Graham Elliott Bistro

We went to dinner at Graham Elliot Bistro in the West Loop. This is not the first time we have tasted GE's food - two years ago we went to Grahamwiches, a Graham Elliot sandwich shop and we enjoyed it, but unfortunately it is now closed. We thought about going to the main Graham Elliot restaurant in River North but around the time we were thinking about it, the executive chef had recently changed and we didn't like the menu as much (and actually the main GE restaurant will be closing at the end of 2013).  So we needed to get to this restaurant before anything happened to it.

Grilled Flatbread

The menu is not that large but there were lots of items that tempted us. It is gourmet American fare and changes seasonally. We ordered lots of smaller dishes so we could try a lot.

Grilled flatbread with ricotta, onions and lardon (pork bits) - this was warm and crunchy and all of the flavors were balanced.

Shaved Asian pear salad with celeriac, puffed greens and shaved sheep's cheese.  This was light and crisp with a smooth finish because of the cheese.  It was a bit of a different salad because there wasn't any type of lettuce in it - but that actually made Natalie like it even more.

Shaved Asian Pear Salad

Chantarelle risotto with truffle, Parmesan reggiano and egg yolk.  Nick was concerned about this dish because of the egg yolk.  He is not a fan of runny egg yolks so we weren't going to order this.  But we were talking to the waiter about liking risotto in general but not the concept of the egg yolk in particular.  The waiter did a great job of explaining the dish and actually alleviated Nick's fears - in fact the dish is kind of like a carbonara pasta dish where the egg gets cooked as it is mixed into the risotto itself.  So by the time it was all mixed in it was rather tasty. The risotto ended up as Natalie's favorite dish of the night.

Chantarelle Risotto (before egg mixing)

Wild Boar Papardelle

Wild boar papardelle with tuscan kale, juniper and maitake mushrooms - this was Nick's favorite dish. He liked the hearty flavors of the boar and vegetables with the fresh pasta.

Cornmeal crusted skate with beluga lentils, leeks and caramelized cauliflower.  Cornmeal crusted must be the way to prepare seafood as we had some other seafood prepared this way a few weeks ago.  The fish was nice and moist and the sauce very tasty.  We appreciated the other savory dishes more than this, but the skate rounded out a good meal.

Skate

We saved room for dessert and sampled both the Smores and the Dreamsicle.  Both came out served in glasses so they had a different sort of presentation.  The smores dessert had a chocolate mousse, graham cracker crumble and burnt meringue layered in the glass. Although tasty this didn't fit Nick's expectations of a smore.  The Dreamsicle was a vanilla panna cotta with orange and lemon layers.  This lived up to its name and fit well within its presentation.

Final thoughts on Graham Elliot Bistro:

Smores (up front) and Dreamsicle (behind)

Food - nice overall meal; we loved some of the dishes.  It is a little pricey for what you get but you are dining at a "celebrity" chef's restaurant.

Dreamsicle

Service - excellent service.  The waiter talked us through the menu which was helpful as the menu isn't that descriptive.  The utensils and plates were changed after every course we had.
Atmosphere - the inside is a bit reminiscent of a church (as its is a described as a church to food). There are saint candles lining the walls but instead of real saints they have pictures of friends and fellow chefs.  (For example there is a candle to Joe Bastianich one of Graham Elliot's co-judges on Master Chef and it says St Joe Bastianich, Patron of Death Stares and has a picture of Joe sitting on a throne like a Sith Emperor from Star Wars.) Guess it is funnier seeing it in person. The interior is not that large, but it looks like there is an outdoor area for the warmer months. The bill came out attached to an old record - an interesting and novel way to display the check with a rock n roll vibe.

Little Goat Diner

After trying Girl and the Goat a couple of times in the past.  We wanted to try the more casual sister restaurant, Little Goat Diner. Little Goat Diner is located just across the street from Girl and the Goat and you don't need to make reservations months in advance; in fact they do no take reservations at all.  We went on a week night and walked right in. Exactly as its name implies, Little Goat Diner is a diner-esque restaurant with upscale comfort food dishes and they serve breakfast all day.

Crab Dip Appetizer

We ordered a crap dip appetizer which was  a cheesy crab dip with crackers.  The dip was great but we could have used a few more crackers because even with putting quite generous portions of the dip on each cracker we still didn't have enough.  We ended up spooning the remainder into our mouths by itself.

We tried one of the breakfast items, the Fat Elvis Waffle.  It was a waffle with whipped peanut butter-butter, bananas, maple syrup and bacon bits.  Nick was cautious about this dish but it was really great combining all of these fun flavors.  The peanut butter was lighter and didn't weigh down the dish and the bacon bits offset the super sweet maple syrup so you could appreciate all of the flavors. Natalie would love to try to repeat this at home.

Fat Elvis Waffle

Tonkatsu sandwich - a breaded pork cutlet, with Asian slaw and sauce.  Several of the dishes on the menu had a Korean flair which included kimchi, but Nick didn't want kimchi so we found this dish as a compromise.  It was tasty and the pork was tender.  There could have been a little more sauce with the sandwich.

Tonkatsu sandwich

In addition to the diner, there is an attached coffeehouse and bakery where you can buy bread.  It was closed when we got there (it closes at 6pm on weekday), but we had gone there a few weeks ago to pick up bread before we went to Anna's Asian Bistro around the corner.  We bought 2 unique loaves of bread - one with peanut butter in it and another with Gouda and bacon. They also sell bagels and recently have sold re-creations of wedding cake served at Stepanie Izard's (the chef and owner) wedding.  We bought pieces of the cake with our loaves of bread - it was an interesting concoction which included chocolate and Cheez Its.

Slice of Wedding Cake

Slice of Wedding Cake

Final thoughts on Little Goat Diner:
Food - good unique diner food but quite different from the Girl and the Goat so don't think you are getting the same experience if you can't get into GATG.
Service - nice, friendly and easy going; they go over daily specials and kept the water glasses full
Atmosphere - hip and trendy for a "diner", but definitely had that diner retro feel to the decore. We got our own booth but there are communal tables and a counter that you can sit at.

Tin Fish

Buffalo Shrimp

We went to dinner at Tin Fish in Tinley Park after seeing it featured on Check Please in October.  Since it is a south suburban location (kind of near where we work), we wanted to check it out.

We tried the following:
Buffalo shrimp appetizer - we got a 1/2 lb of shrimp but it is also comes as a full pound.  The shrimp were super tasty in a unique creamy buffalo sauce.  It had a good tang and heat to it but wasn't too overpowering so you could still taste the fresh shrimp.  The shrimp also came with blue cheese dressing and celery.  We should have gotten the pound of shrimp but then we wouldn't have had room for our entrees.

Cornmeal crusted scallops

Tin Fish features fresh caught fish daily which can be prepared in a variety of styles and sides.  We chose the Red Snapper which was a catch of the day.  We had it cooked with a garlic char glaze and it was served with smashed potatoes. The fish was firm and flaky and held the garlic flavor well.

Red Snapper

We also chose Georges bank scallops which are a regular item on the menu.  We had them prepared with a cornmeal crust and they came with a side of brussel sprouts.  The scallops tasted good.  We chose the cornmeal encrusted style of preparation to try it out, but maybe the scallops may have been more well suited to a different preparation (blackened, grilled, sauteed or garlic char glazed). They were still tasty and unique, but sometimes it is better when the knowledgeable chefs pick the preparation method for dishes.

Final thoughts on Tin Fish:
Food - nice fresh fish, with the choose your own fish/preparation/complement there are many variations that can be tried so you can have a unique experience each time - even with the same type of seafood. We loved the buffalo shrimp.
Service - we went early on a Friday night so it wasn't too busy and we got a lot of attention from our waiter (maybe almost too much attention).
Atmosphere - hip seafood place, but it is located in a strip mall.  From the outside it doesn't look as nice as it does inside.  This restaurant could be good for either a casual or a fancy meal.

Giacamo's

Lasagna

We went to dinner at Giacamo's in Des Plaines.  This restaurant has been featured on both Check Please and Chicago's Best. We made reservations a day in advance and good thing we did because it has a smaller interior and there was an event happening in one room.

Mushroom Soup

Salad

We didn't order any appetizers because we saw the entree portions coming out to the other diners - they are quite large and in fact we took half of both our entrees home with us and we were still stuffed.

The entrees come with a cup of soup or salad.  Nick got the salad and Natalie got mushroom soup.

Entrees:
The lasagna had recently been featured on Chicago's Best so we tried that.  It was a massive piece of lasagna and what they do differently is that they have a layer of polenta in addition to the layers of meat, pasta and cheese.  The polenta gave it a sweet taste that was a bit unique.  We thought it was a good lasagna but not worth the 40 minute drive from our house.

Braciole

For our other entree we had Braciole.  Braciole is beef stuffed with Italian meats and cheeses, covered in tomato sauce.  This is an Italian dish we have never had before so it was interesting and unique for us.  It probably is featured at other Italian restaurants we go to but we never had ordered it before. Nick loved it and if he sees this entree at other places he will try it again.

Final thoughts on Giacamo's:
Food - Good down home Italian fare.  Super large portions so a great value.
Service - We went to Giacamo's on a Saturday night. It was super busy and even with a reservation we had to wait a bit. (We think there was a bit of an "after-mass" effect due to the time we were there on a Saturday night.) We were sat at a table right in the middle of the dining area.  So despite the service being good we felt like we kept getting bumped into by other people getting to their tables.
Atmosphere - family owned restaurant.  Most of the other diners seemed to be regulars. It was very full (elbow to elbow) when we were there.

Anna's Asian Bistro

We went to dinner at Anna's Asian Bistro in the West Loop of Chicago.  We found out about it from Chicago's Best.  Otherwise we probably would have walked right by it because it doesn't stand out too much from the street; and it is on Lake street so the facade kind of gets covered up by the El trains.

Stuffed Fried Avocado

When the title says Asian they are correct - the menu is huge and covers pretty much all Asian fare: including Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and even Filipino.

We went there specifically to try the Stuffed Fried Avocado - avocado stuffed with spicy tuna and tempura fried.  This was the item featured on Chicago's Best.  It was really good and we could have easily had more of it. It was warm and spicy and crunch all at the same time. Kind of like having sushi, except with avocado instead (which we love).

Lumpia

Since we saw some Filipino items on the menu we couldn't resist because we don't find them that often.  We had lumpia which are small egg rolls/spring rolls with chicken and vegetables. They were nice and crunchy but pretty standard Filipino fare.

For an entree we had Panang Curry - chicken with green peppers and basil in a peanut coconut curry sauce. The sauce was great.  The only disappointment is that there wasn't quite enough rice for all the sauce - but that seems to be the case with all curry dishes at any restaurant - there is only a small scoop of rice included with the entree.

Pancit Noodles

Unagi roll

Filipino Pancit noodles - we had to try another Filipino dish.  Pancit is thin noodles and in this case it was served with eggs, vegetables and shrimp.  Nick thought it wasn't quite up to the ultimate Filipino standard (something about how the noodles stuck together), but Natalie enjoyed it.

Panang Curry

We also had a black maki roll with unagi.  Don't know what the "black" in the title meant but Natalie loves unagi (eel).  Nick thought it was pretty standard/nothing special.  We've had better sushi elsewhere.

Final thoughts on Anna's Asian Bistro:
Food - the avocado and tuna was amazing.  The entrees were good. The other appetizers were just okay.  What was interesting was having the variety of Asian options in one restaurant. But since they were trying to do every type of cuisine they weren't outstanding in one category.
Service - pretty good but there weren't that many people on a Tuesday night when we went
Atmosphere - it is easy to miss it from the outside, kind of non-descript, but looks nice inside

Weber Grill Restaurant

The giant grill is really cool!

We went to dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant in Lombard.  There are 4 locations - here, Chicago, Schaumburg, IL and Indianapolis. We haven't been here to eat in over 4 years - it was one of the first restaurants we went to when we moved here.

Pretzel rolls (probably from Labriola across the street)

What we ate:
Bruschetta - Nick felt like having bruschetta; the bread was grilled so that is why it was on the menu. The bread wasn't as crispy as typical bruschetta - but it was novel that it was grilled.

Bruschetta

Korean BBQ steak salad - so the last time we were here (4 years ago) we ordered a steak salad and it was amazing.  But since it has been so long since we have been to this restaurant of course the menu has changed and it is now a Korean BBQ steak salad.  The flavors were good but not as great as the salad from 4 years ago.  It was a little weird but the steak came out sizzling on a griddle (like fajitas would be served).  So it was odd to be putting really hot steak on colder salad greens. The steak had a kimchi flavor to it (hence Korean steak). Korean flavors are "in" right now, but we missed the old, more traditional (but gourmet) steak salad.

BBQ combo

Salad with sizzling steak behind it

BBQ combo with pulled pork, brisket, mac n cheese and sweet potatoes.  The meats were great, especially the brisket - it was so tender you could cut it just with a fork.  But this is a "grill" restaurant so we would expect the meat to be great.  The mac n cheese was good, not great and the sweet potatoes were a bit disappointing.

Final thoughts on Weber Grill Restaurant:
Food - the food was good but we would probably return and get more traditional steak fare than bbq as we have some other bbq joints we prefer.
Service - good service; our waiter was friendly.  The location of our table seemed to be near where a lot of waiters were milling about so it was a little distracting.
Atmosphere - when we drove up to the parking lot we were worried because it was quite full looking.  But there didn't seem to be that many people in the restaurant itself.  Maybe they were in a back private room or in the large bar area where we couldn't see them. It was a little busier when we left. They do carry out and one odd thing we saw in the parking lot when we left was people "tailgating" - literally they had the tailgate of their SUV open and they had put up a card table with chairs.  It looked like they had gotten food from a couple of different nearby restaurants as PF Changs, Uncle Julios, Champs and DMK Burger are right there (we've never seen that before - maybe it was an unique date night).

Maya del Sol

We went to dinner at Maya del Sol in Oak Park.  We had seen it mentioned on both Chicago's Best and Check Please and decided to check it out for Natalie's birthday.

Ropa Vieja

Before the waitress came to give us her recommendations we had already pretty much decided what to get and actually 3 out of the 4 dishes we ordered were her recommendations as well.

Tuna Cevhice

Platanos de Ropa Vieja - this dish was actually the one that wasn't the waitress recommendation - but actually Natalie enjoyed it the most. We have had ropa vieja dishes before and enjoyed them and this was no different. Ropa Vieja literally means old clothes - which is kind of weird - but it is a tasty version of shredded beef. This was served with plaintains, queso fresco and pico de gallo.

Tuna Ceviche with avocado and watermelon.  This was a small version of a typical tuna ceviche.  Honestly we have had better ceviche, especially during our recent trip to Miami.  Some of our favorite ceviche in the Chicago area has been at Frontera Grill and New Rebozo (also located in Oak Park).

Fish tacos - with blackened tilapia, avocado mayo, pico de gallo and cabbage. They were what a good fish taco should be, light and fresh.  Nick was hoping for a bit stronger tropical flavor from the mangoes, but the dish was satisfying.

Fish Tacos

Cochinita Pibil - marinated pork shoulder. This dish specifically was mentioned on both Check Please and Chicago's Best. The pork was excellent and we would both recommend it.  But it could have come with some different accompaniments.  It came with a lot of black beans which we couldn't even finish.  And is also came with 2 different sauces, one of which was a habanero flavor which was way too spicy for even Nick to go back for a second taste (it was so overpowering it killed the flavor of the meat).  You could put all of these ingredients together on a corn tortilla but maybe a rice side and another more mild sauce would work.

Since this was a part of Natalie's birthday celebration, we were comped a chocolate mousse cake.  It wasn't available on the regular dessert menu.  It was fairly standard but a nice finish to the meal.

Cochinita Pibil

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Maya del Sol has what they call a "risk-free policy" - they encourage you to go outside of your comfort zone and try something new to eat.  If you don't like the dish you can send it back to the kitchen and they will take the item off of your bill.  None of the menu items seemed super adventurous to us.  We wouldn't have been taking a big risk to try them. (Also keep in mind that we have been to Latin American restaurants many times before so it isn't new to us.) There was a dessert that sounded weirder (that had avocado mousse in it), but since we got a free birthday dessert we didn't order anything else for dessert.  So we didn't get to exercise this policy, but if this is new cuisine to someone it is a good way to try something like a ceviche for the first time.

Final thoughts on Maya del Sol:
Food - overall good food.  We had a couple of home runs and couple of base hits. We've had this type of cuisine before though so it wasn't novel to us like it might be to others.
Service - good service, nice touch to have the risk free policy.  They also own a limousine which can take you home if you had too much to drink.
Atmosphere - we got there early enough on the weekend to enjoy a table outside.  After Piccolo Sogno, this is the second nicest patio dining area we have been to in the Chicago area. It is very large outside and festive.  Also there is a large fire pit for when the weather gets cooler and they offer customers individual blankets if it is cooler weather outside. The inside seemed nice as well but try to dine outside if you can.

Fatduck Tavern & Grill

Duck Fat Fries with 3 sauces

We went to dinner at Fatduck Tavern & Grill in Forest Park.  Natalie had heard about it a while ago from some friends but recently it was featured on Chicago's Best.

Here are the dishes we ordered:

Duckfat Fries with 3 dipping sauces - roasted garlic aioli, Mexican pesto and Chipotle ketchup. This is what was featured on Chicago's Best and it is the namesake of the restaurant.  The fries themselves were tasty but since we have had duck fat fries before it is no longer unique for us.  But the sauces are what made this dish special.  They were tangy and spicy and we each had our favorites - Nick liked the Chipotle ketchup and Natalie liked the Mexican pesto.

Duck Confit Quesadilla

Duck Confit Quesadilla - with Chihuahua cheese, apples and pineapple sweet chili sauce - this was good and once again the sauce made it special.  The pieces of apple were really small and we wished they were larger to add a larger crunchy element to the dish.

Grilled Pineapple Burger with bacon and BBQ sauce - Tasty and tangy due to the BBQ sauce.  The sweet note of the caramelized pineapple was a nice offset. This type of burger is Nick's favorite because he loves pineapples. The bacon was okay on it but it wasn't completely necessary.

Pineapple Burger

Final thoughts on Fatduck Tavern & Grill:
Food - tasty food, a slight variation on standard bar fare
Service - attentive and good; we were there at a slower time so maybe service would have been different at a busier time
Atmosphere - we ate outside at a "Key West" inspired patio area.  There were decorative elements from Key West and an outdoor bar.  The indoor area was dark and the walls were covered with TVs (which at the time we were there were covering college football games.)