Mecenat Bistro

We went to dinner at Mecenat Bistro in Western Springs.  It was recently featured on Chicago's Best and we wanted to try it out since we live close by. As we will explain more later, this became a 2 part/2 day meal.

Bruschetta Platter

Bruschetta platter with 3 different types of bruschetta.  The first type had smoked salmon and dill cream cheese on it so it was kind of like lox and bagels.  The second type was the closest to traditional bruschetta (but it wasn't traditional). It had prosciutto, roasted red pepper, pesto, goat cheese and balsamic vinegar.  The third type had wild mushrooms and blue cheese.  The cheese was a mild blue cheese so it didn't over power the mushrooms.  We enjoyed all 3 of these "bruschettas" and would order them again. It was a great dish for 2 people since their were 2 of each type of bruschetta.

$5 Burger

We were there on a Tuesday night which is $5 burger night.  Since this was such a deal we decided to get a burger. It was a fairly simple burger with cheddar cheese, red onion, and pickles on a pretzel roll. Good quality burger, nice and tasty and quite large for $5.  We had to wait quite a bit to get our meal (we heard this was because it was busier due to burger night) so we probably wouldn't come back on a Tuesday night just for this.

Duck Confit Eggrolls

Instead of ordering another entree we ordered 2 more appetizers because they sounded more fun.  We got Duck Confit Eggrolls with chili sauce and Corn and Avocado Fritters with mango salsa. Nick really enjoyed the eggrolls, Natalie thought they were just okay. There was a good balance of duck, spiciness and crunchiness.  Natalie enjoyed the fritters although there wasn't much avocado in them so they should of just been called corn fritters.  The mango sauce they came with was like a tropical apple sauce with that type of consistency.

Corn Fritter

At this point in the meal we kind of wanted to order the chocolate lava cake dessert because that is what had been featured on Chicago's Best. But quite honestly all of our food took such a long time to get out to our table that we couldn't stay there any longer, especially knowing it would take at least 15 minutes to bake the cake.  We were disappointed because we wanted the service to be better.  From the way Nick was faced he felt we were being ignored as he saw the wait staff helping other tables a lot more.

Coconut Curry Shrimp

Well after this meal we had a somewhat negative view of the restaurant despite eating some good food.  Since it was close by and we are impulsive, we decided to meet there on Natalie's way home from work the next day so it would be slightly earlier and not as busy (and not burger night).  On the weeknights from 4-6pm they have 1/2 price appetizer happy hour specials if you sit in the bar area. We decided we would eat at the bar and order 2 appetizers and the cake all at once so everything could be served quickly.  There was no one else in the restaurant at this point so we experienced something extremely different than the night before.

Grilled Brie

We ordered Coconut Curry Shrimp and Grilled Brie.  The shrimp came with a brown mustard on the side.  They had an unusual but tasty flavor to them and Nick liked the mustard a lot.  The brie came with pesto and a citrus chutney. The pesto and the chutney were great with it and made it even more interesting.

Right after we were done with the appetizer the cake came out - such perfect timing. It was rich and decadent and came with vanilla ice cream and berry sauce. It was definitely a flowing lava cake and was worth waiting a day.

Final thoughts on Mecenat Bistro:

Lava Cake

Food - good food, the appetizers were definitely more intriguing to us than the entrees and our favorite of all of them was the bruschetta platter. The cake was great but not worth a problematic rest of the meal.
Service - the difference in the service between the 2 meals was night and day. They probably thought we were weird eating at the bar and not ordering any drinks but that is the only way to get the 1/2 price appetizers which is definitely worth the price. If the first night had been our only experience we wouldn't be recommending it and it was only because we live close by that we returned.
Atmosphere - definitely a wine bar look to it. There is an outdoor patio area, the bar and a medium sized dining area. We had driven past this location in the past and didn't realize that it was a restaurant.