Day 62: An Email to a Friend

Occasionally friends, mostly people from out of town, will ask me for restaurant recommendations. A couple weeks ago, such a request visited my email inbox, so, since I spent 20 minutes constructing my reply, I thought I may as well post it here, if only for my future reference.

A friend asked:
Question: a friend of mine is going to be in Chicago soon and wants a cool/good/romantic restaurant for a date. Any suggestions? He's a foodie, but is willing to compromise a little on food for ambiance.

Thanks,
Bxxx

I responded:
Hey, man.

Well, if I were going on a date in Chicago I’d go to Avec (615 W. Randolph St.; 312-377-2002), which is the wine-driven, wood planked, small plates joint by Paul Kahan, the chef of Blackbird, which is next door and IMHO the city’s best white tablecloth restaurant. People here surmise that David Chang, proprietor of New York’s Momofuku Noodle Bar, ripped off Avec for the design of his Ssam Bar. They do look a lot alike, to give you a sense of the vibe, which is raucous, sceney, and casual but upscale; the food seems kind of Italian (truffled foccacia, whole roasted branzino, and sometimes a pork belly dish thrown in for good measure). A downside is no reservations but you can usually get a table if you arrive on the early side.

Blackbird (619 W. Randolph St.; 312-715-0708) itself is a good choice but more expensive and a little less freewheeling — he’ll probably end up sitting next to a couple celebrating a birthday or an anniversary. Around the corner from Avec and Blackbird, there’s Sepia (123 N. Jefferson St; 312-441-1920), a new contemporary American spot that just opened and people seem to love — it’s expensive-ish and the room is medium size and pretty (chocolate brown dominates). I had lunch there and found the menu fun and interesting, but the execution was slightly off the mark, across the board; my sense is that the kitchen needs a couple more months to smooth out the wrinkles.

In Lincoln Park, near Steppenwolf, Boka (1729 N. Halsted; 312-337-6070) would be a good choice — the chef, Giuseppe Tentori, recently took over the kitchen after years at Charlie Trotter’s as a sous chef and then chef de cuisine, I believe. It’s imaginative, exciting food, Trotter’s on the cheap, basically. Boka’s décor is nothing special but it’s sedate in a not-bad way; it’s two doors down from Alinea, fyi. If your friend wants really romantic and doesn’t mind spending more than $100 [EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS IS A WEIRD COMMENT BECAUSE ALL THE RESTAURANTS MENTIONED HERE, EXCEPT FOR LULA CAFE, WILL EASILY RUN YOU MORE THAN $100 FOR TWO PEOPLE.], then go to North Pond (2610 N. Cannon Dr.; 773-477-5845), which is IN Lincoln Park, facing a lovely pond. The décor is arts and crafts, the food is haute farm food, and the chef, Bruce Sherman, has a way with soup. Not sure how old your friend is but this wouldn’t be my choice for a young couple; it’s almost a married couple date place. Eveything else that’s fun and new is in a far flung neighborhood not worth traveling to, with one exception: Lula Café (2537 N. Kedzie Blvd., 773-489-9554) in Logan Square. Again, thoughtful farm food (organic, seasonal), straightforwardly presented in a gritty, though not dangerous, neighborhood. I’ve never been but it’s a perennial favorite among the fussy young people I work with.