Stepchld

Vines dangling from the ceiling above you and a colorful mural of Nina Simone and Erykah Badu to your left. No, you’re not chilling at your artsy friend’s stylish North Loop loft, you’re eating at Stepchld. Their menu has dishes that pull flavors from a variety of countries, like birria tacos seasoned with an Ethiopian berbere spice blend, and pork belly and ginger coconut rice punched up with kimchi and gochujang aioli. The roasted brussels sprouts flavored with apricot and curry are so good they’ll win over people who haven’t eaten anything green in the past decade, and the Cooper Burger is anything but basic, thanks to an aioli made with chili-packed spice mix mitmita. For a sweet ending, split the crepe-style, einkorn flour ricotta blueberry pancakes.