Posted by Krista on September 5, 2011
Ooh, I’m way behind. I blame the airlines. And Design Star on HGTV. And my cousin George, who was in town for all of six days and managed to completely redecorate my apartment, rearrange my kitchen cabinets, and fix anything and everything that has bugged me since I moved into this damn place nearly exactly a year ago. (Who knew the top rack of my dishwasher was adjustable?) Exhausting, all of it.
I tried to entertain George food-wise, but here’s what I learned: he’s a picky eater. He likes Red Bull. And cookies. And pretzels. And could happily survive on all that for breakfast and lunch. I think he also likes Chinese food, but I denied him his second take-out in the hopes I could convince him to go to Ruxbin. Denied. More in a bit.
Paris Club, River North: I made reservations ages in advance at Paris Club, and the charcuterie — for two — was pretty damn amazing. However, it should have been labeled “For two very large Americans” or “For four plus-sized French people” because it was really way too much food even for our table of four to do justice to. Our server was fantastic: I spilled a glass of wine all over myself (Long Island girl, talking with her hands) and he brought me a replacement glass, no problem.The atmosphere at Paris Club is very lively, but in a ”What? What did you say??” kind of way. Finally to the food…my ahi tuna main dish was pretty disappointing. Too salty.
I’ve been thinking about salt lately and have to list it out as one of the main differences between eating in the US vs. eating in the UK. Everything in the US is sooo disgustingly salty. And we wonder why we have high blood pressure. (I’d also say it’s because we don’t walk enough.)
Randomly…I went to use the ladies’ room at Paris Club on the main floor and there were six girls in line. For one toilet. Good times. About 10 minutes in, a staff member told us that there were more loos downstairs, but by that point I was next. I ended up using the men’s room, and you know what that’s like. The Verdict: Out. There are things I want to like, but that salty main dish was just too much. Oh, and my cousin George would like you to know that he and my friend Matt were two of the only men in the dining room at 8 pm on a Friday night. Odd.
Gilt Bar, River North: I went to Gilt Bar nearly exactly a year ago when I first arrived back in Chicago, but for some reason never wrote about it. Although I would like it better if I could see my hand in front of my face while I’m eating (flashlight, anyone?), I do love the food here. My truffle pasta was the dish that kept getting passed around the table. I also really like the music at Gilt Bar; they played The XX, only one of my fave albums of 2010. (OK, OK it came out in 2009 but still.) Great cocktail bar downstairs…all very chill and mellow.
Feast, Bucktown: I asked my cousin what he likes to eat for breakfast. He says — and I quote –”I’m not really a breakfast person.” You can guess where this is going. Every morning, I would wake up, make breakfast for myself, eat it, and then he would say, “What are we doing for breakfast?” Ahem. As we were up abysmally early on Saturday, so I thought we’d try for The Bongo Room. Let me point out two things. It was Saturday — not Sunday — and we arrived at 9:15 am. 9:15! They had been open 15 minutes!! And told us that we’d have to wait 30 to 45 minutes for a table. 30 to 45 minutes! So we went to Feast instead and had some pretty luscious peach and blueberry challah French toast. This place totally needs a lick of paint and our table was too wobbly for its own good, but those are minor quibbles in the face of a breakfast this nice.
The Boundary, Wicker Park: George wanted to eat outside, so I pulled up along Division and suggested Prasino. He ix-nayed it because it “looked too healthy” so instead we made our way to The Boundary, where we watched the cars go by as we snacked on some burgers and tomato soup. Everything was fine here. PS Did you know there are no parking meters on the main stretch of Division? (OK, not meters but that green machine ticket-y thing. You know what I’m talking about.)
Pizza Metro II: I wanted to go to Ruxbin. George wanted Chinese. We compromised on pizza because I wanted a salad. Hah! This place is more a take-out place than anything else. We brought home our 1/2 potato (him) and 1/2 pepperoni (me) pizza, along with my salad, and enjoyed it in front of HGTV. George said, “Yeah, this wasn’t really that great.” I would concur. Fine, nothing special. Could have used a better more bubbly crust.
I have more coming up…Blue 13, GT Fish & Oyster, Prasino, and um I decided to go to London for the weekend last week so there’s that too. Brace yourselves.
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Posted in American, Brunch, Bucktown, Burgers, Chicago, French, Italian, Modern European, United States, Wicker Park | 2 Comments
Posted by Krista on August 8, 2011
Christina & Kent are having twins on Thursday. And Kent has two broken elbows. Cracks me up every time I think about it. Yes, I’m a bad friend. Worst part? Kent broke his own elbows! Riding his bike into work one morning. But he’s feeling better and as they’re relishing these last few days of freedom, we met up for a leisurely dinner at Aquitaine, the restaurant that will forever be know after this as The Sweat Locker.
Because Aquitaine was HOT. It was okay at first, with a cook trickle of air conditioning making it up to our table at the front of the restaurant on occasion. But around the time our starters arrived, a table of four arrived and asked that the restaurant open the doors to the street. The staff (and I believe the chef herself) had already starting opening the doors when they turned and asked us, “You don’t mind if we open these, do you? It should cool things down a bit.” Well, firstly…we did mind. But the horse was already out of the barn. Secondly, anyone who has studied anything remotely related to science will know that when it is 95 degrees outside and you open a window, it will become warmer inside.
Sigh.
Christina and I split an extremely generous “petit” tart to start. I’m afraid to ask what the grande looks like, because this was the size of a baby’s head. Made of portabella mushroom, sundried tomato, and goat cheese, it was badly in need of seasoning.
Better was the mustard porkchop. That was some porky pig because this too was a very generous serving. (At $24, I’m glad it was.) I did not do this dish justice, even though it was a pretty excellent juicy pork chop and I am a fan of all things mustard. The seasonal vegetables seemed a bit catering college to me, but really they were fine. We were all so hot though that we asked for the check as soon as my plate was cleared and headed across the street to Dairy Queen to cool down.
The Verdict: The Sweat Locker — I mean Aquitaine — is probably that sort of restaurant that lots of locals like. So if you live in the neighborhood, maybe you should go there. When it’s not too hot outside.
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Posted in American, Chicago, French, Lincoln Park, United States | No Comments
Posted by Krista on August 7, 2011
Just like I’m not entirely sure how I’ve been able to dine at Next not once but three times when everyone else is so valiantly clicking refresh on their browser, so too am I unsure how I was able to get into EL ideas so quickly and with such a minimum of fuss. (EL ideas, for those of you not in the know, is a micro-restaurant. Seating just 10 people. Open just Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Located at 14th and Western. It is run by Phillip/Josh Foss — formerly of Lockwood, now of the Meatyballs Mobile — whose food I had never experienced before this evening.) Maybe I was able to get in because of my e-mail requesting a reservation…
hELlo
per your instructions…
tELephone number: <my digits>
table for 4 should suit us adequatELy
ELigible for any date in July and August at this writing, most definitELy.
absolutELy no allergies. Except to cats. But we assume they are not on the menu.
sincerELy hope we are ELigible…
Krista
I brought Meredith and her friend Megan along. (Our party of four became three.) We each brought a bottle of wine. And I brought some dessert wine. (EL is BYOB.) In hindsight, this was a very bad idea as it relates to this here Web site. Because you see…I kinda didn’t take many pictures. Nor did I take any notes. In short, this meal is mainly remembered as “INCREDIBLE! So FUN! AWESOME. DAVE THE FORAGER!”
And, um, I remember the parking lot on Western, around the corner from EL ideas. Because after we learned about Dave the forager (and stand-up comedian) who had sourced a number of the ingredients used by EL like the wild garlic and the pollen and some berries, my running joke became, “And did Dave find this in the Union Pacific parking lot?” This probably became annoying after a while. For that, EL has my profuse apologies.
Also remembered…the bar on the corner. And the way they abbreviated coffee and what I can only assume is “breakfast.” Water Hole…the name seems to be missing a gerund or something.
I photographed this dish though — the haricots vert — because the sphere of chopped green beans was whimsical and lovely, and I liked the combination of granola and green beans.
Also photographed…the croquette. I didn’t eat this fast enough and let the liquid escape too soon.
One of our favorite dishes of the night…the duck. With blueberries. This was a more traditional dish — less inventive than the others I think — but lovely just the same.
Fun surprise of the night…EL uses Square to process your credit card via iPhone, right at the table. Love Square. And I’m hoping more restaurants in the US switch to at-table credit card processing.
The Verdict: Run, don’t walk. And lay off the booze so you can have clearer memories of what will, I’m sure, be a lovely evening.
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Posted in American, Chicago, Modern European, United States, University Village | 3 Comments
Posted by Krista on July 31, 2011
Least favorite question? What’s your favorite restaurant. I hate it. Because you know what? I don’t have one in Chicago. (Yet?) I’ve yet to walk into a place here where I can say to myself, “Oh now here…I’d eat here all the time.” But I did walk into Mana Food Bar on Division the other weekend and think…”Ah, now this is interesting.” I liked the decor. I liked the smallness. Chicago doesn’t do SMALL so it’s refreshing to be in a place with only about 24 covers where the server can’t possibly ignore you.
The only factor preventing Mana Food Bar from being a true favorite? Sigh…it’s vegetarian. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I like a little pork belly now and then.
Yup, no meat on this menu.
The small vegetarian chili was surprisingly hearty. I barely missed the meat. Only complaint? Too small!
Bi Bim Bap is one of my all-time favorite dishes. This too was a surprisingly hefty dish, but I did miss the marinated beef. Still though, I felt virtuous with all this veg inside of me.
At Mana Food Bar, they leave the tap water on the table so you can serve yourself. I like this. A lot! I hate it when servers fill up my water glass every two minutes, even when the glass isn’t anywhere near empty. I want to see more bottled water on the table in Chicago. More.
The Verdict: I really like Mana Food Bar. I’d go back again and again and again some more. (I’d probably have a turkey sandwich for lunch though.)
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Posted in American, Chicago, Modern European, Pan-Asian, United States, Wicker Park | 1 Comment
Posted by Krista on July 27, 2011
I thought Yelp Week was gonna be huge. I mean, 50% off at a bunch of Yelp favorites? I made my reservations WEEKS in advance. Hah! Joke is on me. I showed up at Blue Star at the pre-appointed time and they had no record of my booking. “The reservations go to my phone,” he said. “Sometimes I forget to write them down.”
Not to fear though because Blue Star was EMPTY. I made the mistake of mentioning that we would have a 6-week old with us and we were relegated to the children’s section. You know…where they only other people in the bloody restaurant happened to be sitting. (With their young boy.) Sigh. Blue Star were just waiting for the crowds to arrive, I suppose.
Lucky for us, the Yelp menu was a supremely good value. $20 for FOUR COURSES. A salad, some fried cheese, some steak, and well for me, some limoncello for dessert. It was such an insanely good value that I FELT GUILTY.
The steak was surprisingly flavorful and pretty perfectly cooked to medium rare, and who doesn’t love salsa verde. I took half of this home and had it for breakfast the next day.
We stuck to the house white and only paid something like $30 a person by the end of the evening when it came to tax and tip. I felt so guilty about how cheap Blue Star was with our 50% off that I’m mentally promised them I’ll return. And next time, I’ll actually check out the wine list.
Blue Star Wine Bar is next to a gas station and the expressway. It doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic, but rumor has it they get busy after 9 pm. If you’re in the neighborhood, you should stop by.
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Posted in American, Noble Square, Wine | 3 Comments
Posted by Krista on July 19, 2011
I can tell I haven’t been traveling lately because my apartment looks like a tornado hit it and I have no dirty laundry. At all. It’s a strange feeling, but this is what comes with an international job when the rest of the world takes off nearly all of July and August. Sigh. America, we’ll get there someday.
I can also tell I haven’t been traveling much because I’ve been eating out a lot more in Chicago lately. But there are some places that I just can’t get a full post out of. So here’s a round-up of some of the Chicago places I’ve visited lately.
Mercadito: I thought I’d written about Mercadito a few years ago but I can’t seem to find the post. My friend Chris was in town from London for the night and my colleague Mark was a bachelor for the week so we headed over to Mercadito to fulfill Chris’ request for Mexican. (I know, I know. We could have gone someplace more “authentic” but we needed to stay local for various reasons. And my guess is that a good portion of Mercadito’s kitchen staff is Mexican anyhow, so “authentic” is a non-starter.) The margaritas were great, our server was awesome, and Chris was extremely pleased with the tacos. The noise-level was deafening and the restaurant is too dark to take photos in, but this is a fun place with tasty food that I will gladly revisit.
Bandera: I stopped in here around 2:45 pm on a Friday afternoon in the hopes of having a good lunch salad. (My employer very graciously grants summer hours between May and September, so you might notice I take myself out to eat a lot on Friday afternoons when I’m in town.) The “Hacked” chicken salad was really really good. Oddly — but this is America after all — after my first bite of salad, I thought to myself… “Oh, there’s real chicken in here.” None of those frozen chicken breasts. This was a real roast chicken hacked up into bits, and it was dark meat, my favorite. Loved the dressing, which was a bit of lime and a bit of peanut. I thought the service was a bit stand-offish, but for a salad, I’d go back here.
Emerald Loop: I dropped into Emerald Loop with a few colleagues to have lunch and watch the women’s US soccer team beat France in the women’s world cup. It was kinda exciting to see so many people out to watch the women. Sadly, my Southwestern Chicken salad was nowhere near as exciting. In fact, it was pretty bad. Frozen chicken breast that still tasted like refrigerator and an over-dressed salad. Meh. Not for me. Service was generally good though, but we did wait for ages for our food and the check.
Coming up…Shaw’s Oyster Bar, Mana Food Bar, The Florentine, and Blue Star Wine Bar.
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Posted in American, Chicago, Loop, Mexican, Michigan Avenue, River North, United States | 5 Comments
Posted by Krista on July 18, 2011
Frontier
1072 N. Milwaukee
Chicago
Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The Victims: Jeff, Jeff, Erica, and special international guests Nordic Nibbler & Mrs. Nordic Nibbler
I miss having a “local.” In London, I could always depend on The Peasant on St John Street or The Well, also on St John Street (and conveniently located next to Clerkenwell’s newest Waitrose. How I miss that Waitrose). My international guests always loved The Peasant and The Well, the former for its atmosphere, the latter for its food. (IMHO, the food at both was good, not great. But take an American tourist’s preconceived notions of British food, and both of these places do amazingly well.)
Anyhow, as the one-year anniversary of my repatriation approaches, I promise to refer to London less and less in blog posts that are not about London, lest I become one of “those people.” (If I’m not already so.) So let me focus on Frontier and Chicago.
I like Frontier. It’s hard not to given its proximity to my abode. I like their Tuesday night specials even more.
$2 OYSTERS. (See above.)
$2 TACOS. We watched as two guys got what had to have been a dozen tacos on the Tuesday we visited. We probably did good work on about six in total. For $2, these were pretty high quality tacos and much better (in my opinion) than La Pasadita’s on Ashland.
Better still, Frontier has fulfilled one of my US-demands…
$2 HALF PINTS. Half pints have been nearly impossible to find in Chicago. Even Owen & Engine doesn’t have them. But Frontier does!
Ah, and I neglected to take any photos of the outdoor patio, but it’s pretty awesome. This alone is reason to go.
(Frontier also offers $2 deviled eggs on Tuesday, but they’re not my sort of thing.)
The Verdict: I like it here. I’ll be back.
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Posted in American, Chicago, Mexican, Noble Square, United States | 5 Comments
Posted by Krista on July 15, 2011
Avec
615 W Randoph Street
Chicago
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Victim: Dan
The Damage: About $50 each
The Background: I want to like Avec. I really do. EVERYONE likes Avec. So when Dan suggests we meet up at Avec — a place I haven’t been to in ages — I say yes. But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking…”Avec. That place that everyone thought I’d like but I didn’t. And then everyone told me to go to Blackbird. So I did. And I didn’t like that either.” Hmmm. (Granted both my prior visits to these establishments were ages ago. Ages and ages.)
One reason why I don’t like Avec is THE NOISE. There is not a soft surface in this little matchbox of a place, which creates a thundering din as the night goes on. And we were on the end, close to the window. Imagine if we’d been in the MIDDLE.
We ate a lot of vegetables at Avec. I’m cool with that. The brussel sprouts with parmesan were nice. But was it like the best thing I’ve eaten in forever? No. It was just brussel sprots with cheese. And onions. And some green stuff. I know I know. I’m being picky. But when you’re eating in a place that is widely regarded as one of the best casual-dining spots in Chicago, you want more. Or well…at least I do.
We had some soft shell crab, and it was very nice. I could have more of this.
We ordered some of Avec’s “famous” flatbread. (“Everyone” says you have to try the flatbread.) And this is what arrived. Um, I don’t know about you, but I call this pizza. Pizza with beets and olives. But pizza just the same. It was very nice beet and olive pizza. And it was pretty tasty. But it was just pizza.
The Service: Service was a little confusing. Was the girl waiting on us, or was our busboy waiting on us? He certainly seemed knowledgeable enough about the menu. Someone deserves a promotion. And our female server…she did not smile once. Odd. This is America, after all! And stop please stop filling my water glass up every 2.5 minutes. Please.
The Verdict: I think I have this high expectations problem in America. Everyone tells me I will love a place. So I expect to love it. And while I do love Avec’s very comprehensive wine list, and while the food is quite nice and of very high quality, I’m just not totally wowed. You’re probably wondering…”What does it take to wow her?” Good question. It takes things in combinations I don’t normally have. (And it’s probably why I love Ottolenghi in London so much.) Unfamiliarity probably scares off the average diner, and this is maybe why a lot of American restaurants don’t do it all that much. I just want someone to take some goddamn risks.
So…I like Avec. I really do. But would I say you MUST go there? Nah.
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Posted in American, Chicago, Modern European, United States, West Loop, Wine | 1 Comment
Posted by Krista on May 13, 2011
Bin 36
339 N Dearborn
Chicago
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Victims: Many
The Damage: Unknown as someone else paid, but this was all facilitated by a 30% discount at the awesome VillageVines.com.
The Background: I’ve been going to Bin 36 since it opened. I vaguely remember that in the old days, the bathrooms were quite unusual. I cannot for the life of me remember what was unusual about them, only that they were different. Something must have changed though because the Bin 36 toilets were very normal this visit, my first in a few years. Either that or I’ve become desensitized to unusual restroom facilities after all my time in the UK.
We’re at Bin 36 for a work dinner, which I’ve booked through VillageVines.com. Who am I to say no to 30% off a decent restaurant in close proximity to my office and our guest’s hotel?
We start with the Grand Platter: Choose three salumi and three cheeses for $24. It comes with cornichon (!!!), olives and two Mustards. I kinda think this is a no-brainer good value. And at 30% off? That’s $16.80 for those of you not counting. That’s pretty awesome.
I leave the salumi and cheese selections to someone else. All I can tell you is that I loved everything and started imagining myself opening up a very small wine bar that serves nothing but plates like this.
For my main, I did something I try not to do in restaurants: I ordered chicken. (Why order chicken when I’ve got a box of Costco chicken breasts at home?) It was billed as Sauteed Amish Chicken Breast with Tuscan kale and Gruyere cheese, bread pudding, and braised chicken and mushroom “gravy.” (I’m not quite sure what they’re all about with the gravy-in-quotation-marks thing.)
And you know what? It was tasty. That’s really the best way to describe it. I was hungry, and I ate Bin 36′s Sauteed Amish Chicken Breast for 30% off $19 (or $13.30) and I became sated. Really, This was very nice.
The Verdict: Bin 36 is always a good option. And I haven’t even talked about the EXCELLENT wine list or the AMAZING cheese selection. Bin 36 always comes through for me. And at 30% off, well–wait for it–it’s a no-brainer.
P.S. I love cornichon. Hate pickles. Love cornichon. Go figure.
P.P.S. If there’s any place that could be doing lots more with social media, it’s Bin 36. So many options! Wine tastings, cheese tastings, salumi tastings…events, events, events.
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Posted in American, Chicago, River North, United States, Wine | 2 Comments
Posted by Krista on May 12, 2011
The Southern
1840 West North Ave
Chicago
Date of Last Visit: Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Victim: Julie
The Damage: About $25 each. Beers.
The Background: Sunday April 10th was a GORGEOUS day in Chicago. Over 80 degrees. Amazing. It made me momentarily forget the Blizzard of 2011 that kept me trapped in my apartment with a German exchange student for three days, forcing me to skip my work trip to Israel and head straight to Dubai instead.
I tried to get Julie to buy some proseco or champagne and sit in Wicker Park with me and eat strawberries. Maybe if we closed our eyes tight enough, we could pretend we were in Hyde Park (London) or Hampstead Heath. Somehow, this didn’t work out and we ended up at The Southern for a late brunch.
LATE brunch. Which for me, makes it time for real food…real food, not breakfast food. Sadly, The Southern was only serving their brunch menu. Which means I couldn’t have their regular mac & cheese — the dish they’re most famous for — I had to have their breakfast mac & cheese instead. (I tried people. I tried.)
Bah.
The breakfast mac & cheese arrives and it is soupy. Don’t let the smattering of breadcrumbs up top fool you. The rest of it is just cream of some sort. Soupy soupy cream. (The menu lists the ingredients as smoked gouda, andouille sausage,toasted bread crumbs, and scrambled egg.) I scoop up the sausage and the scrambled egg, but the mac & cheese itself is a disappointment to mac & cheese everywhere. (Which will only become clearer when I have the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had in my entire life when I hit Spuntino in London at the end of April. Mac & cheese in London of all places!)
I got most of it to go and take the rest home and with the help of Twitter, I improved upon it.
The Verdict: Everyone loves The Southern. I should probably give it another shot. But not so impressed right now. Sorry dudes.
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Posted in American, Brunch, Bucktown, Chicago, United States | 6 Comments
Posted by Krista on May 2, 2011
Jam
937 N Damen
Chicago
Date of Last Visit: Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Victim: Joe aka Chicago Food Snob
The Damage: $20 each
The Breakfast: I am a bad American. I’ve never been much one for big American-style breakfasts and brunches. Waffles and pancakes and all that. If given the choice, I would happily have Chinese food for breakfast every morning. Or roast chicken. This is why the UK suited me so well. Sunday roasts!
But when fellow Chicago food blogger Chicago Food Snob suggested we meet up for brunch at Jam, I of course said yes because firstly, he is Chicago Food Snob and secondly, Food & Wine magazine voted Jam’s Malted Custard French Toast as one of their best dishes of 2010.
I did not order the French toast because it sounded a bit too dessert-y for my liking. (I was catching up on No Reservations on my flight back from London yesterday and was glad to hear Tony B announce that he too is not a huge dessert fan and is more a savory person. See I’m not crazy.) Instead, I opted for the Spanish Omelet, with chorizo, roasted peppers, melted onions, garrotxa Cheese, and fingerling potatoes. For $1 extra, I added white anchovies.
It was a pretty little omelet of manageable size. The chorizo was excellent; my only wish would be for larger chunks, as the chorizo was diced up quite small.
All-in-all, this was very well done. A very good breakfast indeed. One complaint would be that they don’t put salt and pepper on the tables and I would have liked some salt for both the potatoes and the omelet. Then again, I probably could have asked our server and I didn’t. Lazy beans.
Service: Antipodean (we don’t get many around these parts) and quite nice.
The Verdict: Nice.
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Posted in American, Brunch, Chicago, United States, West Town | 3 Comments
Posted by Krista on April 20, 2011
Sable Kitchen
505 North State
Chicago
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Victim: Heather
The Damage: About $20 each
The Background: Heather and I have been talking about going out to lunch since AUGUST. We finally put a date in the diary and headed over to Sable Kitchen, in The Palomar Hotel.
I am a fan of all things Kimpton–they are in my opinion the nicest hotel chain in America–so this was not a hard sell for me. And I was excited to check out Kimpton’s latest offering in Chicago.
What I like about Kimpton is that their restaurants are destinations. They’re not just soulless hotel restaurants, something that I have a lot of experience with.
The Entrance: We enter Sable Kitchen and we are immediately overwhelmed by the smell of GAS. This is a bad thing. It’s so bad that we have to talk to the hostess about it. Does she know it smells like gas, and more importantly, are we all going to die during lunch?
Yes, she says. They know it smells like gas. They’ve had many people in to research the smell of gas and they can’t figure out where it’s coming from really. They’ve had everything tested and, she assures us, the smell of gas will not hurt anyone.
You know what I say to that? Nothing should smell like gas. MAYBE YOU SHOULD LOOK HARDER. (It’s not just me…see Gary R’s review of Sable Kitchen on Yelp.)
The tomato soup I had at Sable Kitchen was some of the best I’ve ever had. Tangy. Excellent.
My main was a super-generous chicken with buttermilk herb dumplings. (Welcome to America, really.) I don’t know how one person could reasonably eat all of this unless they ran a marathon earlier. I really liked the idea of this dish and it all came together well with one exception…the dumplings suffered under the onslaught of such a massive amount of broth. They had disintegrated into mush, which kinda defeats the point of offering dumplings.
The Service: Service was friendly and helpful and knew when to approach the table and knew when to stay away. Well done, Sable.
The Verdict: I haven’t mentioned the natural light. Sable benefits from a corner position so it is full of natural light, a rarity it would seem in many Chicago restaurants. I liked this about Sable Kitchen and oddly, it would be one reason why I might return. That and the tomato soup!
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Posted in American, Chicago, Modern European, River North, United States | 3 Comments
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