Shrimp Oh My Gawd

(Mister Takeout can be found on Twitter @mistertakeout and on FB as John Q Takeout)

I love Heaven on Seven for a lot of reasons besides the food: the escalator ride up to the restaurant, the festive decorations that soften generic steel-and-glass Chicago skyscraper locale, the friendly hosts and hostesses, the billion-bottle collection of tooth melting hot sauces. But the biggest reason has to be the colorful names of its large selection of Cajun, neo-Cajun and kinda-sorta Chicago Cajun dishes. Etouffee of the Day. Shrimp Ravigote. Jumbo Gumbo. Who comes up with names like these that roll off the tongue and stir the appetite? Heaven on Seven, that's who.

I've eaten in at Heaven on Seven dozens of times and have almost always left with a glow in my belly and a satisfied smile on my face. Until today, however, I had never ordered takeout.

Today's Takeout Lunch Establishment

Heaven on Seven
600 N. Michigan
Chicago, IL
312-280-7774


The Order

Shrimp Ravigote (pasta with shrimp and ravigote sauce)
$12.45 with tax (lunch menu price)


The Wait

There was no wait to speak of here. I ordered at 12:30, showed up five minutes early at 12:45 and my order was ready to go. The hostess knew my name without having to be reminded and verbally checked the order to make sure they had gotten everything right. All smiles, colorful beads and efficiencey. You can't ask for more than that.
RATING: 10


The Packaging

Shrimp Ravigote is a wet, heavy dish made up of linguini and a thick, creamy sauce. Nothing spilled in out of the simple styrofoam container into the plain brown paper bag on my way back to the office, but that was likely only because I was extra careful. The packaging makes me think this is a restaurant that doesn't really care if it is a takeout place or not.
RATING: 6


The Presentation

The pink shrimp, green onions and diced red and green bell peppers provided a perfect visual counterpoint to the mass of noodles once I finally got the container to my desk and opened. The food was hot, smelled delicious and most importantly looked incredibly appetizing.
RATING: 9


The Food Itself

I would be hard pressed to recall a more satisfying takeout lunch eaten sitting at my desk. Ever. The noodles were firm, the shrimp were anything but rubbery and the spices comprising Heaven on Seven's own special recipe for ravigote sauce filled my entire head with flavor. And to say there was more than enough to feed two people is an understatement. The homeless woman (who's name I don't know) who got ahold of this after I sampled the few morsels I needed must've thought she'd died and gone to heaven.
RATING: 10


I cannot recommend Heaven on Seven at 600 N. Michigan more highly both as an eat in and takeout restaurant. The food is superb, the service is superior and the meal stays hot all the way to your desk.

OVERALL RATING: 9