Meaty Serbian Specialties Lure Critic to Lincoln Square

016 Restaurant is specializing in southern Serbian cuisine with great success. Mike Sula checks out the Lincoln Square restaurant and finds a variety of meaty dishes from owner Bojan Milicevic. “Nice smoked-kissed” sticks of beef and veal cevapcic are hits, as are grilled meatballs larded with smoked bacon and gouda. Mushroom-and-cheese-stuffed pork loin that stays moist due to being wrapped in caul fat is another favorite, and Sula says “don’t come without ordering a burek” — phyllo pastry filled with cheese and spinach. There’s also a “serious bread game afoot at 016” and it produces the sourdough boule that holds the braised pork stew leskovačka mućkalica. [Reader]

Amy Morton’s (Found) new restaurant is a great addition to downtown Aurora. Catering to the pre-theater crowds, Stolp Island Social’s menu is full of reliable and well-executed options, writes Phil Vettel. “Exceptionally meaty” twice-fried chicken wings are glazed in a “sweet-tart, honey-lemon sauce with enough smoked chiles to get your attention.” Steaks are “good” as well but Vettel prefers the roasted branzino over a “lovely” brown butter and caper sauce; and a “very good” bone-in pork chop “loaded with rich flavor.” Desserts include a chocolate velvet cake that’s “airy in texture but dense in flavor.” [Tribune]

Jaipur is a “polished, old-school Indian restaurant experience” and makes for a great lunch spot. Joanne Trestrail writes as she rants about the spices in South Asian cuisine. Comparing it to modern spots like Rooh next door, the “extensive menu is also a bit of a throwback” and the “portions are generous.” An “impactful tomato soup gets a meal off to a rousing start with bold spicing.” Old standbys such as saag paneer are excellent, “as the execution is so high and the flavors so vivid, it tastes like a great new invention.” And meatless entrees “are a strong suit,” with the potato-and-cauliflower aloo gobhi “dazzl[ing].” [Crain’s]