Friday, August 19, 2011
Cooper's Hawk Naperville,IL
This is a restaurant that is part of a chain. They have been open for 3 weeks. Cooper's Hawk bills themselves as a winery and restaurant. Most of their grapes come from Sonoma Valley, Ca. The wine we sampled was ok. They have many varieties. Their menu has a lot on it. Italian dishes, American dishes like burgers etc. Our opinion is if you make everything how good can it be? Cooper's Hawk needs to fine tune their menu. What are they about? Is it the wine? Our server did not know what a zinfindel was..because she brought a white zin..shudder...If you are a regular reader of this blog you know how I feel about sauvignon blancs..their version was ok. Not bad, not great. Two of my food adventure partners chose burgers. The food was good. Asian slaw was an alternative to french fries..it was good. The fries were ok. The fries at Portillo's are better. I chose mini crab cakes. I chose poorly. The crab cakes were fishy smelling, the breading did not adhere to the crab cake and the crab was canned. The worse part was the crab cakes were swimming in a soup of mustard sauce. I hate to do this but I had to send it back. Our server was very nice..seemed to be overwhelmed but nice. One thing I did not like is when you walk in you see a wine tasting bar..and a gift store. Cracker Barrel with wine? My first impression was not good but maybe after a while Cooper's Hawk will find their legs and go for a run. Right now I think there are too many people trying to do too many things with no direction. Sorry...I will be back and give them another try.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sable Kitchen 505 N. State st. Chicago,IL
Diner23 would like to recommend not getting your car towed before you plan to go out to lunch at a nice Chicago restaurant. Total buzzkill.
Sable Kitchen is a very sleek place. It is connected to a hotel, but like Glen Prairie in Glen Ellyn, it pulls it off nicely. You walk into Sable Kitchen and you see leather chairs, bar stools and couches. The floor to ceiling windows give you a nice street view where you can people watch or..make sure your car is still parked where you left it, if you are lucky enough to park nearby. We ate in the bar. It was a bit later in the afternoon so the place was a little quiet. That was fine with us, we needed to chill. Sable Kitchen bills itself as a gastropub. Well, the food might reflect that but the ambiance is more..trendy be seen spot. They actually call themselves a gastro-lounge. Ok that will work.
Our bartender/server was very nice and chatted with us. He was right on with food recommendations. First of all..you have to try their deviled eggs with truffle oil and black trumpet mushrooms. We wanted to order more but..we had other things to try. I had the Gruyere Cheese-Red Onion Jam-Watercress on rye bread grilled sandwich. It was so good. The grilled cheese sandwiches come with tomato bisque. Let me tell you, this tomato bisque is not your sunday afternoon Campbell's soup variety. It was so good, I was sad when it was gone. Another person in our party had the
Crispy Pork Belly Bahn Mi on crusty baguette with asian slaw and cilantro. This Bahn Mi was so incredible and tasty our friend wants to go back asap to eat it again. This is a lounge/restaurant so their beer, wine and spirits list is very good. You can get what you want here and if you try sometime you may get what you need. Diner23 gives Sable Kitchen 3 triangles for food and beverages and 3 triangles for their ambiance.
Sable Kitchen is a very sleek place. It is connected to a hotel, but like Glen Prairie in Glen Ellyn, it pulls it off nicely. You walk into Sable Kitchen and you see leather chairs, bar stools and couches. The floor to ceiling windows give you a nice street view where you can people watch or..make sure your car is still parked where you left it, if you are lucky enough to park nearby. We ate in the bar. It was a bit later in the afternoon so the place was a little quiet. That was fine with us, we needed to chill. Sable Kitchen bills itself as a gastropub. Well, the food might reflect that but the ambiance is more..trendy be seen spot. They actually call themselves a gastro-lounge. Ok that will work.
Our bartender/server was very nice and chatted with us. He was right on with food recommendations. First of all..you have to try their deviled eggs with truffle oil and black trumpet mushrooms. We wanted to order more but..we had other things to try. I had the Gruyere Cheese-Red Onion Jam-Watercress on rye bread grilled sandwich. It was so good. The grilled cheese sandwiches come with tomato bisque. Let me tell you, this tomato bisque is not your sunday afternoon Campbell's soup variety. It was so good, I was sad when it was gone. Another person in our party had the
Crispy Pork Belly Bahn Mi on crusty baguette with asian slaw and cilantro. This Bahn Mi was so incredible and tasty our friend wants to go back asap to eat it again. This is a lounge/restaurant so their beer, wine and spirits list is very good. You can get what you want here and if you try sometime you may get what you need. Diner23 gives Sable Kitchen 3 triangles for food and beverages and 3 triangles for their ambiance.
Publican 837 West Fulton Market Chicago,IL
We have dined at Publican a few times. Each time we sampled something different. This place is visually beautiful. Clean lines throughout the room, warm wood floors, tables and chairs with earthy brick walls. Minimal decorations.. pictures of pigs adorn the walls. The menu is "ecclectic featuring simple farmhouse fare" This quote taken from their website. Chef Paul Kahan and Chef de cuisine Brian Huston fashioned their restaurant with a European beer hall look. The food is from local farms and vendors. The vendors providing organic and sustainable products.
The list of available beers takes up a whole page on their menu. Wines available by the glass is mildly impressive, although this diner would like to see a wider selection. Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, in this writer's opinion falls very short of being what a SB should be. Let the New Zealand vinyards do it folks, they have it all sewn up.
We have taken the Publican's menu in sections. There is way to much to try. We've had their fine, fresh selection of oysters. Sampled the mussels with celery butter and garlic. Their frites are a close second to Brasserie V's.The Benton Country Ham with goat butter and peasant bread. The Market Salad and the Little Gem salad all very good. The Market Salad has tomatoes, string beans, quinoa, farro and manchego. The Little Gem salad has pig ear strings, radishes, basil dressed with a buttermilk vinaigrette. We have yet to try any major main courses. Guess we will just have to keep going back until we try them all. Oh well somebody has to do it. I recommend you do it too. We give Publican 3 triangles for beer, 2 for wine, 3 for food. Hope to see you there!
We have taken the Publican's menu in sections. There is way to much to try. We've had their fine, fresh selection of oysters. Sampled the mussels with celery butter and garlic. Their frites are a close second to Brasserie V's.The Benton Country Ham with goat butter and peasant bread. The Market Salad and the Little Gem salad all very good. The Market Salad has tomatoes, string beans, quinoa, farro and manchego. The Little Gem salad has pig ear strings, radishes, basil dressed with a buttermilk vinaigrette. We have yet to try any major main courses. Guess we will just have to keep going back until we try them all. Oh well somebody has to do it. I recommend you do it too. We give Publican 3 triangles for beer, 2 for wine, 3 for food. Hope to see you there!
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