Vistro

We went to Vistro in Hinsdale for Natalie's mother's birthday.  Vistro is a more casual offshoot restaurant of Vie in Western Springs.  We have been to Vie a few times and love it so we wanted to try this.

Fried Dill Pickles

Tempura Fried Dill Pickles - with garlic and dill mayonnaise, Natalie's mom had never tried fried pickles so we ordered this.  These were good - light and since they were tempura fried and not just regular fried

Toasted Ravioli

Toasted Ravioli - ricotta, marinara, parmesan. Wasn't as good as the fried pickles.

Mac n Cheese

Mac N Cheese - from the wood oven.  Good mac n cheese.  Better than expected.  Nick thinks mac n cheese in restaurants is overrated but he enjoyed this.

Pork Milanese

Skirt Steak

Pork Milanese - polenta, peas.  Nick preferred this dish to the other entree.  The flavors went really well together.

Skirt Steak - fries, roasted carrots, marinated mushrooms.  The steak was a little dry but the accompaniments were tasty.

Cookie Monster - salted chocolate chip cookie, the salt on/in it made it super tasty. Even though it was just a cookie, it was pretty amazing.

Final thoughts on Vistro:
Food - comparable food to Vie, but a lot more accessible and casual

Service - good service; we received some great recommendations from the waitress so that was helpful

Cookie Monster

Atmosphere - Casual atmosphere in downtown Hinsdale. Could go here for either a fancy or very casual experience.

Italian Beef Pizza that Natalie's parents ordered

BLT Pizza that Natalie's parents ordered

Nick's Fishmarket

We went to Nick's Fishmarket in Rosemont a few years ago for our anniversary before we started the blog.  They went over the top with lavishing us with stuff last time - they gave us a balloon, a picture and a comp'd dessert so we wanted to go back again to get the royal treatment.  But this time they had toned it down and just comp'd us a dessert, which was fine but less impressive. But we ate some good seafood so that made up for it.

Black and Blue Seared Ahi

Black and Blue seared Ahi tuna appetizer - Cajun dusted with soy mustard sauce - this was really good quality tuna.  The spices weren't too overwhelming. It had a very beautiful plating presentation with the sauce swirled around the tuna itself.

Lobster Bisque - pretty typical lobster bisque, but lobster bisque is good overall so that is always a winner for us.

Lobster Bisque 

Chopped Salad

Chopped Salad - arugala, currants, tomatoes, smoked salmon, pumpkin seeds, roasted corn, couscous, Asiago cheese, pesto buttermilk dressing.  Natalie likes salad that have a lot of things in them that are not lettuce so this is the perfect choice for her.  All the ingredients were great together and it was an elevated form of a chopped salad.  This is totally something that would be great to make at home and people could choose to add all the ingredients or not.

Chilean Sea Bass

Chilean Sea Bass - with Asian Slaw, sweet soy sauce and garlic mashed potatoes. Several years ago when we were in Las Vegas we had some amazing Chilean Sea Bass at Tao at the Venetian and we have been searching for similar sea bass ever since. This wasn't quite at that level but it was Chilean Sea Bass so once again how can you go wrong.  The fish itself was buttery and flavorful and surprisingly the stacked slaw, sauce and potatoes paired very well together.

Grouper - macadamia encrusted, with asparagus and saffron rice, Natalie would have preferred a bit more sauce with the grouper.  The grouper had a light crust of macadamia nuts so it wasn't too heavy and the rice was amazing. We usually love asparagus these large stalks were a bit woody.

Macadamia Crusted Grouper 

Meringue topped key lime pie - they gave us this dessert for free for our anniversary celebration. We're starting to get a little sick of key lime pies since ever since we had fantastic key lime pie in the Florida Keys.  The meringue made this one a little different but it otherwise it was pretty standard key lime pie.

Final thoughts on Nick's Fishmarket:
Food - Great seafood. A nice place to celebrate.

Service - It wasn't nearly as stellar as the previous visit. They didn't keep the water glasses filled promptly.  Even though there were lots of open tables they sat us next to a very loud set of people.  It took a long time before they took our order.

Atmosphere - there weren't nearly as many people dining there as the last time we went.  Maybe because of where it is located near O'Hare airport and Rosemont it is more of a lunch place. The chatter of the table next to us was quite distracting and took away from the romantic ambiance we were going for by picking this restaurant.

Key Lime Pie

Avec

Chorizo-stuffed bacon wrapped dates

We went to dinner at Avec in the West Loop. It is a related restaurant to Blackbird, which we ate at a couple of years ago. They are located right next to each other.  Avec is a little more casual than Blackbird and it doesn't accept reservations so we went there on an evening when we knew we could get there early enough not to wait. Avec has also been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Food Network.

Charred Cauliflower

Charred Cauliflower with tabbouleh, oranges, radish, green olive and tahini - really great dish and we liked that it was an amazing vegetarian option. The tabbouleh wasn't overly bitter like it can sometimes get and this was offset by the smokiness of the cauliflower. We would love to be able to make something like this at home.  Great combination of flavors.

Summer squash with shishito peppers

Charred Summer Squash with shishito peppers, almonds, mint and feta - we have very similar feelings about the squash dish as we did the cauliflower dish.  Another great vegetarian dish with unique flavors. The peppers weren't too hot so it was a mild dish.

Chorizo-stuffed medjool dates with bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce - basically this is their version of bacon wrapped dates.  They are just a lot larger than regular bacon wrapped dates because they are stuffed with chorizo. Because of the chorizo and the pepper sauce these were quite spicy but super tasty.  They said this dish was their most popular and this is the dish that had been featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate.

Papardelle pasta

Pappardalle pasta with mushroom bolognese, pine nuts and cheese - another great option (and again vegetarian).  Although when we ate this, the mushroom were so "meaty" in texture they almost felt like meat but then we remembered they were mushrooms.

Parmesan pound cake with roasted apples and candied pine nuts - intriguing flavor with a cheesy touch to it. It was very good and seasonal but very dense as well. Perhaps a whipped cream could have offset the denseness a bit and warmed apples would have been nice.

Parmesan Pound Cake with apples and pine nuts

Gelato - we meant to order the sorbet but got the gelato instead.  Nothing overly exciting.

Cookies and cream gelato

Final thoughts on Avec:
Food - we loved all of the savory dishes.  Nick loved the dates and Natalie loved the squash and cauliflower.
Service - we sat at the bar and probably got faster service this way but it also caused us the mixup with the sorbet/gelato.

Atmosphere - another rustic yet modern restaurant (like Wood). All wood tables and bar area. It is smaller in size than you might expect and the tables are communal so you could be seated right next to people you don't know at busy times.

Wood

We went to dinner at Wood which was featured on Check Please last year. Its menu consists of fresh seasonal items with a section of small plates and of entrees. We ordered 4 small plates and 1 entree to be able to try more things.

Amuse bouche - juice

Before any food came they brought us a juice as an amuse bouche/palette cleanser. It was nice and refreshing.

Burrata - heirloom tomatoes, peaches, arugula.  This was a wonderful, fresh dish with seasonal ingredients that were well paired together.

Burrata with tomatoes

Scallops - cauliflower puree, cabbage, breadcrumbs. Natalie loves scallops so we had to have this dish. The scallops were delicate and tender with a lot of smoky flavor.

Tagliatelle - sausage, olives, tomatoes, basil, parmesan. This was a nice pasta dish and Nick liked it even though he doesn't love olives.

Scallops

Tagliatelle

Flatbread - Saxony cheese, bacon lardons, onions.  We both felt this was a little too salty.  It was not the best flatbread we've had but still tasty.

Roasted pork loin - corn, onion, pepper sauce, bacon and peppers. Another nice seasonal dish with fresh corn.

Flatbread

Final thoughts on Wood:

Food - the food was great.  We especially enjoyed the burrata, scallops and tagliatelle. The produce was all fresh and seasonal and all of the flavors were great together.

Service - They brought out our food in courses - 2 small plates, followed by 2 more small plates followed by the entree.  It seemed like there was a lot of time in between each of these courses but that was our only service issue.

Atmosphere - the interior is decorated in a lot of wood, hence the name of the restaurant.  It felt both rustic and modern at the same time.

Roasted Pork Loin

The Purple Pig

We went to dinner at The Purple Pig in Chicago. This restaurant has only been open a few years but has received lots of awards including James Beard awards.  It is located on Michigan Avenue, is very popular and doesn't take reservations so it can get very busy.  We saw reviews that talked about 1 1/2 to 2 hour waits.  We decided to go there on a day when we carpooled together to work so we could go straight to dinner.  That way we got there at 5pm.  This was on a Tuesday and we were able to walk right in and get a table. By the time we were leaving all the tables were full and there were a lot of groups waiting, so we lucked out.

Cheese Plate

The Purple Pig does have a lot of pork related dishes, but that is not all. Their menu is quite extensive and there are antipasti items, smears (to spread on bread), fried items, cheeses, paninis and a section called a la plancha (which literally means cooked on a griddle).  They claim that their dishes are more tapas/small plates style so they encourage you to order more than just a couple of things. We found that some of the dishes were indeed tapas size but others were more regular size and therefore we were pretty full by the end of it.

What we ordered:

Greek Cornbread with honey and cheese

Cheese plate with Hickory Kidde, Owl Creek and Chocolate Goat cheese. We started with a cheese plate with 3 different cheeses on it. There were 25 different cheese selections so we had to rely on the waitress to tell us about some of them because the descriptions were not listed and all of the names don't necessarily tell you much either. One of them was sort of Gouda-esque, another wasn't that memorable and the Chocolate Goat is what it sounds like, chocolate goat cheese.  This was really fun and interesting and almost could have been a dessert.

Bobota "Greek Cornbread" with feta, mizithra cheese (sheep and/or goat cheese) & honey - this was really good and unique; a play on cornbread with the traditional honey and then with a couple of Greek cheeses to make it more interesting.  It all tasted great together and it is something that could be done easily at home to jazz up cornbread. The creaminess of the cheese offset the sweet honey to find a perfect balance to complement the cornbread.

Eggplant Caponata with Goat Cheese

Eggplant caponata with goat cheese - this was one of the smears that you put over bread.  The bread was already covered in goat cheese and then the eggplant went on top. It was quite a large portion (larger than just tapas size).  It had a thick coating of cheese which was almost too much (although it is quite difficult to say that you ever have too much goat cheese). Because of all the cheese and the "smear" nature of the eggplant it did get a bit messy as well. We both really enjoyed all of the flavors but for a tapas style dish it was overwhelming for just 2 people.

Chorizo Stuffed Olives

Chorizo stuffed olives - just what they sound like these were olives stuffed with chorizo.  They came from the fried section of the menu so they were lightly fried and served with a creamy sauce to offset all of the robust flavors.  These were the perfect size and gave us just enough of a taste to leave us wanting more.

Pineapple Glazed Rib Tips

Pineapple glazed rib tips with grilled fava beans, green onion and fennel - we really enjoyed this dish but when it came out to the table we were taken aback because it was really not a tapas size at all; it was pretty much a full entree size so we were starting to get full.  The topical flavors were nice with rib tips.  We wished we could order it again without have ordered as many other things to fully enjoy it.

Pork secreto with roasted red pepper, leeks pickled watermelon rind - this dish sounds better than it actually was. The pickled watermelon rind was different and not what we expected.  But overall this dish just couldn't compare to the rib tips.

Pork Secreto

The dessert was a chocolate mouse tart with candied popcorn.  It was playful and reminiscent of something Graham Elliott would do.

Final thoughts on The Purple Pig:
Food - lots of options which could be overwhelming.  We enjoyed several of the items but there were a couple of misses as well. Also we are fairly adventurous eaters but there are some dishes we felt were a little scary including tripe, pig's feet and blood sausage.  So be aware when looking at the menu.

Chocolate Mousse dessert

Service - it was good to have a very knowledgeable server who was friendly and willing to answer all of our questions. Maybe if we had asked a few more questions we would have been steered into different (and maybe better?) dishes
Atmosphere - the interior of the restaurant is not very big.  Although they have seating outside during warmer months we opted to still eat inside because it was so hot outside. Inside there are a couple of long communal tables.  We were happy to have arrived early enough to get our own table. The restaurant is also known for wine which seemed to be quite plentiful so there are lots of wine racks making up the decore. They were playing rock music a little loud to somewhat drown out the noises of the exposed kitchen.  Overall we would consider going back if not for the potential long waits because they don't take reservations.

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.

Sable Kitchen and Bar

Amuse Buche

We went to dinner at Sable Kitchen and Bar in River North. We had first heard about this restaurant because the executive chef was on Top Chef a few years ago. We were going to go here back in February for restaurant week but had to cancel at the last minute.  The interesting thing about Sable is that all of the savory dishes can be ordered as a small or large portion.  We ordered small sizes so we could try more items.

Short Rib Sliders

Short Rib Sliders - with root beer glaze and crispy onions.  These were great - better than juicy burgers.  We just wished there had been more of them - we only got one each.

Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll - Maine lobster and toasted buttered roll.  It had a lemony taste to it and it was "lighter' because of less mayo in dressing.  This was good but rather small for the price.

Fettucini

House made fettucini with ramps, pancetta, peas, artichokes, farm egg yolk.  This came with the egg yolk on top which freaked Nick out but it makes it have a great presentation.  Once we mixed the egg into the pasta Nick was able to enjoy it.  It tasted great and all of the components went well together.

Fixins for the Pozole

Pozole Rojo - smoked pork belly, hominy, avocado, cilantro, tortilla strips, ancho chili broth, radishes.  This was the last of savory dishes we ate.  We were still quite hungry when this came to the table, but this was a fairly substantial and filling portion so it was more than enough.  (We almost thought they had brought us the large instead of small portion but it was the small portion after all.) This was the dish we liked the most. We have had pozole a few times before but never at a restaurant. They brought it out in a bowl and then had a dish with the avocado, tortilla and radishes in it that we could mix into the soup. We enjoyed the hot and cool ingredients as well as the interplay of the tender pork and crispy tortillas and radishes.

Pozole

Chocolate Souffle Cake

Dark Chocolate Souffle Cake with Peanut Butter sauce and salted caramel ice cream.  We couldn't pass this up, especially since Nick loves anything with chocolate and caramel in it. It was decadent and nice to have both the caramel and peanut butter together.

Final thoughts on Sable Kitchen and Bar:
Food - really good food, the sliders and lobster roll were a bit small but it was nice to be able to try more items with half portion sizes and prices. We really enjoyed the pozole and would definitely order it again.

Service - the service was pretty good; Nick felt they were bit slow to fill his water though
Atmosphere - we went on a Saturday night and this place was hopping. It was definitely the place to be.  The restaurant is also connected to a nice hotel.