Jibek Jolu

I had a fun dinner at Jibek Jolu with a group of five friends as part of a BYOB dinner club. The meal was such a great value; we ate like kings and the final tab was just $21 per/person (including tax and generous tip)!

About the only knock is the menu is on the small side and many dishes sound similar to one another (lots of pies/dumplings filled with meat/cheese/potatoes/veggies with slightly different combinations of ingredients or type of dough - some fried, some steamed and some baked). As a positive, all the appetizers are priced as individual pieces, so you can try just about everything if you want - or if there is something you know you love order double or triple orders (appetizers ranged from about $1 to $3). Our group did double orders of six different appetizers (pretty much the entire selection) as well as ordered the carrot salad (really delicious - spicy shredded carrots with garlic and olive oil) and this was a nice amount of food - everybody was able to have a decent size tasting portion of each appetizer. If dining as a couple single portions of three to four different appetizers would probably be optimal. The food was well seasoned and just about everything was good. Definitely hearty food, so perfect on a chilly Chicago winter evening.

Most entrees may be ordered in half sizes in case you want to dine "small plate" style and sample multiple dishes. Since we had five people we opted to order four full size entrees of a variety of dishes and eat family style (i.e. share everything). This again worked out to be the perfect size of food. While some of the meats seemed a bit overcooked, overall there were nice flavors; nothing fancy, but good, simple ethnic cuisine. With most entrees being priced under $10 this is really an awesome value (portion sizes are fairly hearty). The Lagman Ganfan was my favorite entree, featuring sliced daikon with red green, and banana peppers tomatoes, garlic, and beef stewed alongside your choice of noodles or steamed rice. There is also complimentary warm bread served soon after you seat (the bread was a bit on the sweet side and resembled a brioche). The menu also contains some soups such as a borsch, but since we were eating family style we opted not to order any soup. By dessert time we were quite full, so we just shared a single piece of the honey cake which everybody enjoyed.

Jibek Jolu is quite casual and has warm, pleasant decor without being too busy setting a nice tone for the Russian/Central Asian cuisine. The venue is on the small side, but has good acoustics and was not at all loud. Our server was friendly but a bit overworked in that she was the only server for the entire restaurant. As such it took a lot of time to place our order, but once placed the food was served at a decent pace and she checked in with us as often as she was able. If the restaurant had been filled to capacity having only one server on duty would have been a big issue, but since they were only about half full it was workable. Not sure if they were short staffed last night, or if this was typical. All in all this was an enjoyable evening and one of the best values in dining I have experienced in Chicago.

This is one of the best food finds in Chicago. Excellent taste, excellent service. Think Russion cuisine meets Turkish cuisine, with a bit of Korean influence. Basically nomadic food from Central Asia. If you've never tried it, you absolutely must! They prepare the dough from scratch, so go ahead and enjoy the noodle and dumpling dishes too!

Nice!  I did have to look up exactly where Kyrgyzstan was (because I am a nerd) but its location completely explains the menu which has Russian, Turkish and Asian influences.  Thanks to you Yelpers, we ordered the Korean carrot salad which was excelllent.  They do a special chicken on weekends which was also great.  Add some dumplings and homemade dessert -- great for a winter dinner.  Everything is made from scratch and it is BYOB.  I knew that we were in for a great meal when a group of eight young Russians came in, complete with GIANT bottle of vodka for a night out.