Chicago 2019

[Wilfrid]

I may have up to four dinner opportunities in Chicago in June, although the number will probably dwindle.  I liked The Girl and the Goat last year.  Any suggestions welcome.  Preferably within reach of downtown, although now I've succumbed to Uber/Lyft that's a larger radius than it used to be.

[Daniel]

I would highly recommend checking out this new brewery/bakery middle brow.. the beer is fantastic.  it's traditional beers with low abv, along the same lines as Suarez. They also have a bakery where they make over 10 breads, the pizza looks incredible..they have toasts that may make a good snack prior to heading out.   I went and everyone was super nice.  The pizza looks really good.  At the very least, look for Middle Brow beers in Chicago. 

 

Hung out with some friends and ate some fried smelts late night at Money Gun.. I think that was the place.. 

 

Owen and Engine has a really good burger.. English style leanings though, you would probably tell me different.. Hung out there for a bit and met some locals and the bartenders were all really nice.. I think they do in house baking, charcuterie and butchering.   

 

I almost went to Rick Bayless's new seafood restaurant.. 

 

Roister looks exciting but, i have a habit of wanting to be comfortable. 

[Wilfrid]

Piccalilli, rashers, bubble & squeak, it does English.

 

Nice menu at Roister, but the setting looks gimmicky.

 

Thanks for these.

[Wilfrid]

Any experience of Acadia's tasting?

[Wilfrid]

Well there’s a new Manet show at the Art Institute, even if nobody except Daniel cares if I starve.

[AaronS]

drink some three floyds.

[Sneakeater]

Avoid malört.

[Wilfrid]

Never heard of it but now I need to try it. This recommendation thing is not going so well.

[Sneakeater]

I felt the exact same way.  Until I tried it.

[Wilfrid]

Not a destination, but fun. Low Country, the South Loop branch, there are two or three. Self-service shack where you order shrimp, crab legs, crayfish, etc by the pound, with sides, and have a messy time with a plastic apron and reams of brown paper. Inexpensive, and half the fun is watching the big family groups around you pigging out. Very diverse, very friendly.

[Wilfrid]

Barton G was not on my radar. The original is in Los Angeles, with satellites in Chicago and Miami.

 

I was at a reception, not a sit down dinner. The proffer is experimental food and cocktails. Not in the sense of molecular cuisine, but surprise combinations and presentations. For example, what looks like a flowerpot with some random vegetation is crudités planted in a mushroom soil. Nothing wild, but everything I ate was really good. Individual scallops on daikon slices, meat sushi (bite size duck pate wrapped in bacon), mini beef Wellington bites, a bau filled like a Reuben (the kraut steeped in whisky). Nothing bad here, and I wonder what a meal would be like.

 

The desserts are grand and sculptural; Careme would love them.

 

ETA Coming to NY and Vegas “soon.”

[Wilfrid]

Any intelligence on cocktail bars? Broken Shaker at the Freehand was fine, but despite a discreet location in the hotel was still vulnerable to parties of bros wandering in asking for rounds of beers.

[Sneakeater]

No danger of that at the Milk Room.  (Oh, I continue to crack myself up.)

[Wilfrid]

I missed the joke there...

 

I bet Nathan would have ideas.

[Wilfrid]

Oh, is it that you can never get in?