chris's Profile
Reservations for Schwa?
In November I called Schwa and "luckily' got through right around 3 pm.... I am not only not exaggerating, I am probably understating exactly how the conversation went:
Them: Schwa.
Me: Hello! I'd like to make a reservation for four, I have a few dates in December that are idea, but I'm flexible and can go January or sooner if you have it."
Them: December? Oh man, sorry man, sorry man, oh man, yeah man, you know, December, we're like closed, sorry man, we're gonna be closed, yep, no luck, sorry man, sorry man.....SSSSSOOOORRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Me: Hello?
Dial tone.
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Truly baffling.
Good eats in Schaumberg?
For Mexican, I am a big fan of Mago - not in Schaumburg, but a quick drive away in Arlington Heights. http://www.magodining.com/
If you want something that is distinctively Chicago, I'd go to Johnnie's Beef....get yourself a beef and a watermelon ice.
Johnnie's
1935 S Arlington Heights Rd
Arlington Heights, IL 60005
Anything good in Palatine near the metro stop?
I don't think you'll need one, but if you have time constraints, it might be worth giving them a ring. http://www.durtynellies.com/info.asp
April Chicago weekend itinerary - need final input (Sable/Frontera Grill/Alinea/North Pond/Lou Malnati's)
If you're looking for the absolute best and are willing to have a late night, by all means, the food at GATG is probably better and if I were going cocktails, I'd go Aviary over anywhere else - they're convenient to each other, so if you're doing one, do both.
But, it sounds like they're not ideal for your schedule. If you want an earlier evening and prefer to stay closer to the hotel, you will have a perfectly lovely time at Sable.
Length of dinner at Next El Bulli?
Like Gonzo, it took our table of four 5 1/2 hours. This was week three of service I believe.
April Chicago weekend itinerary - need final input (Sable/Frontera Grill/Alinea/North Pond/Lou Malnati's)
If you have a Girl and the Goat reservation - which is a tough one to get - you should use it. I went there a few months back expecting it to be overhyped and it certainly was not.
Anything good in Palatine near the metro stop?
Right across from Palatine is Durty Nellies which has quite a few vegetarian options and one of the best craft beer selections in that part of Chicagoland.
Dining Alone Recommendations
Sable would certainly work - they have a long bar, great food, and plenty of cocktail options. I had lunch there the other day for their Chef Week and enjoyed it quite a bit.
Staying at Lisle / Napperville Hilton Aug 18 - 22
If you like beer, you're not too far from Two Brothers....I like their burgers, other food items have been hit or miss, but the beer is top notch.
http://www.twobrotherstaphouse.com/
Two Brothers Brewing Company
30w315 Calumet Avenue West
Warrenville, IL 60555
Avenues or Charlie Trotter?
Well, just in case you don't get any other replies...
Trotter's kitchen table is four or six people only, so you'd have to be in the dining room.
Avenues is a bar set up, so two works nicely. The seats are comfortable and you look directly into a small kitchen. From what I recall one guy normally has his back to you most of the time and then two or three will face you. There's no glass window or anything, so you can chit chat.
I haven't been to either recently, so I can't comment on the current state of things.
Personally, based on the fact that the bar sounds interesting to you and recent reviews, I'd go Avenues. Here's Curtis Duffy's blog: http://www.curtisduffy.com/ Looking at it makes me want to get back there asap.
Large portions at Graham Elliot. Do they exist?
Reading chicgail's reply made me realize I didn't answer your question directly.
zorzo51 - Brazillian Steakhouse and Graham Elliot are four words that don't belong on the same bookshelf, let alone sentence. If your idea of a good meal is "A LOT" of food, then you may want to reconsider...
I think the food is good enough that it's worth a visit, so my advice: plan on two dinners, Mr. Beef is right around the corner if need be.
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Graham Elliot
217 W. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60654
Advice - Frontera or Topolobampo?
Last time I was there, I was the only guy not in a jacket....though it was lunch, so I suppose I was around business people. (And our waiter was so snooty I couldn't tell if he was being ironic....but that's another story I'll leave at "how are the flavors mingling in this dining experience?")
Advice - Frontera or Topolobampo?
The food at both is excellent and I'm not sure you can go wrong at either, so it's a tough to steer you one way or another.
The question, as nsxtasy said, can you even get a reservation at Topo?
If so, is budget a concern? Topo has tasting menus that are around $90 or if you do app/entree you'll likely hit about $60 a person. Frontera is more like $35 a person. (Obviously, this can be very different based on how you order - and if you drink you'll probably double those prices - you should get a cocktail for certain - I'm going 'food only' averages so you also gotta add on tax/tip).
Topo is fairly formal and the food is a bit more subtle and complex. One night only in Chicago? I'd go all out and splurge....but as a local who has dined at both several times, I personally prefer Frontera (more relaxed and the food I have had always struck me as bolder and brighter).
Large portions at Graham Elliot. Do they exist?
I haven't been for the current menu (it changes seasonally) but it's basically divided into sections: Cold and Hot are appetizers, Sea and Land are entrees.
The appetizers are definitely small, the entrees are perhaps on the small side, but by no means tiny. I have a decent appetite and I normally get two appetizers and one entree and I'm set.
My understanding is there are a few multi-course options now, so you can get five courses, ten courses, and even everything on the menu - if you have the time and funds, I'd go for one of those.
Long trip report - Emeril's, August, Mila, Stella, CP, Bayona, etc. 7/10-15
OH - for those bargain hunters, Commander's Palace has a deal as well. If you eat between 5:30 and 7:30 you can get two appetizers and a glass of wine for $20. There was a side list of appetizers, so I don't think it's 'any' on the menu, but there were at least ten options.
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Commander's Palace Restaurant
1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
Long trip report - Emeril's, August, Mila, Stella, CP, Bayona, etc. 7/10-15
Not to my knowledge, it may be a summertime deal - they are only available at lunch though. Commander's Palace also has 25 cent martinis (lunch only).
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Commander's Palace Restaurant
1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
Help with my itinerary -celebrating my 30th birthday in Chicago
Blackbird is fairly close to Willis (Sears) Tower....it's also near the new French Market in the Ogilvie Transit Center. Beyond that, I don't think there's all that much to do around there.
Recent reviews of Everest have been strong....have you thought about Avenues? It's right on Michigan Avenue in the Peninsula. Graham Elliot isn't too far away either.
Friday lunch - Bayless has his haters, but I'd make a reservation at Topolobampo.
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Topolobampo
445 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610
Graham Elliot
217 W. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60654
Long trip report - Emeril's, August, Mila, Stella, CP, Bayona, etc. 7/10-15
Got back from New Orleans five days ago and I'm still full.
Overview:
Between my wife and I, we did not have a single bad dish. Some things may not have worked to my personal preferences but the quality of the food and preparation were consistently strong across the board. I apologize for the lack of in depth descriptions of things (I know everything is "good") I just don't do the poetic description thing well. I'm looking forward to another visit sooner rather than later, though I certainly won't go at it quite so gluttonously....
Photos of everything consumed and the like can be found here: http://thewineauxs.blogspot.com
Day One:
Stella!
Excellent though, as I've read in various places, definitely not "New Orleans" if that makes sense. My wife's meal was fantastic: truffle risotto and fish and chips - tempura battered anago, very much an Asian flare, great stuff. The preparations of my food (foie gras BLT and veal medallions) were without question high quality and nicely done, but were definitely a bit more 'traditional' than I expected...more a problem with my expectations than anything else. Service was spotty...nothing big, but a collection of minor irritations. The one thing I got a kick out of is if you order iced tea, you get a pot of hot tea poured into a glass that seems to have dry ice inside - it's quite the spectacle.
Felix
Raw and grilled oysters - we were warned they would be a bit on the small side but there were 16 on the order of a dozen (unnecessary - they weren't 'that' small, but appreciated). Blackened alligator was amazing as well.
Day Two:
Mila
$20 three course prix fixe and a full page of bottles of wine for under $30. Squash soup, hangar steak, and rice pudding - top notch all around (the rice pudding was amazing - a phrase I never thought I'd ever say). The highlight to me anyway were the sweet potato rolls with pureed fava beans. Great food, great service. Definitely a business lunch crowd.
Acme
Slightly larger oysters (raw and grilled) than Felix, very different vibe (darker, more of a "bar" feel than Felix's diner thing), and seemed to be constantly packed. The only real difference in the oyster preparations was Acme had a cocktail sauce and Felix was DIY with horseradish and Tabasco. (The people at Felix were way nicer, the guy here was extremely grumpy but in a lovable kinda way.)
Emeril's
Giant portions. Best service of the trip. Some of the best food of the trip - rabbit remoulade was outstanding and sweetbreads with veal were quite good. Gumbo was just so so (it was basically all broth - maybe a few pieces of meat, but all I remember is liquid). She had the BBQ shrimp (the sauce was very heavy, but undeniably delicious) and redfish were both excellent. Extremely loud room if that sort of thing matters to you. Dessert of root beer cheesecake on bacon shortbread had a bit too much bacon for my liking. Banana cream pie deserves its reputation - tons of fresh bananas, awesome.
Day Three:
New Orleans School of Cooking
Not a bad way to spend two hours and $24.. For the regular class at 10 am, you don't cook or participate (though the chef does go around and ask people a few questions), it's just a show with an angled mirror on the ceiling so you can see everything going on easily. We were there for gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding, and pralines. Plenty of iced tea during the class and Abita Root Beer and Amber is served with the meal. They serve you a plate but if you want more, you can get seconds. We both thought the gumbo was better here than at Emeril's.
Bayona
My wife's pick for best meal of the trip. Arguably the most "southern" style cuisine we encountered. She had a crab tart and rabbit roulade and I had shrimp with black bean cake and sweetbreads. The sweetbreads were some of the best I've ever had and she feels the same about her rabbit. I did see Susan Spicer running around which was fun to see.
Day Four:
Antoine's
Most people are just given the $20 prix fixe menu when seated. I had to ask for a regular menu and when I did our waiter got a whole lot friendlier. My wife did the prix fixe with a trio of oysters (very good, rich and flavorful) and shrimp in a vin blanc sauce, which was also good but a rather small portion (not a big deal considered it was part of the deal, but this was the only $20 prix fixe that seemed to not have a lot of food). I had oysters a la foch, which had some of the best fried oysters I've ever had, and soft shell crab which I'm sure was done well, but just not my thing - two crabs, deep fried, no sauce except butter on the side... Apparently only the front dining room was open, it got very crowded and very loud by the time we left. I must mention the 25 cent martinis - your choice of gin, vodka, cosmo, or lemondrop. We each had three.
Commander's Palace
For a special meal that's a New Orleans classic, this is probably the way to go - excellent all around. We both had soup trio (gumbo, turtle soup, and a shrimp and okra soup of the day). The shrimp and okra was by far the best perhaps because the only flavor either of us got from the turtle soup was sherry. I had frog legs (fried - excellent), she had escargot for appetizers. Entrees were steak for her and veal for me. All the food was excellent, service was fine as well. I really liked that wine was offered by the glass and half glass (half was still a generous pour) so you could get three half glasses and keep the wine tab under $20 with ease.
Day Five:
Restaurant August
Best meal of the trip as far as I'm concerned. $20 prix-fixe. I had pate, veal, and a unique gourmet grilled cheese of sorts with peaches and goat cheese. My wife had fennel soup, a dish that was essentially a fancy gumbo, and an almond cake with peaches (and corn ice cream). An amuse bouche of seafood custard and a gift of some candy after the meal make this actually a five course deal IMHO. Tied with Emeril's for best service of the trip, absolute nicest people - my sole regret is just doing lunch, next time we're doing the dinner tasting menu.
Central Grocery
Muffuletta to go - ate it on the train on the way home. The entire thing was too salty for my tastes, but I did enjoy the olive salad topping.
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Restaurant August
301 Tchoupitoulas Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Commander's Palace Restaurant
1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
Bayona
430 Dauphine St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Emeril's Restaurant
800 Tchoupitoulas, New Orleans, LA 70130
Meal itinerary from an unsure chowhound fan - thoughts?
If you decide to stick with Emeril's (and personally, I would), my suggestion is stick with two appetizers per person instead of attempting an entree - portions are ridiculously large!
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Emeril's Restaurant
800 Tchoupitoulas, New Orleans, LA 70130
Veal Sweetbreads for our Anniversary
At the risk of being obnoxious I must sixth the Bayona suggestion. Ate there about a week ago and I will say it was one of the best preparations of sweetbreads I've had.
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Bayona
430 Dauphine St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Four days in July - how's my itinerary?
My wife and I are planning our first trip to New Orleans in July and I am looking for critiques/advice on our plans. The way I see it, this is our first time, we might as well hit the institutions, touristy or not.
The following is our itinerary for meals (between meal 'drop ins' like Felix's or Cafe du Monde we're just going to hit when we walk past):
Sunday
Dinner - "arrival" at 3:30 pm. We're taking Amtrak, so I'm hesitant to make a reservation anywhere in case we pull in at midnight. The plan is to play it by ear and wander a bit - oysters, po'boys, cocktails, and the like.
Monday
Lunch - Mila
Dinner - NOLA
Tuesday
Lunch - New Orleans Cooking School
Dinner - Bayona
Wednesday
Lunch - Antoine's
Dinner - Commander's Palace
Thursday
Either breakfast at Brennan's or lunch at Central Grocery (or both)
Depart at 1:45
Thoughts?
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Commander's Palace Restaurant
1403 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
Bayona
430 Dauphine St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Tott's Sparkling Wine - is it drinkable?
I have a coworker who raves about how good Tott's is - finally about a year ago I broke down and bought a bottle for something like five bucks.
At first pop and pour, I was shocked at how reasonable it was. But, when the bottle was no longer ice cold and the fizz started to die away, I couldn't stomach it any further.
If this is for a party with people who aren't big into wine and will be drinking out of plastic glasses, then why not? If nothing else, buy enough of something else for the first round of drinks and serve this later in the evening.
question on service
The best part about your post is your third point - to me, the wine would've been fine, but he wound up leaving before I could even try it. My issue wasn't so much the small initial pours as much as the total skip of the tasting ritual (on a six year old white wine, no less).
I can tell you that during the wine pouring my wife and I were clearly looking at each other like "what is this guy doing?" - if we hadn't, he was not about to show us the bottle.
I guess I'm looking for reassurance that yes, this was improper service - even though I know it is, I fear I'm getting overly picky in my old age. I did not speak up - I get to a point where when things get weird I get uncomfortable and don't say anything.
Our service improved after that weirdness - we received two free dessert wines which leads me to believe the guy may have realized he had a lapse (our amuses were served as we were looking at our menus - so make that two lapses) and didn't want to say anything outright (I could be over analyzing - but it did help his tip recover).
question on service
Something I perhaps should've mentioned is in my observation of him at other tables, he got the wine ritual right with the people next to us.
He also didn't strike me as inexperienced. And I'd argue keeping a white wine on ice is part of wine service....but that's neither here nor there. Thanks for your input!
question on service
So I dined out the other day at a very nice French restaurant - they were running a special on three course meals for $35 - which was an excellent deal as this place would easily cost almost double that for the same amount of food normally.
Here's the thing....
I ordered a bottle of wine, a modestly priced $40 white from Alsace - not the cheapest (or even 10th cheapest - there's a lot of good buys at this place) thing on the menu - though obviously not pricey. When the waiter brought it out, I watched him cut the foil, uncork it, the pour me about 1/5 of a glass, my wife 1/5 of a glass and tell us "this bottle isn't cold enough, so I'll put it on ice for you" - and he then took it away.
I obviously looked puzzled, so he THEN showed me the bottle. I never got the cork and the entire wine ritual never happened. The bottle was kept in a bucket somewhat near the table.
The question to you good folks is, what - if anything - would you have done? Am I being overly picky in find this irritating/insulting?
Farmers markets with good produce - NW Suburbs
This might be a bit far for you....but it's worth mentioning.
Schaumburg! Friday mornings - in the parking lot at the southwest corner of Roselle and Schaumburg roads. They're open until October 10.
Nichols Farm is there - great produce (the guys can tell you which restaurants have been buying their stuff - they've supplied some higher end places) and fantastic selection. There's also a couple farmers from Michigan (the one across from Nichols does all fruit - great quality stuff).
There's also a vendor who sells Mirai Corn (Twin Gardens, I think) - that guy has a smaller selection but his produce is consistently strong.
Schaumburg - according to one of the guys I spoke to who works it - has fairly strict rules about who can set up so nonsense like Jewel suspect produce (which I've seen at other markets) isn't there.
Dinner - Price Not an Object - Single Diner
If that's the case, then I take my back my recommendation!
Dinner - Price Not an Object - Single Diner
While Blackbird and Avec are great choices - to me, the obvious pick is Avenues. They have a "kitchen bar" where you can sit and rather than have a bartender and array of liquor, you're sitting with the chefs. They're all friendly and talk to the customers, I've been there a few times and it's pretty much what it is - hanging out with a couple guys in the kitchen. The service on my visits has been nothing short of perfect - they recently changed head chefs, the new guy is Patrick Duffy from Alinea - I have yet to experience his food but the Trib recently gave them 4 stars.
http://chicago.peninsula.com/pch/avenues-restaurant.html
The Peninsula Chicago
108 East Superior Street (at North Michigan Avenue), Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA
Charlie Trotter's
I cannot back up WineTravel more strongly - write them a letter - seriously. If the courses weren't to your liking I'm not sure there's much that can be done - but the fact that you were served a different type of fish than the menu stated and the fact that two courses were on your table at the same time are two major gaffes that needs to be addressed.
I've only been to CT once several years back and the entire meal was flawless - service, food, timing, etc.
Best Places To Eat Near Grant Park?
The Gage on Michigan is solid - it's more or less a high end Irish pub, fantastic food and service.
On Madison, near Michigan, is Pizano's which I finally got to for the first time a couple weeks ago - I was impressed to say the least and would strongly recommend it.
Moto and the Bayless spots aren't really near Grant Park, but both are well worth the trip - since they're both open for lunch you're all set.
If Moto seems like your kinda place you should try to make it - they have a five course meal which shouldn't take all that much time, but with Lollapalooza you're really going to have to miss some bands or go the night you arrive - the 31st.
