“Hoots” Hooters for the family

[rating=3]I have only been to Hooters once. It was with a group of guys who were in town and only wanted to taste the wings, while enjoying the view. I love a good “wing”. Years ago, my son worked at a place in Mundelein that was known for Buffalo Wings, and every night he worked, a bucket made it home. I truly enjoyed the wings at Hooters, but as a “family man” wanted to find something as good where the family could partake. It is almost as if the corporate big shots at Hooters heard my pleas. Today, I had the opportunity to visit their new concept, “HOOTS”, where a family can enjoy the same high quality wings (without the breasts). Those of you who have been to a Hooters, will understand that line!

Located in Cicero, on a very busy corner, Cermak and Cicero (not far from Midway Airport) is where this restaurant stands. It is in what is called an “outbuilding” and is in fact in a unit with another family favorite , Chipolte. This is not a typical fast food place, in that the orders are taken and the food is not sitting in a tray waiting to be bought. What you order will be fresh. The restaurant is divided into a carry-out and dine-in, but each diner goes to the cashier, places their order and then, when asked, decids to dine-in or carry-out.

If you are dining in, you get a number and select your table. You fill your own beverage cup and when the meal you have ordered is ready, one of their attentive wait-staff will bring your order to the table. If your order is a carry-out, you can wait until they call your name and you will see that they will make certain that your order is packed properly, so it will make it to home or office with no muss or fuss. In our case, we were supposed to dine in, but a delay at the paper caused us to have to dine at the office. I watched as they prepared the items we opted to taste.

Of course we enjoyed the original wings with a variety of sauces. They were as good as they get! The Snow Crab Legs were amazing! They even gave us a container of warm butter that allowed us to taste these the way they are meant to be eaten. The Buffalo Shrimp prepared in the original wing sauce are something very special. The sauces we enjoyed were medium, hot and TMI as well as their special honey BBQ.  One of their starters is called “Lotsa Tots” and these are the wildest tater tots you ever tasted. A bit spicy, but guess what? DELICIOUS!

Other menu items- Fried Pickles (liked the way they looked and some of the diners told me they were very unusual), mozzarella sticks, onion rings, and in their MAINS: Boneless wings, a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and a grilled chicken sandwich (can be done “blackened”) as well as a garden salad that can have either Buffalo or grilled chicken on it. Sides are curley fries, tater tots, celery and for dessert we had the chocolate chunk cookie- wow!

The dining area does have a bar, with very limited items. Draft Beer, bottled beer and their homemade sangria and margaritas. One can still watch a giant screen TV for sporting events, but unlike the original, this is truly a family place to dine. The staff, under the direction of Brooke Roberts, G.M. is a well-oiled machine and they are only open three weeks. I would imagine based on what I saw (and tasted) this is just the start of a revolution in the “fast-Food” industry. A new and exciting and by the way, very affordable dining experience. I would be on the look-out for more “HOOTs” to come to our area. Meanwhile, if you are in the area, visit this one at 2201-D S. Cicero Avenue( at Cermak), call 708-652-3859 or order online at www.eathoots.com where you can see the menu. The food will be waiting for you, hot (spicy, if you like) and delicious!