Fact: "wow" is just "mom" spelled upside-down. So once you've pulled your face off the floor, go ahead and prepare to, uh,... more
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Hota
Getting down globally in Evanston
Taking its name from the pronunciation of the Spanish "J" (something Ricky Rubio hasn't developed due to constantly dishing the rock), Hota has taken root in the former Jacky's On Prairie locale, making it over with dark hardwood floors offset by a cache of modern art that adds gray and red accents, Redd accents only being handy when faking a heart attack.
The modern cuisine has global flair, with starters including lemongrass-rubbed Kurobuta pork belly w/ black fig preserves, oysters w/ wasabi 'n sweet onion mignonette, and Catalan-style mussels w/ saffron bechamel and Butifarra sausage (slogan: "Buti Buti Buti Butifarra everywhere!!!"). Mains span from Moroccan lamb shank (lemon confit, roasted pepper salad, chickpea almond couscous), to Southern-sounding langoustines with tomato-clam sauce (andouille, okra, creamy grits), to a lemon-parsley-crusted, tahini-sauced confit Tasmanian trout, which might have you ripping into somebody when they say it was probably a devil to catch, but maybe they just couldn't think of another spin on a joke about Tasmanian trout, so JUST BACK OFF, OK!?
They're also serving up a serious Sunday brunch loaded with guajillo-sauced, Oaxaca-cheesed duck quesadillas, and Rockefeller-sauced fried chicken & cornmeal waffles -- so delicious it's sure to have you screaming "I'm coming!" whether Elizabeth is there or not.
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