Table 52

Before we talk specifically about the next restaurant we ate at, we want to give a short introduction to Chicago's Restaurant Week (since 3 of our next few restaurants will be a part of this).  Chicago's Restaurant week started in 2008 with 35 participating restaurants; now there are over 200 restaurants and it is running from Fri 2/17/12 to Sun 2/26/12.  During Restaurant week, participating restaurants provide a fixed price multi-course meal for a lower price than the regular menu.  This sometimes means smaller courses, but usually it is a better deal than ordering the items separately.  For lunch the meals are $22 and for dinner the meals are $33 or $44.  We are going to 3 restaurants during this event and wish we could go to more (but there is the time and cost factor that limit us).  We made the reservations a month ago to make sure we would get in to some of these places.

Table 52

Deviled Eggs

Our first Restaurant week stop was dinner at Table 52 in the Gold Coast.  It is located at 52 West Elm Street in Chicago. Table 52 is known for classy Southern/comfort food. The chef, Art Smith, is known for being a personal chef to Oprah.  This was the first year that Table 52 participated in Restaurant week and apparently all the tables were reserved before the week even started.  This factoid didn't surprise us because the restaurant is popular on its own and there only 13 tables in the main dining area.

Lemon and goat cheese drop biscuits

Although we went to eat at Table 52 during Restaurant Week, they certainly did not skimp on the quality of the food or ingredients.  Here is all the food we got:

Deviled Eggs Amuse Bouche- a good start to the meal; they served them with the bottoms slightly cut off to make them level to avoid rolling around on the plate.

Lemon and goat cheese drop biscuits - these were cooked in little cast iron skillets in the restaurant's wood burning pizza oven. The aroma was intoxicating and it was a great combination of ingredients - it wasn't too strong of a goat cheese to overpower the rest of the biscuit flavor.  We wished we could have had more.  (Actually we overheard at another table that if you order from the regular menu you get continuous service of biscuits.)

Peanut Fried Green Tomatoes

Low-Country Shrimp and Grits 

Appetizer course (we got to choose from 3 different options)
1) Peanut Fried Green Tomatoes with pimento-goat cheese, country ham and green tomato relish. We loved this appetizer and it is definitely a reason to return to this restaurant. The tomatoes were crispy and paired well with the goat cheese spread.  This was only the second time that Nick had eaten fried green tomatoes and he may be ruined for trying them anywhere else.
2) Low-Country Shrimp and Grits with wild shrimp, stone-ground white corn grits and spicy tomato stew.  The grits were warm and gooey and the shrimp was cooked perfectly. It came a close second in our opinion to the fried green tomatoes.


Entree (we got to choose from 3 different options)

 Cornmeal Crusted Catfish

1) Cornmeal Crusted Catfish with bacon, cheese grits, braised collard greens and a hush puppy. The aroma of the hot sauce really tied the whole dish together. It wasn't so hot that it overpowered anything else but it enhanced all of the flavors. The fish was firm and flaky and not overcooked.
2) Short Rib with barley risotto, carrot-ginger puree and shallots.  The short rib was a well marbled  piece of meat that was full of flavor (whoever on the show Top Chef thought this was a healthy meat was definitely mistaken).  The whole dish made you feel like your were in a Southern household.

Short Rib with barley risotto

Note: this next item was not part of the fixed price menu.
We decided to order the cornbread as a side dish since we had heard it was really good.  The cornbread was baked in the wood burning oven and was filled with bacon and jalapeno bits and covered in a honey butter glaze.  The heat from the jalapenos with the sweetness of the honey were in balance and enhanced all the flavors.  The texture of the cornbread was smooth throughout and wasn't gritty like boxed cornbread would be.  We were hoping to eat the cornbread along with our main entrees.  Unfortunately this didn't happen.  We kept waiting and mentioned the cornbread to our waiter who was aware of the situation.  (We have found in the past with other fixed price meals we have eaten that it sometimes throws the wait staff off by adding other food to the order.) So we were done with our entrees for several minutes before we got the cornbread - in fact the wait staff had cleared all of our plates and silverware so they had to re-set everything for what we later called our pre-dessert course. The title of pre-dessert was somewhat deserving because it had sweet points and was worth the hype and the wait.  Later the wait staff did comp the cornbread and were very apologetic about its lateness in arriving to our table.

Cornbread

Dessert (we got to choose from 3 different options)

Hummingbird Cupcakes

1) Hummingbird Cupcakes - banana pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting.  Natalie had researched this ahead of time and knew this was their signature dessert.  Nick hadn't read the reviews so his expectations were low but he loved it - the pineapple didn't weigh the cake down, but it was soft and airy. On the regular menu this is served as multi-level cake, so it would interesting to see it presented in a different way.
2) Southern Pecan Pie - Shortbread crust, fresh whipped cream, caramel sauce. This was a typical pecan pie; compared with the cupcakes, it was nothing extraordinary or unique, but good nonetheless.




Final thoughts on Table 52:

Southern Pecan Pie

Food - everything was very delicious. We would want to go back and eat the meal again. It was definitely elevated Southern food - we've never experienced food like this in such a fancy setting.  We love their "baker" - the items from the wood burning oven (biscuits and cornbread) were amazing. The restaurant week value for the meal was exceptional.  We definitely got a great deal.
Service - very attentive, the wait staff is constantly refilling your water glasses from chilled water carafes (in fact for Natalie it was almost too much but Nick drinks water more quickly than Natalie). The wait staff were very accommodating about the cornbread incident and we didn't hold it against them.

Small Cookies as a final thought

Atmosphere - Table 52 is located in the Gold Coast in a former carriage house of a mansion that survived the Great Chicago Fire.  The interior has painted tin ceilings and the pictures hung on the wall remind you of a warm Southern home. It felt like we were eating in someone's dining room.