Category Archives: Bars

Noe Restaurant and Bar

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Popcorn chicken

Tuna tartare

**** (4 stars)

The bar here offers a delightful intimate atmosphere, with live piano music in the evenings, and a nice outside dining area with heaters. The menu is arranged from tinest to largest “small plates” with a wide variety of nibbles to something enough for a full dinner.

There is a small assortment of wines by the glass, and a lot of spirits.

Service was friendly and efficient.

Noe Restaurant and Bar
251 S Olive St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 356-4100
https://www.yelp.com/biz/noe-restaurant-and-bar-los-angeles

El Cholo

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Interior

***** (5 stars)

I’ve been going to El Cholo on Western since I was a child, and it defines Mexican food for me, even if their idea isn’t perfectly aligned with what has come to be known as Tex-Mex, and even if it’s not all authentic Mexican either. I love it.

This location is just as good, if lacking a bit of the small house ambiance. Have a number 1 and original nachos. You won’t be sorry.

El Cholo
1025 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 899-1106
https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-cholo-santa-monica-2

Saké

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Dragon egg

Dragon egg

Short rib

House salad

Bass grouper

Dining area

Beef tataki and popcorn shrimp

Kingfish

Sashimi appetizer

Sake wall

Interior

**** (4 stars)

This very stylish restaurant in the Rocks is surprisingly large, yet intimate, with romantic lighting levels, and a modern club type soundtrack.

We had the “Chef’s New Classics” tasting menu, a mixture of raw and cooked dishes that included fish and meat. They were all good, but I actually preferred the sashimi appetizer we also ordered, as the fish was of excellent quality, and my preference runs to sashimi.

The Dragon egg is an interesting dessert option. It is presented at the table with an interesting flourish, as warm sauce breaks open the candy egg to reveal the inner Dessert.

Saké
12 Argyle St
The Rocks
Sydney, New South Wales 2000
+61 2 9259 5656
https://www.yelp.com/biz/sak%C3%A9-sydney

Baptiste & Bottle

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1/2 burger (shared)

Biscuit

Crudo

Bone Marrow

Exterior

Entry

Interior

*** (3 stars)

The emphasis here is on bourbon and whiskey in either cocktails or by the glass. It’s a decent list, but there are plenty of places in town with more cocktail offerings and more extensive spirits lists. The most interesting offering is probably the flight of three versions of the Sazerac.

The food menu is compact, but has a decent variety. We tried a half dozen items, and although there were no home runs, it was all fine. We had the spiced nuts and bacon, Brussels sprouts, biscuit, crudo, bone marrow and the burger. The best items were the fries that came with the burger, which were perfectly crisp on the outside but fluffy inside, and the bone marrow, which was really more about the oxtail than the marrow.

We finished with the Spanish coffee, which was flamed at tableside, but probably not worth the $25 price tag. The rest of the prices seemed reasonable.

Service was adequate, but not what you could call attentive.

Baptiste & Bottle
101 E Erie St
Fl 20
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 667-6793
https://www.yelp.com/biz/baptiste-and-bottle-chicago

Bridge House Tavern

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Exterior

Interior

Tots, blue cheese on the side

Carpaccio

Shaved salad

**** (4 stars)

Bridge House Tavern offers the best outdoor dining space along the Chicago River, plus an indoor ambiance that is more pub than sports bar. But don’t expect a simple pub or sports bar menu. There are some really interesting offerings here, both healthy and otherwise.

We started with some tater tots, a very generous serving, and one of the most pub-ish offerings. The serving was huge, and they were nicely crisped. I was glad we got the blue cheese on the side, as I think it would have turned them into a sodden mess. They were great on their own, and the crispy Brussels sprouts added a nice zest.

Beef carpaccio was also good, and another generous serving.

The shaved salad was fantastic. It’s a huge mound of sliced zucchini, cauliflower, fennel, radish and Brussels sprouts, tossed in a tasty dressing that doesn’t overwhelm the delicate flavors. Truly, this is one of my favorite salads in town.

There’s a good list of beers, a somewhat more limited list of wines, and also a daily drink special.

Service was good, even though the place was hopping, both indoors and out, on a nice summer day.

Bridge House Tavern
321 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 644-0283
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bridge-house-tavern-chicago

Wood

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Exterior

Interior

Mixed board charcuterie

Heirloom tomato tart

Baby octopus

**** (4 stars)

This is a good choice for drinks and small plates in Boy’s Town. There’s a nice bar, cozy booths, some high tops, and outdoor seating.

We started with a charcuterie assortment. Charcuterie represents about a third of the menu, and the mixed plate offers a good way to sample quite a bit of it. The cheeses on our plate were all somewhat similar, semi-firm. The pate was close to a liverwurst. The best item was the salmon pastrami, which was like a seasoned smoked salmon.

The tomato tart was just so-so, but the heirloom tomatoes that came with it were very good.

Baby grilled octopus was also just okay, but the chorizo and corn mixture that came with it was excellent.

The best item we had was the chocolate trilfle, an excellent mix of hot and cold, crunchy and chewy, sweet and bitter. It went great with the Rare Wine Company Verdelho Madeira. They offer the full range of Rare Wine Company Madeiras if you want something sweeter.

Speaking of wine, there is an interesting range of selections, although only a limited number are offered by the glass. Some interesting cocktails are also available.

Wood
3335 N Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 935-9663
http://www.yelp.com/biz/wood-chicago

White Sox Grill

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Bacon cheeseburger

Bahn mi

Interior

**** (4 stars)

We’ve eaten at this place dozens of times when it was Harry Caray’s and it was never better than mediocre. Our first visit to the new incarnation was much better.

In the changeover they brightened up the walls and lighting, so its not the dank hole it once was. Big improvement. The attitudes of the employees are much brighter, too.

The menu is more interesting, with items such as a banh mi sandwich. It was fairly authentic, except for the shredded pork, which is probably also used for a BBQ sandwich. But it was very good.

The bacon cheeseburger was also decent.

The kitchen is much faster than it used to be. During a busy lunch hour we were seated immediately and were in and out in under 30 minutes.

Our server, Jason, who I guess it’s normally a bartender, was fantastic.

White Sox Grill
5700 S Cicero Ave
Chicago, IL 60638
(877) 325-8777
https://www.yelp.com/biz/white-sox-grill-chicago

mfk

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Bar

Interior

Ceviche

Aguachile

Bread service for two

Crunchy prawn heads

Sardines (special)

Coquettes

Fideos

“Tortilla”

Basque cake

**** (4 stars)

If you don’t like little fishes such as sardines and anchovies you should stop reading now.

Still with me? mfk is definitely all about the style of fish you would find in the Basque region. It’s a lot like the pinchos we had in Bilbao. Nearly all of the plates are sized for sharing, so expect to order two or three per person, depending upon size and appetite.

The best items we tried were the ceviche and the aguachile. Both incorporated really fresh raw fish. Croquettes were also good.

The fideos was a good pasta dish, but it’s hard not to end up with very soft pasta when it is this thin. The dish we liked the least was the tortilla espanola, which had nothing to do with tortillas. It was basically a very fishy salt cod omelet.

The Basque cake was voted one of the best desserts in Chicago, but we didn’t find it all that special. Actually it seemed kind of dried out, but maybe that was just our piece.

Pricing is reasonable. There is a limited selection of wines, but they are perfect matches for this type of food.

Service isn’t at a fine dining level, with servers shuffling your used utensils from dirty plates to fresh ones, but it is adequate.

As others have noted, it only takes one loud person to make this very small restaurant very noisy.

mfk
432 W Diversey Pkwy
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 857-2540
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mfk-chicago-2

Guildhall

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Exterior

Bar

Interior

“Tarte flambe”?

Bucatini

Burger

**** (4 stars)

Guildhall is a reliable restaurant with a nice ambiance both inside and on the sidewalk. The menu offers a fair variety of American bistro food with nods to some international cuisines.

You just can’t take the menu dish names too seriously. For example, “Tarte Flambee” has no characteristics in common with a tart, and is not flambeed. It’s actually a flatbread with a generous layer of cheese and ample piles of bacon. And it’s big enough to serve as an entree, or for a table of four to share as an appetizer.

Yet the other appetizers we tried were much, much smaller. The delicious Ahi Tuna Crudo was just five small bites. And the also good smoked salmon was five slightly larger servings that were two or three bits each. Both would be a good appetizer for one person.

We also shared the seared shishito peppers. These were good, but were far spicier than I’ve had elsewhere; perhaps it was just this batch, but we ended up seeding them to make them more palatable.

Squid Ink Bucatini was just so-so. The shrimp and calamari were generous, but the bucatini was overcooked. Because it is essentially spaghetti with a hole through the center, it is very delicate, and needs a defter touch.

The Guildhall Burger was the best entree we tried. It was generous and juicy, topped with nice condiments and veggies, and served with well-crisped fries.

Skip the espresso, which is very bitter.

Service wasn’t quite at a fine dining level, but was certainly adequate, and sufficiently attentive for an enjoyable meal on a very busy Father’s Day evening.

Guildhall
694 Vernon Ave
Glencoe, IL 60022
(847) 835-8100
http://www.yelp.com/biz/guildhall-glencoe

Howells & Hood

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1/2 Bacon cheeseburger

1/2 Ahi chopped salad

Sea bass ceviche

Korean wings

Exterior

**** (4 stars)

This is a really delightful place to sit outside under the forest of umbrellas and enjoy a summer day. The inside is equally expansive, but seems a bit confined compared to the lovely outside space overlooking the plaza.

The menu is eclectic American bistro, with some sports bar touches. The beer list is very well organized and described, with many representatives of all styles, and is claimed to be Chicago’s widest selection.

We started with the Sea bass ceviche, which wasn’t really a ceviche at all, but more like a thickened lime soup with vegetables and some pieces of completely cooked sea bass added at the last minute, rather than raw fish “cooked” by the lime juice. Still, it was good.

We also tried the Korean chicken wings. These had a very crispy, almost crunchy crust, and were slathered with a spicy sweet sauce. Delicious, but thank goodness they came with two wet wipes per person, as my fingernails are still orange!

For entrees we had the kitchen split a burger and salad. The Bacon Cheeseburger was perfectly cooked, juicy, served on a bun with some substance so it didn’t disssolve, just the right accompaniments of lettuce and sliced onion, and with nice crisp bacon. Pretty much a perfect burger.

The Ahi Chopped Salad was also excellent. Despite the name, the tuna is not chopped, but rather coated with togarashi spices, seared rare, and thinly sliced. The rest of the ingredients were indeed chopped: napa cabbage, romaine, bok choy, bell peppers, daikon radish, and green onions. It was finished off with mandarin oranges and crispy wonton strips, and lightly dressed with sesame ginger vinaigrette. Delicious.

Despite the fact it was obviously our server’s first day (and we were possibly his first table) service was excellent. We liked everything we tried, and really enjoyed our entire experience. I’m glad Howells and Hood is close to us, and I wish we’d tried it sooner.

Howells & Hood
435 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 262-5310
http://www.yelp.com/biz/howells-and-hood-chicago