It used to be when you walked into Bob San on Division the sing-song greeting “irasshaimase” would bounce off the celery walls and land on the cement floor at your feet. A pioneer since 2000 on a strip of Division that now boasts a yoga boutique, a chocolatier and a parade of restaurants and bars, Bob San didn’t draw a crowd, initially.
Being from Wisconsin and also being loyal to the the state's professional football team, I found it a bit uneasy stepping inside Mike Ditka's restaurant. However, it was tempting given the rave reviews we have heard about the place.
I confess that I eat at the Drive-Thru. I've actually seen studies that show something like 90% of the people out there eat in their cars. Now I can hope that it's granola and bananas and thermoses of soup but somehow I know that it boils down to the drive-thru and if you talk to these people I would suspect that the holy grail of drive-thru is breakfast. McDonald's has been playing with the all-day breakfast option. Lunch-Time Breakfast Burrito! We'll be getting fatter as a nation.
I had discovered West Egg over St. Patrick’s Day when downtown revealed too many bars and not enough restaurants. It was packed with patrons spilling over in the “waiting room” at the adjacent building. We were seated quite efficiently and proceeded to eagerly pore over the menu.
On Saturday night, the Chicago Beer Society at Goose Island Brewery will present Night of the Living Ales IV. It's already sold out, but this is one of the rare moments to give beer lovers the chance to enjoy cask conditioned ale. Those who have spent time in England or Wales may rememberr the hand-pumped "warm beer" with low carbonation, low alcohol, and a taste unlike bottled or typical draft beer. Forty casks of real ale will be sampled in this event.
Continue reading "Night of the Living Ales IV: Goose Island" »
I guess for many reasons, there are no wine shops left in the Gold Coast. You can pick a few bottles at the Goddess and Grocer, and there's Treasure Island supermarket, but that's it. Gold Coast's lack of wine shops bring me to Old Town where House of Glunz is located on Wells just North of Division. In terms of aesthetics, it's my favorite shop. The shelves are old wood, there are empty bottles going back generations, with old barrels of sherry and family heirlooms, and the dusty, worn feel reminds me of some of the older European wine shops. Paintings of grapes and stained glass make it a cathedral of wine shops.
Continue reading "House of Glunz: Old World Wines in Old Town" »
Today when I ordered my coffee, I couldn't resist buying a delicious fresh store-made macarons from Sarah's Pastries & Candies. Macarons (sometimes spelled Macaroons) are credited as being a regional specialty of a town in Northeastern France, but are popular throughout France.
I have a very hard time taking chain restaurants seriously. I’m barely even open to going to restaurants that have more than one location in the same city. So I was extremely skeptical with a recent girl's-night-out that was set to start at Adobo Grill in Old Town (they also have locations in Wicker Park, Lombard and Indianapolis). That being said I’m a huge fan of Mexican food and can’t always afford to go stand in line at Frontera – which, in my opinion, is the holy grail of Mexican food.
Adobo was a surprising experience. The 10 of us fit comfortably in a very private table in the main dining area. Because of the large size of the group I was able to try many dishes on the menu and all of the dishes we ordered I found enjoyable and different than your standard burrito/taco Mexican joint.
For quite some time I have heard great things about Le Lan, a French-Asian restaurant in River North. It turned out to be a wonderful restaurant with personable and helpful staff, as well as an open plan atmosphere. A gift certificate for Christmas made it easier to visit.
My fiancee and I were walking down the street when we noticed that an old neighbor of hers had opened a restaurant on Elm Street, which he told us about a while back. The restaurant, Table Fifty-Two, is a small, homey restaurant paying homage to the chef's Southern roots. In a place open just three days, we wanted to beat the potentially-forthcoming hype and the crowds.
To start out, we were pleasantly surprised the restaurant was BYOB (we were told only for a week, though), so I quickly rushed to my fiancee's place and grabbed a bottle of fine. We were given a gratis treat of yummy goat cheese biscuits to start out.
Continue reading "Table Fifty-Two: A welcome addition to the Gold Coast" »
Adobo Grill in Old Town is a huge place. Massive. And crowded. There's a reason why: they do Mexican food very, very well. It's actually a small chain--if it can even be called a chain (Wicker Park and Indianapolis are the other two places). The bright, open airy place has splashes of rich red colors and Mexican folk art, a nice counterpoint to the crowds who pour in here on weekends, and it’s whimsical enough to not be a cliché of a Mexican restaurant.
When my fiancee and I took her parents to Le Colonial, the "what were we thinking" had more to do with "Why haven't we come here more often?" not why would we ever come back. In this Gold Coast restaurant prices are a bit higher than what you find in the north side neighborhoods, but reasonable for the immediate area and overall, good value for money. The atmosphere is tropical, bright and airy with white woods and ceiling fans, purportedly to evoke the colonial era.
Being from a small town in Wisconsin, I still feel like it's a real treat going out to a supper club. Back home, supper clubs were pretty much the only choice for going out for my family, aside from a couple chain places that were steadfastly avoided. Many outside Wisconsin have asked me what a supper club is, believing it is something posh like an exclusive country club. A supper club is anything but. Supper clubs typically are rural roadhouse-type establishments, some of which are nothing more than taverns with a few extra tables, whereas others are fancier but lovingly dated with red pleather, red lights, and fake plants. Popular supper club foods include fish frys (more on that below), Saturday night prime rib specials (hard to top as many supper clubs have special prime rib cookers and lots of experience doing it right), steaks, fried chicken, and then sometimes things like frog legs and duck.
Continue reading "Twin Anchors: Old-School Supper Club Feel" »
The Bucktown-bred Goddess and Grocer is a welcome addition on the Gold Coast, serving great snack foods and little dishes when you have company coming over that night and want something a notch above Treasure Island or Trader Joe's. The Gold Coast does not yet have a great cheese place that I've found but Goddess and Grocer keeps a decent selection on hand.
This River North Latin-Indian Fusion spot is one restaurant that, when researched, appeared to have received a lot of hype, especially when it first opened in 2004. The outside does not grab your attention, but the inside is an aesthetically artsy mix of black, white, and red. We were in the neighborhood and went there on a whim on a Friday night, and were surprised to discover the place was half-empty. This led us to question if we made the right decision.
Located on State just south of Division in the Gold Coast Bistrot Zinc is a good, dependable French bistro (a bit more like French/Italian) that is never too crowded and exudes a classic bistro feel to it with antique-looking brass fixtures and tile floors. I tend to go there often for two reasons: first, it’s close to my fiancées place; and second, the menu changes monthly, which always makes it interesting.
A coupon for one free entree for the price of another is too good to resist, and it's for our local favorite wine bar, so of course we had to use it. Cru is a River North wine bar not really known for their food. The atmosphere is cozy, like a living room, but it seems they went a little overboard on the Tuscan look. Most of the people inside were not eating, so we felt like we were taking a bit of a chance. Fortunately we weren't disappointed...
“We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other.” -- Quote from the 2000 movie Best in Show
I believe this quote sums up the gourmet coffee options in the Gold Coast. High rents, a plethora of chain stores, and rampant new development replacing older buildings don’t make opening a cute independent coffee house an easy option. Thankfully there’s a place on Oak and Rush called Sarah’s. Some of you may have heard the press on Sarah’s chocolate (and it is really a chocolate and pastry place), but I’m thinking of their coffee, a welcome addition in a neighborhood crying for variety.
Continue reading "Sarah's Pastries: Escaping from the big green monster" »
These past two weeks have been a gastric-dream. It definitely would mark the end of my New Year's Resolution had it anything to do with diet. Between December and January I have indulged in enough meals to go toe-to-toe with the fromager at Cityzen in D.C. who apparently toured Chicago's acclaimed restaurants- from Alinea to Trotter's to Tru in about 3 days. What's funny is that some real special flavors, at least as far as I can tell in Chicago, live in the smaller out of the way places where, on that budget, you could eat for months instead of one night. That is where you want to be. That takes some work beyond reading Gourmet's top whatever lists...
But what makes any gourmet (Gourmet or otherwise) food tour interesting is that there becomes a context that's 90% of the time otherwise missing. That's why Alinea really bothered me and I wasn't sure why. It was out of context or I was out of context. It wasn't the price and it wasn't that I was full or not full. But after several wonderful meals out I think I am beginning to understand Alinea and what makes it so special.
It was a surprise. I'm not even sure how we got short notice seats at Gourmet Magazine's #1 restaurant in the country. All I knew was that a jacket and a pair of pants were in the back seat (no tie required) and I was getting a ride somewhere for a belated B-Day dinner. Boy was I surprised.
I have been looking forward to Alinea since they've opened. Considering all the posts here you'll know that I have yet to go to the heavy hitters in Chicago: Trotter's, Tru, Moto, Everest, etc. I've just been to Arun's but have yet to write that up. Recent outings to other schmancy spots include Morimoto's and Babbo in a random last minute "Food Network" tour of NYC. I was excited about Alinea.
Morris and I were fortunate enough to watch the ball drop this year while being treated to a multi-course food and wine symphony conducted by Chef Grant. We even got a few special treats not on the menu.
Of course the service was impeccable and the attention to detail exceeded all expectations.
However – for me – the highlight of the evening was a new / experimental dish being “test fired”… on us.
I met a couple of girlfriends out for dinner and drinks Saturday night at Aldente Cafe and Lounge. It was about 8:30PM when we walked in and the place was pretty empty. We started at the bar and ordered glasses of wine. I asked the bartender what he would recommend and he commented that he didn't drink wine so he couldn't recommend anything. A bartender that doesn't drink wine? I might not think anything of it in a bar but at a restaurant? OK. I ordered a Chianti and after a couple of sips we moved over to our table.
I was at Cru once before for a glass of wine late one afternoon while waiting for someone or something... it was a while ago. It was good. They had a variety and the place was comfortable even while empty. I was still expecting a nice wine bar that fit with the surroundings and had the chops to sport the name Cru.
This time the place was crowded and we sat off of our large group of about 12 and ordered flights of Riesling and a cheese plate. The Riesling decision came after my wife arrived in time to stop an order for a half bottle of Proseco that on seeing I immediately regretted ordering. It was that bowling pin shaped bottle with the yellow P that, while I've had it and it's good, I know I could get at virtually any wine store in the state. I looked at the Riesling list and said sure... Washington state Rieslings would be a light and fruity simple solution for a pre-dinner quaff (HA - pre-dinner quaff!! Shoot me now!).
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