chicago first reported the news.)
500 N. Clark St., jaleo.com
In other restaurant news:
Charlie Trotter’s, the legendary fine dining restaurant, which closed in Lincoln Park in 2012, a year before the namesake chef died at 54 in 2013, may reopen this year according to his son Dylan Trotter. Meanwhile, Next at Charlie Trotter’s Original Location, a pop-up experience, has been extended to Feb. 9. (Block Club Chicago first reported news of the possible reopening.)
816 W. Armitage Ave., nextrestaurant.com
Cindy’s Rooftop, the restaurant overlooking Millennium Park from the 13th floor of the Chicago Athletic Association in the Loop since the historic hotel’s restoration in 2015, will have management taken over by the Boka Restaurant Group. (Crain’s Chicago Business first reported the news.)
12 S. Michigan Ave. (Chicago Athletic Association hotel), 312-792-3502, cindysrooftop.com
Lettuce Entertain You, the biggest restaurant group in the city, which began with the opening of R.J. Grunts in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in 1971, co-founded by Richard Melman, announced that his son and company president, R.J. Melman, will also take on the role of CEO, from Kevin Brown who remains as executive chairman of Lettuce.
In restaurant fundraising news:
Chicago Chefs Cook, the humanitarian organization of Chicago-area chefs, and Lifeway Foods have launched Plates with a Purpose with a percentage of proceeds donated to Chicago Chefs Cook for LA to support restaurants in the Los Angeles area affected by the wildfires. The initiative includes an ever-growing list of dozens of participating restaurants in the city and suburbs, from A Taste of the Philippines in the Jefferson Park neighborhood offering lumpia to Windy City Burger Social Club in Palos Park offering burgers, and runs in January and February.
James Beard Awards 2025: 22 Chicago chefs, restaurants and bars make semifinalist list
Do you have notable restaurant news in the Chicago area? Email food critic Louisa Kung Liu Chu at lchu@chicagotribune.com.
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