Category Archives: Steakhouses

Weber Grill Restaurant

Posted on by

Exterior

Interior

Wisconsin burger

Half pizza and salad

*** (3 stars)

The concept here is exactly what you might guess, with the majority of items cooked on actual weber grills in the kitchen. Most are charcoal driven, although a couple are gas.

The main room is long and narrow, with booths along one side and an open kitchen along the other. Despite this, it’s not noisy, and had a nice woody/clubby feel to it.

Our server was bubbly and informative, and made the dining experience a pleasant one.

We started with Caesar salads, which were excellent. Since it was lunch time I had the Wisconsin Burger, essentially a bacon cheeseburger with all the fixings, served on a pretzel bun. The patty had a nice char to it, as you would expect, and was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Unfortunately, despite this, the meat seemed somewhat dry and flavorless. I was also not a fan of the relatively flavorless bun, and discarded it before it could self-destruct.

My companion had the half pizza and salad combo. The pizza is a bit odd, with a very thick crust that has been grilled. On top of that were slices of whole tomatoes and melted mozzarella cheese, and some basil leaves. Although it wasn’t what she was expecting, she liked it except for the crust.

Overall I’d say Weber Grill is a possibility for lunch, but I would select different entrees next time.

Weber Grill Restaurant
539 N State St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 467-9696
https://www.yelp.com/biz/weber-grill-restaurant-chicago

Boeufhaus

Posted on by

35 day dry aged rib eye

Fries, Cauliflower, asparagus

Short rib beignets

Exterior

Interior

Trout crudo

**** (4 stars)

I guess I was expecting a bit more from this place because of all the buzz, but it was good. With only 36 seats, and many of them at the bar, reservations are essential. We arrived on the early side of the evening, but it quickly filled up. Despite the small space and brick walls, sound levels were not too bad.

Our waiter was very good, and our bus boy was the best I’ve ever encountered, really on top of every little detail, offering to replenish my wife’s glass of ice, package up every little leftover, even sauces, keeping two types of water refilled, and very professionally clearing and resetting the table several times during our meal.

Much of the food is on the heavy side. We started with the lightest dish, trout crudo. There were many interesting flavors, from citrus to olive to herb. My wife didn’t care for it because she prefers a more acidic preparation for raw fish, and this one was covered in oil, but I liked it.

We then tried the short rib beignets, because of all the raves. Honestly, these are more like fritters, a heavy ball of deep fried dough, with short ribs in the center, served with a brown dipping sauce. I thought they were just okay, but my wife, who is not a big short rib fan, liked them. One each was plenty, though.

We shared a 35-day aged rib eye. Again, we disagreed somewhat. My wife prefers a leaner cut such as a New York strip, and this was admittedly a very fatty rib eye. I thought it was good, and the accompanying bearnaise was excellent, but I admit the steak was not a top ten, even in Chicago.

We tried three sides. Asparagus was a mix of green and white, simply served with melted butter. It was fine, but not memorable. My wife loved the beef fat fries. These were indeed very good, better than the usual duck fat fries, but so rich that just a few were plenty. The best side was the cauliflower gratin, a rich blend of leek, gruyère, and béchamel, baked in an iron dish.

Overall I thought Boeufhaus was a good restaurant, but not one I’d bother to travel to again, with so many other Chicago steakhouses nearer us in River North. That said, I am still searching for a truly great steak experience in this town famous for steakhouses.

Boeufhaus
1012 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 661-2116
https://www.yelp.com/biz/boeufhaus-chicago

Eddie V’s Prime Seafood and Steak

Posted on by

Bar

Interior

***** (5 stars)

When I want a great steak in Orlando, I go to Eddie V’s. In Chicago’s River North I’ve tried nearly every steakhouse, and yet, when I want a great steak in Chicago… I go to Eddie V’s.

Even though it’s a chain owned by Darden, Eddie V’s is a cut above almost every big name steakhouse in town. And even though it specializes in seafood, it’s really the steaks that are the standouts. In fact, it’s ironic that Darden’s steakhouse chain, Capital Grille, serves choice meat, but Eddie V’s serves prime.

The service is also a cut above, with gracious, personal and professional waiters delivering a supper club type experience.

And the environment can’t be beat, with a classy dining room, vibrant bar, and live jazz most nights. The Orlando location is high-ceilinged and a bit noisy, but the Chicago restaurant is perfect, with more intimate dining spaces and better sound levels.

The seafood is okay, but not really what I’m looking for. The yellowtail sashimi appetizer is excellent, and the shellfish tower is impressive. But much of the other fish is steamed or cooked in ways that aren’t my favorite. So I stick with the excellent apps, salads and steaks.

In all, a great place for a great experience.

Eddie V’s Prime Seafood and Steak
521 N Rush St
Ste R01
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 595-1114
https://www.yelp.com/biz/eddie-vs-prime-seafood-and-steak-chicago

Remington’s

Posted on by

Hamburger

Kale salad

Ceviche

Interior

Bar

***** (5 stars)

I really liked the ambiance and food at Remington’s. It seems too narrow to classify it as a steakhouse, and particularly at lunchtime that’s really not what it’s all about. There are a nice assortment of appetizers, sandwiches and salads.

I particularly like the way the place is divided into a number of spaces, with high dividers between central booths. This keeps the noise level down. And the individual table lights create an intimate atmosphere. The front bar space is also nice, and there is a room formed by the wine cellar racking that would be great for groups.

We went for lunch and started with the ceviche, which had a nice assortment of seafood drenched in crisp lime.

The hamburger was large, perfectly cooked, and served with all the appropriate toppings and accompaniments. The skinny fries that came with it were okay, but could have been crisper.

My favorite was the kale salad, an interesting mix of kale, grapes, peanuts and other ingredients in a nice dressing.

Service was fast, friendly and helpful.

Remington’s
20 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 782-6000
https://www.yelp.com/biz/remingtons-chicago

RPM Steak

Posted on by

Chocolate cake

Brussels sprouts

1/2 NY strip

Tuna tartare

1/3 of a Caesar salad

Parker House rolls

Caviar potato skin

Interior

**** (4 stars)

This is one of the nicest spaces for a steak house in Chicago (and boy, are there a lot of them!) It has a modern supper club vibe.

They’ve brought a bit of a twist to many standard items, yet stayed true to the focus on steak. For example, the Bernaise sauce contains truffles, and the “frites” with the steak frites are actually thin, potato chip-like strips (which were delicious, probably my favorite part of the meal.)

The steaks themselves are available dry aged or not. We shared a 14 ounce strip. It was perfectly cooked, fairly tender, and had a nicely seasoned and charred crust.

It’s easy to share the starter plates including salads, and you’ll want to, because they are huge. We split an excellent Caesar salad three ways, and there was plenty.

Since bread isn’t included you’ll want to order some Parker House rolls, which were perfectly baked, with a soft, moist center and crip crust.

We also shared the tuna tartare, which was served on golden raisins. The raisins went pretty well, but the tartare wasn’t tremendously flavorful.

Brussels sprouts were crisped up like potato chips, and had a nice curry touch.

My least favorite item was the potato skins: three slim wedges topped with smoked salmon and a small amount of caviar. The flavors didn’t really combine into something great, and at $28 it seemed overpriced.

Other than that, the food prices are quite reasonable for Chicago. The same cannot be said of the wines. It’s a nice list, with excellent breadth (although not much depth of vintages) however the markups are very high. Be sure to check out the interesting beers in the back as they have things like vintage Bourbon stouts that you won’t find elsewhere.

We finished with the 14K chocolate cake, which was moist and deliciously simple.

Service was efficient and friendly.

RPM Steak
66 W. Kinzie St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 284-4990
https://www.yelp.com/biz/rpm-steak-chicago-2

GT Prime

Posted on by

Entrance

Main dining room

Upstairs

Looking down at the kitchen

Kale Caesar

Carnivore: tenderloin, rib eye, wagyu, venison

Corn and shishito peppers

S’mores ice cream cake

Coffee & stout donuts

**** (4 stars)

This new GT restaurant is very different from its sister restaurant GT Fish & Oyster. In some ways it is more like the related Boka.

The space is mostly dark woods and stainless steel kitchen, although the underlying theme is intended to be a fanciful journey into the woods. We sat in a small upstairs space which was pleasantly isolated from the general hubub, and was quite nice, with interesting forest-themed woodwork and a dazzling light fixture. Given the size of the place, overall noise levels were reasonable, and the soundtrack is eclectic and interesting.

The idea here is to not be just another steakhouse, and they are succeeding with that. Although the emphasis is on red meat, portions are small, typically 4 ounces per person, and the side dishes are plentiful. There were some hits and misses, foodwise.

We started with the Kale Caesar, which had some nice croutons and incongruous cherry tomatoes. The kale was minced so finely that it was en route to tabbouleh, not really the consistency I was looking for. The Caesar dressing that was mixed into it was tasty, though.

Tuna Crudo was one of the standouts–delicate slices of tuna topped with red pepper and cilantro, and lightly sauced, perched atop shaved radish. This dish seemed like it came straight from a sashimi bar.

We shared the “Carnivore,” a sampler of tenderloin, rib eye, Wagyu and venison. The rib eye was the stand out here, and the Wagyu surprisingly came in last. This platter has four, 4-ounce servings of each, and is billed for four people, although two hungry people could no doubt polish it off.

The Brussels sprouts side was nicely caramelized, and probably didn’t need the prosciutto-like topping.

The better side was the Shishito peppers and corn, an unusual combination of lightly blistered peppers and delicious corn kernels creamed with Parmesan cheese.

S’mores Ice Cream Cake was well done, and tasted just like its name, but the real standout for dessert (and perhaps the whole meal) was the Coffee & Stout Donuts. These were served hot from the fryer, with a thick coffee dipping sauce and a wonderful crumb streusel to dip them into. Wow!

I probably wouldn’t go here for a steak, but I’d try some of the other mains, and focus on the appetizers, sides and desserts.

The wine list isn’t extensive, but there are some nice choices, although no bargains.

For a newly-opened restaurant, served was seamless and pleasant.

GT Prime
707 North Wells St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 600-6305
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gt-prime-chicago

Maple & Ash

Posted on by

**** (4 stars)

You enter the upstairs dining room of Maple & Ash quite dramatically, from an elevator at the rear of the building that opens out into a dramatic two-story space that is quite dazzling. Although it is a steakhouse in a city of steakhouses, the experience here is quite different. Servers are much more engaged with their guests, and there are many freebies and extras involved in each meal.

For example, before you’ve even started, there are chips and dip, watermelon radishes with salt, parmesan crisps, and even an “amuse booze” cocktail of vermouth and grapefruit. Crusty bread and butter come next. We were starting to worry we’d be full before the first course arrived.

An extensive wine list has a range of offerings at moderate prices but includes a page of under $50 bargains.

We opted for the “I don’t give a f*@k” tasting menu because it let us sample much of the menu. It’s a bargain at $145. These were the courses:

Seafood platter, not chilled, but rather roasted, featuring lobster, shrimp, scallops, and clams. The was served in a pool of butter which was later used for a tableside preparation of pasta.

Beet and watercress salad.

Rosemary fries with Hollandaise and aioli.

Meatballs with garlic cheese toast.

Bone in ribeye steak served with ricotta agnolotti, roasted squash, and mashed potatoes.

Ice cream sundae tower with three kinds of ice cream and 12 toppings to choose from.

We enjoyed the experience, and particularly our server. I can’t say there were really any home runs, and the steak was definitely not the highlight, as it wasn’t particularly tender. Overall it was a very rich menu, with little respite from heavily buttered dishes. The best items were the dip, the mashed potatoes, and the sundae.

Despite the large size of the room, noise levels were surprisingly pleasant (until a large drunk party was seated next to us) and the background music track is particularly chill.

If you are looking for a steakhouse-type experience that is a little out of the ordinary, it’s worth checking out.

Maple & Ash
8 W Maple
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 944-8888
http://www.yelp.com/biz/maple-and-ash-chicago

MoonFish

Posted on by

** (2 stars)

This is a beautifully decorated restaurant with good service that unfortunately struggles to provide even mediocre food. The problem seems to be a combination of the actual recipes and the execution in the kitchen.

We sampled a half-dozen dishes, and the only fairly good one was the yellowtail and smoked salmon sashimi. It’s telling that these two items have only a single ingredient. The double spicy tuna roll wasn’t nearly as good. In general it seemed the more ingredients, the farther things went astray.

Ceviche, for example, was simply a bowl full of citrus juice with a lot of onion, tomato, fairly flavorless avocado, and a couple of small pieces of equally flavorless trigger fish.

Mussels were served in the thinnest, most flavorless broth I’ve ever seen them in. The strongest flavor in the bowl was actually some celery bits.

Truffle “fries” are actually slabs of somewhat soggy potato, although they were served with a tasty horseradish dipping sauce.

On the plus side, there is an extensive wine list with excellent pricing. In fact if you’re willing to drop some big bucks, the prestige bottles are priced below retail.

I’ve been to several Talk of the Town restaurants, and never had a great experience, but I’d heard enough good things about Moonfish that (after avoiding it for a decade) I decided to finally try it. But it, too, was a disappointment.

MoonFish
7525 West Sand Lake Road
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 363-7262
http://www.yelp.com/biz/moonfish-orlando-2

Ocean Cut

Posted on by

**** (4 stars)

Chicago Cut is one of  my least favorite steakhouses in town, so I was hesitant to try their sister restaurant, particular given its Ricky start in the press over two iterations.

But right from the start this experience was better, as fresh crusty sour dough showed up even before I ordered.

Tuna tartare was beautifully presented with summer melons and cilantro.

The lobster salad had pretty stingy serving of lobster for its price, I doubt there was an ounce of it in the entire dish. But the lobster was fresh and sweet.

Wine prices are a bit high by the glass but there is a nice selection of whites to accompany the fish.
Overall quite a nice choice for a high end (and fairly expensive) lunch.

Ocean Cut
20 W Kinzie St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 280-8882
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ocean-cut-chicago

Chicago Cut Steakhouse

Posted on by

*** (3 stars)

I’m surprised by the reviews on this place, because we found nothing to distinguish it above a dozen nearby Chicago steakhouses, and several things were barely mediocre.

First of all, the outside patio on the river is one of the best locations, so that is certainly their strongest plus.

The wine list is presented on one of those gimmicky iPad applications that make is impossible to quickly assess the list. Ten minutes of searching revealed that the list is heavily dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, to the point the browsing this category–an almost endless jumble of randomly arranged bottles–is impossible. Prices are quite high, but we found a lovely bottle of Argentine Cabernet Franc at a reasonable price.

The assortment of bread presented at the start of the meal was interesting, but two of the three varieties would have been better yesterday.

Salads were fine, if pricey. The wedge salad is–oddly-not served as a wedge, but chopped and tossed; perhaps this was just our server’s idea.

We shared a bone-in New York strip and Chilean sea bass. The bass was fine; this tends to be a very mild fish, so the accompanying yuzu cream was a great idea to add some flavor. The steak was tender (a good thing, since the dangerous-looking steak knives were about as sharp as a butter knife) but was undercooked to a comical degree. Regardless of how red you think medium rare should be, half of your steak should not be completely raw. No doubt this could have been fixed, but since the server had already split and plated the steak with the fish without checking with us about how it was cooked, we didn’t bother. The fact is that the dry aging had produced a fairly gamey flavor to the semi-cooked edge, and we decided to focus on the other dishes.

Accompanying green beans almondine were a tasty recipe, but also within a minute or two of being uncooked. I like some snap to my vegetables, but when you can’t cut them with your steak knife, it gives one pause.

Onion rings were giant, the breaded kind, and were good, probably the best thing we had other than the yuzu sauce.

Overall, a fairly unsatisfactory dinner, not nearly good enough to make us want to return, especially given that we walked past a dozen other steakhouses on the way. There are better–and cheaper–choices.

Chicago Cut Steakhouse
300 N Lasalle
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 329-1800
http://www.yelp.com/biz/chicago-cut-steakhouse-chicago