Indo-American Minahasa resurrected

Monday Night Foodball's last hurrah at Ludlow Liquors! [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( [Food & Drink]( | April 5, 2024 John Avila beat City Hall last week—but it took 13 hours. Avila, the chef behind the singular pandemic-born Indonesian restaurant Minahasa, was at the department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, reapplying for his Shared Kitchen User license, which had lapsed in the year since he closed his stall at Revival Food Hall.  Why does a guy who’s cooked everywhere from Jackie Shen’s seminal Red Light to the Sofitel with [Greg Biggers]( to the Four Seasons and the [Duck Inn]( with [Kevin Hickey]( need to endure a day and a half in the city’s Kafkaesque regulatory morass for a shared kitchen license? He could land a steady kitchen gig anywhere he wants. It’s because [Minahasa]( his three-and-a-half-year commitment to honoring regional Indonesian food—the food he grew up with, and especially the food of his mother Betty’s central Indonesian home of Tomohon—was too important to abandon.  So Avila’s back, along with Mama Betty and his partner [Tasya Hardono]( to resurrect Minahasa, beginning this April 8 at Ludlow Liquors at the next [Monday Night Foodball]( the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up.  This Monday, he’s bringing his particular Indonesian American twists on regional food, namely his Indo fried chicken sandwich with green papaya slaw and acar pickles on a brioche bun. It’s an update, after a recent trip back, on Javanese ayam geprek: a coconut-buttermilk-battered fried chicken thigh, smashed into a fiery green sambal, “so it gets in all the nooks and crannies,” he says.  Avila reverse engineered the Indomie Mi Goreng Instant Stir Fry Noodle seasoning packet to dust the shoestrings anchoring his beef rendang animal fries with sambal aioli and crispy shallots. You can get those without the rendang if poultry is your preference, particularly a bouquet of grilled chicken sate skewers with peanut sauce; or Mama Betty’s famous egg rolls—the combo that started it all after Avila was furloughed from Gibsons Italia in the early days of the pandemic.  Minahasa is back this Monday, April 8, with walk-ins beginning at 5 PM at 2959 N. California in reanimated Avondale.  After that, big things are afoot for Monday Night Foodball. I’m particularly chuffed that we’re closing out this particular schedule with a banger like Minahasa. That’s because it’s the last Foodball before we move to a new bar, a new kitchen, and a new patio for the summer. Well, there’s nothing new about any of it—but it is a quintessential Chicago institution.  I’ll tell you all about it next week, along with the new summer schedule—which happens to feature a cameo by Avila.  But before all that, my sincere thanks go out to Ludlow’s [Jane]( [Jordan]( [Wade]( and Jeff, for giving Foodball a home for the last [year and change](. And an extra special shout-out to bartenders Mercy and Storm. Tip them well and often. [Minahasa reawakens for an extraordinary Monday Night Foodball]( Check out John Avila’s Indonesian American menu for the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up—the last at Ludlow Liquors before moving to a new home. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [a man making chocolate on a machine]( [Get to know chef Stephen Sandoval through Diego]( The late-night West Town restaurant is a culmination of Sandoval’s upbringing, experience, and travels—with a distinctly Chicago execution. by [Lee Bosch]( | [Read more]( → [Aye-Aye, Kapitan]( February 2021 | The owners of Serai open the country’s only nyonya restaurant, devoted to the food of Malaysia’s Peranakan culture. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [a cup of saffron ice cream on a table]( [How I learned to stop worrying and drink coffee already]( November 2012 | A caffeine newbie tries not to lose his mind. by [Kevin Warwick]( | [Read more]( → Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, April 4, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 13]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Become a member of the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [Website icon]( [YouTube icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616