The Delta will change your life with its tamales burgers and cocktails
Adam Wendt
Williams grabbed his future chef  Adam Wendt  and some business partners  jumped in a Ford Expedition and toured the Delta with his crew. Inspired  they came back to Chicago to open the restaurant.
 Wendt  knew tamales would be the foundation of the menu  so  he  experimented with recipes before they took the trip.
âThey were all wrong â  Wendt  said. âWhen we were traveling  we tasted a ton of them. We asked people how they made them  discovering that theyâre not steamed  but stewed in spicy tomato broth. But no one would really tell us their secrets  so I had to taste and figure it out.â
After cooking âabout 75 to 100 batchesâ  Wendt  figured it out.
âI tasted it and I knew â Williams said. âThe funny thing is ( Wendt ) wonât tell me the recipe.â
Theyâre overflowing with silky lamb and beef  topped nacho style with spicy giardiniera and drizzled with D.A.F sauce  an elixir  Wendt  describes as âslutty.â Itâs like creamy Thousand Island dressing. This plate is called the Jim Shoe ($11)  an upscale homage to a native South Side Chicago sandwich. You can get the tamales prepared many other ways  but the shoe was my jam.
Generally  Memphis-style ribs are dry rubbed so heavily  you feel like youâre eating kitty litter. While  Wendt  dry rubs and brines  his  babybacks ($16)   he  smokes and braises them  and finishes them on the grill until they glisten with a sherry caramel and the blazing bite of paprika and chili powder.
Not everything here is heavy. The catfish bursting with coriander and glistening in lemon butter is cloud-light. Itâs sourced from a third-generation catfish farmer who Williams and  Wendt  found via a woman they met at a bar on their research trip.
Williams grabbed his future chef   [TGT] and some business partners  jumped in a Ford Expedition and toured the Delta with his crew. Inspired  they came back to Chicago to open the restaurant.
  [TGT] knew tamales would be the foundation of the menu  so   [TGT]   experimented with recipes before they took the trip.
âThey were all wrong â   [TGT] said. âWhen we were traveling  we tasted a ton of them. We asked people how they made them  discovering that theyâre not steamed  but stewed in spicy tomato broth. But no one would really tell us their secrets  so I had to taste and figure it out.â
After cooking âabout 75 to 100 batchesâ   [TGT] figured it out.
âI tasted it and I knew â Williams said. âThe funny thing is  [TGT]   [TGT]  tell me the recipe.â
Theyâre overflowing with silky lamb and beef  topped nacho style with spicy giardiniera and drizzled with D.A.F sauce  an elixir   [TGT] describes as âslutty.â Itâs like creamy Thousand Island dressing. This plate is called the Jim Shoe ($11)  an upscale homage to a native South Side Chicago sandwich. You can get the tamales prepared many other ways  but the shoe was my jam.
Generally  Memphis-style ribs are dry rubbed so heavily  you feel like youâre eating kitty litter. While   [TGT] dry rubs and brines   [TGT]   babybacks ($16)    [TGT]   smokes and braises them  and finishes them on the grill until they glisten with a sherry caramel and the blazing bite of paprika and chili powder.
Not everything here is heavy. The catfish bursting with coriander and glistening in lemon butter is cloud-light. Itâs sourced from a third-generation catfish farmer who Williams and   [TGT] found via a woman they met at a bar on their research trip.