CHICAGO — After digging into the phenomenal grilled octopus skewers at Sueños for my most recent restaurant review, I paused briefly and thought to myself, “Wow, I’ve been eating a lot of octopus lately.”
You can spot the cephalopod at a shocking number of new restaurants. It’s almost strange not to find octopus on new menus. Just in the past year, you can find it at Alpana, Alla Vita, Jibaritos y Mas, Nisos Mediterranean, Lyra, Obelix, Peanut Park Trattoria, Rose Mary and Bazaar Meat. (I’m sure I’m missing places too.)
Not that I’m complaining. Octopus is consistently one of the most enticing offerings on any menu. Gone are the days when you have to worry about tough and chewy tentacles. Instead, the meat is always astonishingly tender, while the edges are crispy and charred. Few foods pick up the aroma of smoke from a grill better.
