My partner and I have been dining at Gaoku in Humboldt Park monthly since it opened. I’ve fallen in love with their Tom Khalada. You see, I’m a bit of a piña colada freak. I’ve had other great piñas, Barbaro does a fantastic shaken one, Pizza Lobo has a pretty good frozen one. But the Tom Khalada had everything I wanted. It was sweet and smooth, herbaceous, slightly spicy. It had the right amount of coconut, enough to be luscious but not coat and overwhelm your palate. The notes of gangal were spot on!
Unfortunately, I learned on Thursday their head bartender left and so the Tom Khalada left with them. Idk if this is a post in memoriam or just a desperate ploy to see if anyone knows that special, beautifully brained bartender and can hook a girl up with that complex ass recipe.
Also, cocktails aside, this place is very good and I never see it as crowded as it should be! They have a Malort Aperol cocktail on the menu right now that is a banger and I’ve never eaten anything I didn’t love there!
by Embarrassed_Trip_422
14 Comments
That cocktail sounds amazing. I live a few blocks from there. Bummer I missed it
Do they call it Humboldt east of the park? I think that’s West Town.
Drive by Gaoku at night regularly and I’ve always wanted to check it out.
Eagerly following and hoping the bartender shows up here. It’s happened before!
I’ve been wondering if he left- haven’t seen him recently. It’s too bad he took the recipes too. Thought the restaurant would have been able to keep those?
Put this into the Goog:
Crafty Cask Tom Khacktail
Only thing it’s missing is the galangal or ginger, you can probably make some syrup with one and play around with the proportions until you get it just right.
This is easier said than done, but if you can find green chartreuse, make yourself a pina verde.
PM’ing you! Don’t want to dox the guy, but he was active on the HP neighbourhood page.
the cocktail is available at superkhana in logan square https://www.superkhanachicago.com/beverage-pm
Oh man RIP
I know I’m late but maybe post this on /r/cocktails they have a wealth of knowledge and may help you approximate the recipe.
Can’t give you the recipe but the bartender is heading the program at hawksmoore in River north now
THANK YOU INTERNET!!! Shoutout to everyone who sent me the bartender’s info. Turns out he was well aware of the request and trying to figure out who was asking. I connected with him yesterday 💕
Chicago proving time and time again to be GOAT.
That drinks sounds amazing.
Gaoku does a couple things well, but it’s menu and decor are too unfocused to have legs in Chicago. It’s 100% not an izakaya. No way it lasts another year if they don’t figure things out. Not crowded for a reason.