Rice Bowl

-Grubbing in Chicago

Latin Rice Bowls on Western

I'm glad I finally put my foot down and headed over to today's stop for lunch recently. I was curious about the Rice Bowl since before they opened and probably passed it 10+ times after they opened. No reason why other than being indecisive much of the time. My list of places to try keeps growing at a much faster rate than the number of spots I'm able to try. Rice Bowl is a locally owned place where they put the popular Chipotle Menu model to use. You know the drill, choose your meat, sides etc.

 Newly Opened in Ukrainian Village 

But don't let the Chipotle model scare you away. That's where the comparisons end. Rice Bowl is home cooked Caribbean food like that which you'd find on islands like Puerto Rico, DR, Cuba. Choices of meats for your bowl include Bistec Encebollado, Pollo Guisado, and Lechon. After you choose your protein you pick your rice which can be Arroz con Habichuelas, Congri Rice, Arroz con Gandules. Then you get to pick your sides which are a variety of popular sides in Latin-Caribbean cooking - tostones, maduros, yuca etc. As you can see below my bowl with the lechon, arroz con habichuelas, tostones, and avocado was a thing of beauty. I scarfed it down real quick. Loved the lechon which was obviously fresh and loaded with pickled (Mojo?) onions. Also of note was the side of garlic sauce for the tostones. It was tongue tingling delicious. I'll be back for a sandwich soon.

Rice Bowl at the Rice Bowl

Rice Bowl
1021 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 235-3354
Website