Some dinners are born fully formed. Others stumble into existence.

This one? Somewhere in between.

This month’s dinner is at a brand-new Sumatran spot in Elmhurst that we have chased for weeks. In fact, we are still chasing them. Phone calls have gone unanswered. DMs have vanished into the void. At one point we were pretty sure they didn’t actually exist. But they do. And they’re cooking.

Beef rendang slow-simmered to the brink of collapse. Smoky grilled chicken. Shrimp with sambal petai that will challenge your relationship with legumes. Tea leaf salad. Turmeric sauce. And Batagor—Sumatra’s answer to the fish cake—with peanut sauce you’ll want to drink.

But once the food hits the table, it’ll all make wonderful sense.

We’re calling this one: Chaos, Smoke, and Sumatran Spice.