**** (4 stars)
Prost is across between a German beer hall and a sports bar. We had the LARGE pretzel, which definitely lived up to its name. We also had a medium wurst platter. Bot came with an assortment of mustards and a beer cheese.
Needless to say, there is a large selection of German beers. The friendly server (owner) helped us to choose beers and wursts that matched our tastes.
Prost
2566 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
**** (4 stars)
I always check out the interior pictures on Yelp before I visit a restaurant, because they tend to tell me more about the dining experience than almost anything, including sometimes event the menu. So I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at Pescadero, because it is really much nicer than the Yelp photos (even my own) suggest. Rather than the Long John Silvers decor of the photos, it really is more restaurant-ish. And despite the concrete floor, they've added acoustic treatments to the ceiling, which really help with sound levels.
The menu offers a variety of cooked fish, from pan-seared to fish and chips, a ceviche that sounded tempting, and a few "from the land" items. And of course there are oysters. There are happy hour specials on the latter, along with tap beer.
But I went a different route and had the Mussels Frites. They were a traditional French preparation in a garlic broth. The serving sizes of both the mussels and the accompanying frites (French fries for you landlubbers) were very generous. The garlic broth for the mussels was simple, but good, and the mussels were tender and tasty. The frites were the right dimensions for traditional Parisian frites, but could have used a couple more minutes in the fryer.
The wines by the glass offer a nice variety. My Albarino was a perfect match.
For dessert I had the special Bananas Foster cheesecake, which had lots banana flavor and a nice graham cracker crust, and an espresso.
Service was friendly, and the restaurant, open only a couple of weeks, seems well managed.
Pescadero Seafood & Oyster Bar
1258 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
https://www.yelp.com/biz/pescadero-seafood-and-oyster-bar-chicago
*** (3 stars)
Excellent margaritas are the highlight at this very noisy Mexican hot spot.
The guacamole sampler lets you try several different types. We liked the regular and mango varieties, but our favorite was the ramp version, which was some of the best guac I’ve had.
Tacos are only available in orders of four identical tacos, which seems like a stupid restriction. We tried the snapper, which had a weird sauce, and the pastor, which didn’t taste like authentic pastor seasoning, so we were sorry we had four of each of them.
The real problem here is that even when not full, the absence of any acoustic treatment makes conversation impossible. The best bet is to have a margarita and some guacamole in the sidewalk eating area.
Mercadito
108 W Kinzie St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 329-9555
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mercadito-chicago