Review: Broadway Cellars (Chicago)

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.

After meaning to try Broadway Cellars for well over a year, my wife and I finally gave it a shot last Friday night. And it was great.

The place has a nice vibe. Stylish but not stiff. The decor is cool and contemporary, but has something of a personal or DIY feel.



I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it just didn't strike me as the rote implementation of a templatized corporate design or the pristine vision of some highly paid hotshot designer, but rather it's just the concept of the owners/management who may even have done it themselves and pulled off something pretty cool. (I could be totally wrong about this, but, for what it's worth, that's the impression I got.) Any slight imperfections kind of add to the charm. For example, it's hard to imagine an experienced design pro going with the unfinished wood wine racks in the back.



The artwork on the wall also provides a nice local feel. Applying the neighborhood coffee shop aesthetic to a sophisticated yet comfortable dining experience.



I suppose it has the risk of coming off as pretentious or contrived somehow, but both my wife and I felt like it worked. (Though, personally, I wouldn't be lining up to pay $425 for any of the pieces on display. That seems like a stretch. But then, I suppose having $50 price tags on them would run sort of counter to the semi-elegant vibe they are aiming for).

The mood is set from the beginning with the table setting. Sometimes the little details are everything, eh?



Here, the wine list is angled to reflect the votive light, the bread is warm and they set the oil and Parmesan dish up for you right off the bat. Voila. And the paper menu reinforces the casual, almost rustic kind of feel. The dishes may be sophisticated, but the atmosphere makes everything feel quite accessible.

We opted for the "Let's Hop a Cab" wine flight, despite my aversion to the cutesy name. One from California, one from Chile and one from Australia. Three 3oz pours for $15 - not inexpensive, but decent value for the option to sample such a range by the glass.



Our meal began with the crab cakes appetizer, which was excellent.



It took a little while to come out, but once we dug in it was clear that the time was more a function of perhaps a 'slow food' approach than any kitchen dysfunction. The dish was hot and fresh, the taste and texture of the cakes was sublime and the sauce added just the right spicy notes. Some places try to wow you with crab cakes the size or your head and some maybe crank out so many of them that you can tell they were made assembly line style yesterday morning, and others use so much oil that you might enjoy the first bite but need an iron stomach to get beyond two. These felt and tasted like they were made on the spot just for us. Really, really good.

For the main course, Judy ordered the seafood risotto and raved about it.



Seriously, every other bite triggered a "this is so good". She can be an easy grader at times, but she knows her seafood and this was the most exuberant she's been about a dish in a while.

I went with the Penne special of the night, which involved sausage and sweet peppers.



The sauce was nice, the sausage was good, but the Penne were a little overdone. The taste overall carried the dish, but it could have been excellent were it a bit closer to al dente.

Finally, though we were stuffed, our server got us to try the gelato.



Apparently it's locally made by a woman in her kitchen, very Recipe for Success style. It was good. I wouldn't say it was amazing, but it was definitely good. Of the three flavors we tried -- chocolate, graham cracker and cinnamon -- the cinnamon was the stand out. My wife was hoping for a bit more actual cracker in the graham cracker scoops and I agree it was maybe more subtle than it needed to be. But honestly, I was concentrating on the Selaks Ice Wine (just one of many nice postprandial options on their dessert menu) and the gelato was just an afterthought.

Mini Review: Zanzibar (Chicago)

Note: This also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.

Finally.

I've lived across the street from Zanzibar's Bryn Mawr/Kenmore corner for 6+ years and it's great to finally have something useful and pleasant there. It's infinitely better than the depressing convenience store that used to fill this space (though that's an admittedly very low bar - an ATM and a newspaper box would've been a huge upgrade over that joint).

Last night Zanzibar had all the telltale signs of a just opened small business. Shelves not fully stocked. Customers outnumbered by an eager to help staff. Self appointed members of the neighborhood welcome wagon greeting / interrogating the owner. And a spotless, stage crafted look that will hopefully ease into a more 'lived in' feel over the coming months.



While their pastry and cake cases were a little thin last night, their ice cream counter was ready to go. I'd estimate they have two dozen or so flavors, all of which sounded pretty good. To his credit, the guy behind the counter offered me the try-before-you-buy tasting opportunity, but I felt confident with my order: one Espresso Oreo and one Snap-o-Lantern (spicy pumpkin ice cream with bits of ginger snap cookies).



Both were excellent. Great texture and consistency - fresh and light. Nicely done.

Looking forward to having Zanzibar in the neighborhood.

Review: San Soo Gab San (Chicago)

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.



If you just want to get down to business with some fried foods and barbecued meat, San Soo Gab San is your place. Come hungry and wear your play clothes. You're going to walk out of here full and smelling of meat.


Judy was pretty excited to be here

San Soo Gab San is an unassuming, no nonsense joint that focuses on the food. Period. The non-atmosphere is the atmosphere. You sit in twenty or thirty year old wooden booths and tables. The main design element is the construction-zone orange industrial strength exhaust hoods that suck out the fog of meat smoke. You are served by efficient, unsmiling, matter of fact waitresses. This place means business. And that's fine.



When full and all the hoods are firing, the place truly hums. It's smoky, noisy and energetic with the smell of meat in the air and 22 oz. bottles of OB all around. It makes me happy.





Once you order you will experience a food avalanche.



Get an appetizer or two - say the mandu, or the agedash tofu.


Agedash tofu

Get a plate of meat.



And definitely go the cook it yourself route. They are old school here. You're working with a charcoal or wood grill. Let the fancy places have their built in gas grill tables. We've got bus boys running around with bowls of fire and hot grill faces.



Don't forget that you will also get 15 - 20 miscellaneous side dishes (called Panchan). Every square inch of table space is covered in food.



However, while my wife and I liked this place just fine, in the interest of full disclosure I do have to say it didn't quite pass muster with my Korean in laws. They found it average at best. But then, they are used to the 'more meat buzzer' that is installed at every booth of their favorite place in the suburbs. Push it and signal to the waitress with your hands how many more pounds of meat you want. Hard to argue with the brilliance of that kind of efficiency. If San Soo Gab San adds the meat buzzer I'll take the in-laws back and see if we can't up this to a 5-star review.

Review: sixteen (Chicago)

Main dining room

Note: this also appears with my reviews on Yelp.

If you're going to sixteen you have to be comfortable with two things:

1. It is expensive. e.g. Brunch is $95/plate before drinks, tax and tip

2. At least 50% of that price is a "wow" premium for being in the Trump space. The food is good, but you're paying for the Experience. For my money, the food is better at the Four Seasons brunch. But sixteen's atmosphere and views are tough to beat.


Main dining room

Service
Accommodating and pleasant. I called twice with changes to our reservation within 24 hours of our seating and both times they were unflinching in taking care of us. Despite changing the time we wanted to come in and the number of people in our party, they still put us in a table on the window in the main dining room. Once seated, our server was a pro. Almost overly helpful, but you could tell he was sincere and we were definitely catered to.


Couldn't wait to dive in before taking the picture - those bite marks are mine, it didn't come pre-nibbled

Space / Atmosphere
Striking. Open flow with floor to ceiling windows that capitalize on the panoramic downtown views. The key design elements like the wall of wine or the massive chandelier are bold without being over the top dominant or distracting. The space is big enough to accommodate them. This is an instance where a 25 foot crystal chandelier fits.


Wall of wine corridor between brunch buffet stations and dining room

Food


They had a nice range of the usual suspects for this kind of occasion. The omelet station, the carving station, the sushi station, great desserts, etc. What was there was certainly good. However, by comparison, the variety isn't quite as extensive as what you see at the Four Seasons. Not sure what it says about me and my tastes, but two of the items I enjoyed most were from the kids station -- mac and cheese and sliders (you can take the boy out of the small town ... ).


Damn tasty

Net: sixteen is a good option if you're willing to splash out and your party really appreciates the environment. We were there for Father's Day brunch and all things considered it was worth it.

Review: La Cocina de Frida (Chicago)

Just seated - which was as good as it was going to get tonight

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.

Unrealized potential. That's how I'd sum up La Cocina de Frida. We wanted to like it, but across the board it fell a bit short of expectations. This place should be good but isn't.

Space


Nice room, but could use some fans

It's nice inside, but on a night when it was mid 70s outside and the dining room was full, it seemed hot and stuffy. The air was thick. They need ceiling fans. So we waited for a table on the covered patio, which is the highlight of the place. There's nice spacing among the tables, soft lighting and an interesting water element involving a copper tube with multiple punctures that, depending upon your tastes and disposition, is either clever or tacky (I am inclined to call it clever).


The patio - Frida's redeeming feature

Service
They were over matched. I'd suggest they consider closing off a section or two and serving 20 tables well rather than serving 40 tables poorly. Their small, 3 or 4 man kitchen and handful of servers were so obviously in the weeds it was sad. Everything was very slow. Our server was repeatedly apologetic in an awkwardly desperate kind of way as we both knew there was really nothing she could do. The ship was going down.


Help - we're drowning

Food


Chuletas de Puerco Manchamanteles - almost good

A mixed bag and ultimately not very inspiring. I find myself trying very hard to come up with positives. The menu is limited, but their 'as you like it' enchilada options might be great for someone who is confident mixing and matching fillings. I wasn't feeling that confident, so I went with las chuletas de puerco manchamanteles, which would've been a great dish if the chops weren't over cooked. The sauce and the grilled pineapple -- and the fact that I was starving -- made them edible, though. My wife's pollo en chile cacahuate was very spicy, so just know what you're getting into there. Oh, and tell them to just hold the complementary chips and salsa they start you with. They are terrible. Hard, flavorless chips and watery salsa. They really shouldn't serve them.

Review: Legal Sea Food (Boca Raton)

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.

Quality food served up at a premium price in an empirically nice yet soulless atmosphere.

Legal Sea Foods is one of any number of 'masstige' restaurant chains that you can find in virtually any semi-upscale commercial complex these days. Everything is nice in that familiar, non-distinct way, but there is little evidence of true, original style or flair. Depending upon your perspective I suppose you could interpret that as either an indictment or a recommendation. It is what it is.

Ambiance / Decor
Decent. Has all the generic trappings that have become commonplace. Dark woods, nice semi-dramatic bar displays, soft and strategically placed lighting, etc.

Service
Inconsistent, but more good than bad. We arrived around 9:55pm and asked if we were too late to order food. The manager was quick with a genuine 'absolutely not' and the hostess showed us over to a nice booth. Our server was friendly and conversational when he was around. We missed him for a couple of stretches, but that's not entirely unexpected given the time we were there. I know there is a whole list of things that the closing shift needs to take care of and I'm sure that's part of what he was off doing when he wasn't checking in with us.

Food / Drink
Mostly good. They nailed the important stuff and surprised us a bit with their wine selection. Only misstep was with a salad, so not the end of the world.



The Boston baked scrod was solid, exactly as I would expect this comforting classic to be prepared. My wife enjoyed the crab cake combo with shrimp and scallops, noting that the crab cakes included big chunks of crab meat, not just the shreds you often get in that kind of dish. The chopped Greek salad was largely good. I personally like the shredded preparation here, which is simply easier to eat and lets you get all the flavors of the salad with every forkful. But they were a little heavy with what tasted like a very ordinary, mass produced dressing. I ate it and I liked it for the most part, but it could have been better.



On the wine list we were happy to see a Malbec and a Cava by the glass. The Cava in particular was nice because it became a great Plan B after the mojito my wife ordered arrived a little strong and syrupy.



Value
It isn't inexpensive, but I also know that Legal's prioritizes top quality seafood. So you get what you pay for in that respect. Just kind of a shame that the rest of the experience isn't as exquisite as the food is. When you spend $100 for dinner, there should be something a little special about the evening. But then, this place is attached to the Boca Raton Mall, so it is what it is.

Mini Review: Panera Bread (Boca Raton)

Note: this also appears with my reviews on Yelp.

This place had surprisingly good food (maybe due to somewhat low ingoing expectations), mostly friendly service and a clean, comfortable feel from the generically pleasant aesthetic that is increasingly common in today's QSR joints. Also had a busy vibe on the Saturday morning we were there due to what appeared to be a local investing club with their laptops all fired up and the stock pick banter flowing freely.

My wife liked her strawberry poppyseed salad and my Mediterranean veggie sandwich was excellent.

Mini Review: Nippers Sports Bar & Grill

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.

Nippers is a brilliant late night take out option.

If, like me, you find yourself hungry around midnight at the Boca Raton Marriott after closing down Absinthe with a couple of ill advised black russians, you also might be quite dismayed to learn that the hotel does NOT have all hours room service. However, as I was advised by a wise and empathetic gentleman working the front desk's overnight shift, Nipper's can save your drunk hungry ass. They will bring food straight to your room. We got 6 mini burgers and 8 mozzarella sticks plus a couple bottles of water for $30 (not including tip). Just what the doctor ordered. And it got here in less than 10 minutes. Genius.

Mini Review: Flourish Bakery (Chicago)

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp

Flourish decently fills a gap in the Bryn Mawr take-out ecosystem. Spending $40 a crack for take out @ Little Mexican or Little India adds up after a while, and Apart is great, but variety is the spice of life so being able to get a couple of good panini w/ sides (though kind of small) for $17 is nice. Just don't expect them to be fast. At 8pm on a Friday we were the only ones ordering food and it was a good 10 minutes before they were done. But they were tasty (the caprese and monte cristo). In particular, the honey vinaigrette wrinkle within the traditional pesto based caprese was a nice little somethin' somethin'.



And this is definitely a take out place rather than an eat in place, unless you're really looking for a pit stop on your walk from Andersonville to the Lake or something. Despite the reasonably attractive retro styled macro elements, there is something distinctly generic and uninspiring about the seating area.

Micro Review: Faces and Names (New York)

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp

Just dropped in here for a very quick bite to eat while talking shop during a business trip. It's right next door to London NYC, which was convenient. I'd recommend the vegetarian spring rolls as really pretty tasty and the tuna wrap was fair. Also, they whip up a mean onion ring and my colleague seemed to enjoy the mini burgers.

Mini-Review: Arun's Thai Restaurant

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.

For 2.5 hours (it takes awhile to get through 12 courses) this past Saturday night we felt like judges on Iron Chef.

The food had its highs and lows, which I attribute more to my unorthodox tastes than anything else. Highlights included a beef curry and rice that was exceptional. Every other beef curry I have ever had was canned Chef Boyardee by comparison. Phenomenal. Also, the coconut and ginger concoction served within a leaf (didn't catch what kind) was sublime.

Service was good, but not spectacular. Not sure if our primary server was new or if the place was understaffed for the night, but we had a couple of hiccups and prolonged absences along the way.

Definitely a unique experience, glad we went.

Just Joined Joffrey's Coffee Java Beta Test

We'll see what they send along and how it is.

3/15/08: Update: I got my bag and accidentally posted my assessment over here. Net - it wasn't great.

Review: Flatwater Grill (Chicago)

Note: this also appears with my reviews over on Yelp.

Overall Impression:
Save this place for warm spring / summer nights. Even better if you can expense it. I had a better experience than some other reviewers here (even on a quiet Saturday night in January), but would agree that the value for money isn't delivered unless views are your absolute #1 priority.

Highlights / Lowlights:

What was great -

- Appetizers. We tried both the Aloha Avocado Egg Rolls (fantastic) and the Baked Apple Brie (solid).


Aloha Avocado Egg Rolls - excellent

What wasn't so great -

- Service. More spotty than poor. Our server was friendly enough and mostly attentive, but both he and the runner missed a couple of small details you would like to see nailed, especially on a slow night. For example, our knives weren't changed out when they cleared the apps; and an empty wine glass was left behind when my second glass was delivered. Certainly not end of the world stuff, but when the tab hits ~$150 for two, those are table stakes kind of service details.

- Dessert. The chocolate opera cake was something only real chocolate freaks could love. It was dry and not particularly warm. Really could have swapped it for something out of the frozen section at a 7-11.


Chocolate Opera Cake - disappointing

Essentials:

Food - Mostly good. Great appetizers, solid entrees (halibut and buccatini caprese), disappointing dessert.

Service - Again, mostly good with a few misses. On slow nights your server can either fall into a semi-lethargic rut or give you top notch focus. We got more of the former than the latter.

Amenities:

Space - Low lighting, loungy feel. Almost feels retro sleek in some vague way.

Valet - Beware of these guys. They were AWOL when we arrived (had to pass our keys to the manager who went and got it taken care of for us). And they weren't real personable on the way out. Plus, we saw someone's Mini Cooper go from 0 - 30 in reverse in about 3 seconds. Not that you get real TLC from any valet service, but this guy seemed extra disrespectful.

Would I eat here again?
Maybe for drinks and appetizers in the summer, especially if I can do it on someone else's dime. Otherwise, no. Too many other places to try.

Did it seem like a good value?
Depends on how much of a premium you place on the view. Felt a little steep to me.