Sweet Willie

Yes that is right I wrote Belizean Soul Food !?!? San's Belizean Soul is located on 2221 W. Howard (that's two doors west of Ridge Ave for you Evanston folks), in Chicago and touts itself as "Fusion of Belizean & American Home Cooking"

We started out w/two appetizers: Panades and San's ginger BBQ Wings. Both were incredible! Panades are a corn based pastry stuffed w/a spicy fish mixture and served w/a sweet/hot salsa mixture. The wings were very very juicy and had a full ginger and BBQ sauce flavor, also served alongside the wings is a side of "smothered potato's" which are potato chunks sautéed until soft w/ grilled onions and curry, the whole dish is just divine.

The two main courses ordered were Curry Goat w/ rice & beans and the Whole Snapper.
I had the goat which had a rich flavor and was very tender. A few bone pieces, but that's to be expected when one eats goat. Very Good.

The Snapper is cooked w/plum tomato, ginger, bell pepper, onion, garlic, other herbs & spices. Sounds great, but I think that after the very strong appetizers and Curry Goat, that the snapper's subdued flavors did not match up. There is boneless Orange Roughy and shrimp prepared in this manner as well. The other fish dish is a catfish dish served w/ roasted garlic patties (I think I will get this dish next.)

San's also serves a Vegetarian Plate that for $9 allows you to choose between 5 items out of the following: Corn Pate, Leeks&Potatoes, Eggplant, Turnip/Mustard greens, Split Peas, Sautéed Spinach, Red Beans, White Rice, Bean Panades, Sautéed Codfish (not really vegetarian!)

Traditional Caribbean drinks are served: Ting, Ginger Beer, Champaign Cola as well as Coke, Iced Tea, and Mystic Juices. San's is BYOB, so feel free to bring your own!!!!

All in all a VERY enjoyable meal. The paint job is very festive inside the restaurant.
I will be back.

San's hours: Tues-Thurs Noon-10pm, Fri-Sat noon-11pm, Closed Sun & Mon.

Sweet Willie

Dinner was very tasty, so I went back to San’s for lunch today. Sandra (hence San’s) remembered me from last night and led me to my “usual” table.

For lunch today, I had the Tamale appetizer. This was one HUGE appetizer, could serve two people easy. The tamale is corn dough stuffed w/a mild spice chicken mixture then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. Very tasty. One would have been enough for lunch.

But I had already ordered the Ginger Beef. If you like ginger (like I do) then you will like this dish. Beef chunks cooked w/ginger, green beans; onions and a little coconut milk are served around a scoop of rice. A good, hearty dish.

Next week I go for either the catfish dish or oxtail stew.

Sweet Willie

WOW, just had a great lunch at San’s, the Stew Chicken. Roasted chicken in a bell pepper, onion, slightly spicy, tomato (?) based sauce, served alongside red beans & rice.
Of course with my now obligatory ginger beer.

With a host/owner like Sandra, you can’t help but really like this place.

Obviously I did not go for either the catfish dish or oxtail stew, but next week....

Sweet Willie

Was about to try the oxtail stew for lunch but San's Belizean Soul Restaurant is closed.

Newspaper on the windows and phone calls go unanswered.

Sandra had said business was bad and she was looking to sell her tamales in local grocery stores.

This is a sad day for me.