Photograph: Anna Knott
“You will eat your way from here to here,” owner Tommy Setiawan says, pointing to a map of Indonesia at Rickshaw Republic.
The stylized storefront, adorned with parasols and birdcages, takes diners on a journey through Setiawan’s archipelago homeland, which runs on street food: skewers, dumplings, and fritters. The best stop is nasi lemak, an elaborate feast that includes stew-like chunks of beef rendang in coconut curry, a pyramid of long-grain rice, thin shreds of egg, peanuts mingling with caramelized fried anchovies, curried pickles and carrots, and puffed shrimp crackers. Great stuff.
If this is street food in Indonesia, thank God for these tables and chairs and silverware and plates in Lincoln Park. 2312 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-697-4750.