Dinner at Dunlays then desserts at Yoberri

It was such a nice day yesterday that we decided to walk down to Dunlays at Clark and Wrightwood. They have my favorite salad in the city – the Wrightwood salad. Sometimes I crave the salad on warm Sunday mornings when you can sit in the patio area and watch all of the Lincoln Park dog and stroller walkers go by. We sat outside briefly until we realized it wasn’t really warm enough to sit outside - right as a gust of wind carried our menus away.

Once inside in the dim-lit environs, I was disappointed to learn that the guacamole dish is only seasonal and wasn’t on the menu in this warm day in March. We opted for the spinach dip instead which was actually quite good. It also has artichoke mixed into the light cheesy sauce. It’s a healthy portion for two but we finished it anyway.

The Wrightwood salads are just as good as I remembered. The roasted chicken, corn and red peppers on top of a fresh spring salad mix with crumbled goat cheese, craisins and almonds tossed in a light vinaigrette is so delicious. If you’re gluten-free, you’ll have to ask the server to skip the four croutons that finish off the garnish.

On our walk back to the condo, we stopped in for a sweet treat at Yoberri. I was a really bad influence on Ernie yesterday who determined he was going back on the Clean program after how crummy we’ve been feeling about our bodies. I have been having a taste for frozen yogurt and ice cream so badly that we’ve eaten 4 servings in the last 5 days.

Yoberri is a cheap knockoff of Pinkberry that hasn’t yet made its way to the Midwest. I asked the lone man working the 500 sq foot location whether this was franchise or a single location. He affirmed it was a single location, yet when I googled it today, I found several other locations dotted along the west coast. Guess he didn’t know too much.

The minimalist décor and lack of other patrons made me wonder how well the store is doing, seeing as it still has yet to buy and mount a permanent sign for the façade. There are three tables that look like wooden shadowbox frames. In each table sits four bright pink and green fake gerbera daisies which add some brightness and color to the plain white walls. The frozen yogurt was sour at first bite. To add some sweetness, we added three toppings: mango, strawberry and mochi. The yoberri was pretty good, albeit it not nearly as good as Pinkberry. My favorite topping used to be the fruity pebbles – but since going gluten free, you gotta stick to the fruits instead of the cereals. At $4.70 for the small size, I’d rather walk the mile north to Cafe Latakia whose pistachio ice cream was so good that it was the best consolation for Ernie after he had two screws put into his tibia.

Dunlays on Clark
2600 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614
Phone: 773-883-6000
http://dunlaysonclark.com/

Yoberri
2814 N Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 348-3762

Café Latakia
3204 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 929-6667