NEW TO ME
UNDER-THE-RADAR restaurants can be revelatory discoveries. Blue Star Cafe is one such. Open since 2012, but not fully discovered by me until recently, the welcoming, modest space is a hot spot for wonderful specialties from owner Alia Muhyadin’s homeland of Somalia. Her son, Amoud Warsame, shows his dexterous cooking skills with crisp sambusa pastries (like Indian samosas) filled plentifully with beef, chicken or vegetables; the smoothest, lightest hummus you’ve ever had; and customizable platters with a choice of meat, fish or plants and a base such as basmati rice, malawax (a sweet Somali crepe) or angel hair pasta. Best bet: the fragrant, rich “kay-kay” (fried pieces of flatbread) topped with tender goat meat. 1619 N. Farwell Ave., 414-273-9744 Somali $1.50-$9