While there is a steakhouse seemingly on every corner in Chicago, seafood-centric restaurants are somewhat harder find. There are some really good ones, of course, like GT Fish and Oyster Bar and numerous Japanese restaurants. Historically, for obvious reasons, great seafood restaurants were found (drumroll, please) by the sea. Today, however, you can live 1000 miles from the nearest seacoast and, thanks to jet planes, enjoy seafood that is from the same catch that people living on the coasts are enjoying today.
We were pleased to see a new seafood place, Two Lights Seafood and Oyster, open. It’s not really convenient to where we live (it’s in Old Town across from Second City) but we hoped it would be worth a drive to check it out. It was. We had a delightful meal.
Owners Keene and Megan Addington (who also own the Tortoise Supper Club, which I want to love, but have had issues with) have spent many summers in Maine and wanted to bring a taste of the New England coast to Chicago. The restaurant is named after Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It looks a lot like a Maine seafood shack, just a lot newer. It is light and bright, painted all in white and pastel red with pastel green chairs. A long bar runs the length of the restaurant and the whole thing feels inviting in a bright, open way—quite the opposite of the warm coziness of the Tortoise Supper Club. Their stated goal is “craft cocktails served with true neighborhood hospitality.” The menu features small, shareable plates.
Let’s see how they do.
First, the cocktail list.
I don’t know how well you can read the small print, but the cocktail list is largely classic cocktails to which they have added their own twist. For example, their version of an Old Fashioned (traditionally bourbon or rye with sugar and aromatic bitters) starts with Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon (good stuff), adds Demerara sugar syrup (adds a little more flavor or than plain white sugar syrup), and, for the new twist, substitutes persimmon bitters for the usual Angostura aromatic bitters.
The resulting cocktail is still whiskey forward, as an Old Fashioned should be, but with some nice, subtle additional aromas and flavors from the Demerara and persimmon. We were off to a good start!
As already mentioned, the menu is mostly small, shareable plates. Lots of fish and shellfish choices, of course, and a few meat and vegetarian choices as well.
While I have no doubt they are happy to accommodate meat eaters and vegetarians, this is, after all, a seafood restaurant, so there are definitely better choices if seafood is not your thing. Happily, for Valeria and me, seafood is our thing (or at least one of our things), so let’s try some.
Our waiter encouraged us to order several plates and share and he did not have to twist our arms. We almost always order and share, anyway. Our first choice was the Hamachi Tiradito.
Tiradito (literal translation: “little strips”) is a Peruvian dish that is kind of a cross between ceviche and sashimi. Ceviche is a Latin American dish of raw seafood marinated in citrus juice, usually with chilis, garlic, and other ingredients. There has been a significant Japanese influence on Peruvian cuisine since the late 1800s when, for various reasons, many Japanese immigrated to Peru. For tiradito, the fish is cut into pieces as it would be for sashimi. Sashimi, however, is traditionally served with the fish unsauced and unseasoned, although there are usually dipping sauces and/or other condiments on the side. In tiradito, the “sashimi” is marinated briefly and served with what the Peruvians call “leche de Tigre” (tiger’s milk) made with a local yellow chili pepper (aji amarillo), ginger, garlic, lime juice, and cilantro. It is generally served pretty simply (Japanese influence again), with just the fish and the sauce. It can, however, be dressed up with ingredients you might find in a ceviche, such as hearts of palm, avocado, and hot chilies, which are included here. I believe the passion fruit and macademia nuts are Two Lights’ own twist as I don’t recall ever seeing them in a ceviche or a tiradito, but I am sure there are dozens of variations on both dishes that I have never tried.
Enough description. How did it taste? Delicious! The hamachi (Pacific yellowtail Amberjack) was perfectly fresh and firm. The leche de tigre could have come straight from Peru. The other ingredients all added texture and flavor without overwhelming the sauce and fish at the heart of the dish.
It is not difficult to make your own tiradito at home, but a couple of the ingredients might not be readily available to you. First, you have to have a source of sashimi/sushi-grade fish—really fresh and really clean. Second, you need the Peruvian aji amarillo (yellow chili pepper), which you might find fresh, frozen, or as a canned paste. You can find a typical recipe here.
There are a few sides to choose from on the menu. It’s important to eat your veggies, so, in keeping with the Latin American flavor of the first dish, we ordered the street corn.
Elote, grilled corn on the cob slathered with a mixture of mayonnaise, chili powder and crema, then sprinkled with crumbled Cotija cheese, is a very popular street food in Mexico. Crema is similar to American Sour Cream or French crème fraîche, but it is a little thinner than either. Cotija cheese is a cows milk cheese that is quite similar to Greek Feta when fresh. It is firm, crumbly, salty, and doesn’t melt. Two Lights made it easier to eat by taking the corn off the cob, and upped the flavor quotient by using lime aioli (aioli is garlic mayonnaise). What’s not to like?
As I have mentioned before, Valeria and I love all sorts of variations on “bang bang shrimp”—shrimp breaded and deep fried, then tossed in a spicy-sweet chili-mayo sauce. That means we had to try Two Lights variation, Pow Bang Shrimp.
These were delicious. The breading was not too heavy. The sauce was just right: good spiciness and sweetness, but not too much of either, and each shrimp was well coated without being drowned in the sauce. The Two Lights extra touch was the pickled ginger and sesame seeds on the side. They added great flavor and texture to the dish. I know this dish is a nutritionist’s nightmare, but they are irresistible when well made.
We thought we were testing the kitchen with our next selection: grilled octopus.
Octopus is not easy to cook properly. It can become tough, chewy, and rubbery in a way that makes a rubber band seem appetizing. Cooked properly, however, it can be very tender and can soak up whatever flavors you want to dress it with. This plate was as good as it gets. The octopus was very tender and the dressing for the Greek-ish cucumber and tomato salad tied the meat and vegetables together beautifully. The Calabrian chili (from the Calabria region of Italy) added a little heat and smokiness.
No trip to Maine is complete without a lobster roll (or 12), often purchased from a small, roadside stand. The waiter was bragging on the Two Lights roll, so we had to try it.
Lobster rolls are traditionally made with a hot dog-like bun that is buttered and grilled on the outside and split down the middle to make a place for the filling. They were originally filled simply with lobster meat and melted butter, but nowadays chefs work to elevate (and often overcomplicate) the filling. A light lobster salad, perhaps made with a little mayo, lemon juice, finely chopped shallots or green onions, finely chopped celery, or maybe a little fresh parsley or cilantro works fine. The trick is not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the lobster by getting too fancy.
Two Lights takes a minimalist approach: perfectly toasted, buttered bun, filled with lobster tossed in brown butter and a sprinkling of chives. This is definitely a case where less is more.
I had to try at least one non-seafood dish, so we went for the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Roll.
This was definitely not like my southern grandma (yes, I really had one) used to make! The fried chicken alone was actually quite similar, but I am pretty sure she never heard of yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit) or tamari (a Japanese soy sauce made only with fermented soy beans and none of the wheat that is used in “regular” soy sauce). If the Japanese had started moving to Georgia or Alabama instead of Peru back in the late 1800s, this might be a common dish in the south today. The chicken was perfectly cooked and juicy. Both the chicken and slaw had a nice crunch, while the yuzu mayo and tamari-ginger drizzle added lots of flavor. We really liked this, too.
Based on this experience, if Two Lights were within walking distance of our condo, we would be regulars. Even if you don’t live in the condo building it occupies, it’s worth a trip when you crave a trip to Maine and don’t want the hassle of flying.
Two Lights Seafood and Oyster
Address: 227 W North Avenue Chicago, IL 60610
Phone: (312) 929-3091
Reservations: https://www.opentable.com/r/two-lights-seafood-and-oyster-chicago
Website: https://www.twolightschicago.com
Dress Code: Casual
Price Range: $30 and under
Hours: Dinner: Mon-Thu 5:00pm-10:00pm
Fri-Sat 5:00pm-11:00pm
Sun 5:00pm-9:00pm
Brunch: Sun 20:00am-2:00pm
AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
Chicago, IL 60610
All images were taken with a Canon PowerShot G9 X camera. Post-processing was done in Adobe Lightroom® and Adobe Photoshop® with the Skylum Luminar® plugin.
