Topo Gigio

On a day off together we went to Topo Gigo for lunch in Old Town.  We had seen it on Check Please and it was recommended by friends.  We were in the area and stopped by.

Polenta with Bolognese

Appetizer - Polenta with bolognese sauce.  Nice, smooth polenta and quite filling with the sauce. There are 2 polenta appetizers so we had to make sure we ordered the one we wanted.

Entrees:
Tortellini alla Panna - with peas, mushrooms, and pancetta in a cream sauce. This was a huge portion and quite filling.  We both enjoyed the dish.  It was pretty typical Italian fare.

Tortellini alla panna

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala special with spinach. The chicken was tasty; moist and good flavor. It was good but not spectacular.  There was a lot of spinach which Natalie thought was a bit excessive.

Final thoughts on Topo Gigio:
Food - good Italian food at a good price. But there are lots of Italian options in the city so its not worth going out of your way for
Service - There weren't that many people in the restaurant but it took a bit for the food to come out to us (for a lunch)

Topo Gigio himself

Atmosphere - the exterior was under construction but the inside was fully functional. It has a large dining area and lots of pictures of various forms of "Topo Gigio" the mouse from 1960's TV shows.

Gibson's

We went to a rare lunch out together at Gibson's in Oak Brook.  Since we have eaten at a lot of steak houses, we just wanted to try a simpler lunch meal. We have been to Hugo's Frog Bar before and they are part of the Gibson's restaurant group and they use Gibson's steaks.

Steak Salad

Steak Tenderloin salad - we ordered a small salad to share but it would have been large enough to be an entree on its own.  There were 2 steak medallions cooked to order with greens, red onions, tomatoes, cucumber and blue cheese.  It was a nice salad and good value (but we are still in search of a steak salad that can rival Weber Grill's old steak salad).

Gibson's Prime Angus Sliced skirt steak with mashed potatoes and corn - nice and tender.  Nick's definition of Medium is a little different than their definition. The corn had some peppers in it to make it spicy and more exciting.

Skirt Steak

Crab mac n cheese with andouille sausage and bacon.  This was a nice creamy dish.  It had good noodles to hold the sauce and the andouille provided good flavor.  There could have been a bit more crab, but maybe the price would have been a lot higher.

Final thoughts on Gibson's:
Food - good steak.  Lots of options, large and small for lunch.
Service - quick lunch service, the food came out right away.  If you worked nearby you could get in and out within the lunch hour
Atmosphere - lots of business people there on lunch.  There seemed to only be valet parking nearby so we parked across the street at the Oak Brook mall for free.

Crab Mac N Cheese