#roister

new post! "A weekend in Chicago during Covid" #travelingMoes

I haven’t flown on a non-Delta aircraft in over a decade, but when a travel newsletter I get said American had round-trip flights to Chicago for $49 a few months ago, I bought 5 for the weekend of Sept. 11. Why that date and that city?

In 1997, I graduated from Alabama and moved to Atlanta to begin working at IBM. I didn’t have any friends in Atlanta, so when a guy named Jesse showed up at…

Roister - Chicago, IL

Overall: A

Just over two weeks have gone by and I spent most of today unable to clear thoughts of Roister’s chicken and waffles from my head. The crunch of the chicken, coated in a mixture of syrup and melting butter...

Opened in 2016, Roister is by far the most accessible restaurant of the Alinea group. I was in disbelief when I stumbled across it while researching Michelin restaurants in Chicago - I had no idea that there were any such establishments where one could eat for under $20. Roister accomplishes this by offering a fairly limited, very simple menu (at least during brunch when I was there) of extremely high quality offerings. With the exception of the gratuitous Japanese A-5 quarter pounder  ($53), biscuits and gravy was the most expensive at $16. 

Chicken and Waffles

I’ve had chicken and waffles a couple of times before but never truly “understood” the dish until eating it at Roister. The waffle slightly crispy and slightly chewy. The chicken was fairly thin, ridiculously crispy, and tender and juicy internally. It was seasoned with a beautiful spice mix that had just a tinge of heat that perfectly complimented the sweetness of the whiskey syrup and honey butter. It achieved what, to me, is the pinnacle of great dishes in the summed total being greater than its components. This was particularly intriguing as I’ve had all of these components many times on their own, in which they stand up in their own regard, as opposed to some dishes (ie anything that uses fish sauce) that have components that are completely inedible. Whether or not this is more impressive than that I’m unsure of, but it was delicious none the less.

Anson Mills Grits