Bad Hunter

I don't quite get the concept as I didn't find myself in what felt like a predominately vegetarian setting, but I don't often say this: everything was superb. We ate light (but drank heavier, and they had no problem going off menu, which is one of the greatest features to me about Chicago bartending) and sorry about no pictures but it was very dim, in a nice way. We started with maitake mushrooms with ribbons of butternut squash and some cheese (and garlic). Excellent texture, satisfying mushrooms, though I suspect they were cultivated and not foraged even though I was told otherwise. The butter dumplings were like mini XLB in shape, but also kissed with a bit of a pan sear, contained mushrooms, alliums, other bits and pieces of a mirepoix, but very satisfying. These dishes needed little saucing which I think reflects the focus of the kitchen staff.

We followed this with the lamb scottaditto, in their version thinly cut lamb chops. Two 4oz chops. Light seasoning, perfectly medium rare, no shame in just eating from the bone. I wanted to order another, and probably should have. Excellent work with the meat and I observed others really enjoying their meat preparations. It is lighter fare in general, but a new and different reason to head to the west loop. Red Kuri squash tart with coconut cream was good too. Only a first visit, but I don't often think I've gotten a flawless meal.

802 W Randolph St
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 265-1745

I had a great experience at Bad Hunter. The drinks and wine were fantastic. This is one of the better vegetable focused restaurants in town too. The romanesco dish is something to write home about to mom - it's absolutely delicious. The turnips left little to be desired - undercooked and under sauced/salted. Though overall the food was pretty good. I'd like to go back and try the burger. I feel like they have the ability to pull off a veggie burger and have it not taste like cardboard.

Had a pretty middling experience here this past week--pretty much the opposite of Sula's review. Indeed, I found the veggie burger the best part of the meal: it's done California style, with lots of squishy and crunchy toppings, so the sum of the parts far exceeds the fact that, yes, you're eating a mushed-together patty of mushrooms and rice.

Elsewhere, though, buyer beware: the romanesco dish has a nice vinegary bite from the salvitxada sauce, but the menu doesn't really tell you that you're all you're getting buffalo-wing style fried cauliflower, with the salvitxada as the hot sauce and aji blanco as the blue cheese--it's edible but that's the faintest of the faint praise. The squash tart is curious for a bite or two, but coconut overwhelms the savory elements; I wish the promised red curry came through.

And then there is without question the had the worst dish I've had this year: a salmon "crudo," which bore no resemblance to either a composed raw fish dish or anything that should be served to other people. What we we got was essentially some very rough cut chunks of salmon--in Soviet Russia, salmon chews you--in what appeared to be a can of minced garlic in its own juice. It only destroyed the palate--amazing what one bad dish can do, right? We sent it back, but the damage was done.

I ate incredible, joyous vegetable-focused food in New York and LA this year--El Rey, Dimes, Superiority Burger, Baroo, etc.--so it's disappointing to see Chicago still incapable of creating its own equally-exciting institution.

chezbrad wrote:I ate incredible, joyous vegetable-focused food in New York and LA this year--El Rey, Dimes, Superiority Burger, Baroo, etc.--so it's disappointing to see Chicago still incapable of creating its own equally-exciting institution.

I'm not sure if I can agree with this last part. If you haven't gone, you should check out GNR Manna Food Bar on Division.

Manna Food Bar
1742 W Division St
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 342-1742

I've been--what's the difference between it and Native Foods, precisely?

Several of the places I noted in my previous post are pushing American cuisine forward; that is not Mana's purpose. We'll see if Bad Hunter develops a clear identity and way forward.

chezbrad wrote:I ate incredible, joyous vegetable-focused food in New York and LA this year--El Rey, Dimes, Superiority Burger, Baroo, etc.--so it's disappointing to see Chicago still incapable of creating its own equally-exciting institution.

Green Zebra is still around.

Native Food is not something this vegetarian ever chooses.

Green Zebra and GNR Mana are very good. Right now Green Zebra has a truffle menu.

Loud, busy, and fast. Our biggest issue: the dishes followed each other out of the kitchen far too quickly. It made enjoying, lingering over, and really appreciating any single course next to impossible. That’s a terrible shame because we loved something about most courses. The sheer inventiveness and creativity in approach is stellar and we’d go back in a heartbeat—but the pacing is so crazy fast that it really makes it hard to appreciate what the kitchen is turning out.


Bread service and sunflower crema
A pleasure, pure and simple.


Tempura lemons and broccoli with fennel pollen aioli
For the Lovely Dining Companion, no. For me, an emphatic yes. Loved everything about it, especially the lemons. I probably particularly loved it because they weren’t shy at all, didn’t seem to have been boiled or otherwise treated in any way to cut their acid or assertiveness.


Thai kohlrabi salad
A fabulous dish. Don’t know that any kohlrabi I’ve ever had was put to such wonderful use. While we wouldn’t have mistaken it for noodles, it was a spot-on substitution and we both absolutely loved this dish.


Parsnip chawanmushi, grilled mushrooms with puffed nori


Grilled tandoori shrimp w/guajillo flatbread and cilantro chutney
Neither of us “got” the guajillo in the flatbread nor did we understand how it would work with the “Indian” flavors in tandoori shrimp (which, on its own, was terrific).


Coconut ash maltagliati w/"french curry"
Too much. A bit…“pasty” and, overall, not a dish I’d care to repeat. It may be that it came last and we were both getting pretty full, but it seemed very starchy, filling, and just not appetizing enough.

i'm pretty sure the coconut maltagliati was the same dish i shared recently with pairs4life and neither of us could eat it....at all. but there must be enough people who do like it to keep it on the menu. i thought it objectively dreadful(!)

justjoan wrote:...but there must be enough people who do like it to keep it on the menu.

Count me a fan.

Darren72 wrote:

justjoan wrote:...but there must be enough people who do like it to keep it on the menu.

Count me a fan. :)

...there you go. different strokes!

justjoan wrote:i'm pretty sure the coconut maltagliati was the same dish i shared recently with pairs4life and neither of us could eat it....at all. but there must be enough people who do like it to keep it on the menu. i thought it objectively dreadful(!)

This was the fail for the night. It just didn’t make sense in any sort of way. It felt so much like “no seriously, who tasted this ever before putting it on the menu⁉️ Maybe it’s a joke dish.

PS Our server was pleasant. I did not feel rushed b/w courses.

Returned to Bad Hunter a couple of weeks ago to finally try the burger. It is such a great burger for not having any meat at all. Fun!