Chicago Dining

The constantly changing restaurant scene in Chicago ranges from world-famous establishments like Charlie Trotter's to authentic ethnic storefront shops. Many of our restaurants are well known, many not so well known but deserving of a better audience...and some not well known for a good reason. My wife and I enjoy a good meal, and try to eat out somewhat frequently. We do enjoy the variety Chicago offers, and so I would like share my opinions on some of the places we visit.

Quick Tips:

Since things can change quickly in the restaurant business, it is always best to phone ahead to ensure reservations, or to ensure the place is still in business.

Best Way To Get Around:

Chicago's extensive public transportation system is an option for visitors without a car. Cabs are typically plentiful. Most restaurants will offer valet parking.

If your grandmother was Italian, and ran a restaurant, it is pretty likely she would create something pretty similar to Maggiano’s Little Italy. Although Maggiano’s is a chain restaurant (part of Brinker International, who also own Chili’s and Romano's Macaroni Grill), it features huge portions of high-quality food at very reasonable prices.

There isn’t a lot of flash or sizzle at Maggiano’s; you will likely recognize every single dish on the menu. They offer a variety of fresh-baked breads, appetizers, pastas and sauces, chicken dishes, and "meatier" fare (steaks, chops, and veal), all augmented by a very serviceable wine list and full bar. The pasta options and cooked-to-order style make Maggiano’s a good option for vegetarians (unless of course you are going low or no carb). For larger parties (10 or more), a family-style menu of selected items is offered.

Here are some recently sampled entrees.

Chicken Vesuvio: A mix of drumsticks and breasts (on the bone), with the requisite potato wedges and peas, browned in a mix of garlic, olive oil, white wine, and oregano. It is generally accepted that chicken Vesuvio originated in Chicago, and it has become a staple of many local restaurants. While very good, other restaurants in Chicago (in particular Harry Caray’s) do a better job of producing this favorite.

Lasagna: You know it well--wide, wavy pasta strips layered with ricotta cheese and meat sauce. This slice stands at least 4 inches high on the piping hot plate and swims in marinara sauce, offered with meat or without (the lasagna itself has meat). Very good for dinner (and lunch the next day, and dinner again the day after).

"Rigatoni D:" Roasted, boneless chicken and mushrooms are mixed in with rigatoni, and served in a cream Marsala sauce. The mushrooms (bite size) are very good, as is the chicken. This dish might be more interesting if the Marsala sauce was served traditional, not creamy. While not nearly as heavy as Alfredo sauce, the Marsala definitely lost a little zing with the cream base. Still very tasty of course.

Pesto Linguine: Chunks of boneless chicken and a scattering of pine nuts complement the pesto linguine. This dish is outstanding: the pesto sauce is consistently fresh and the chicken is very moist and tender. The pine nuts add some texture and taste.

Filet Mignon: Checking in at close to $30 for the large cut, this steak is a monster. It is served without pretense: it arrives sizzling in its own juices, sprinkled with just a thin layer of onion strings as an accompaniment. It really doesn’t need anything else, but remember, butterflying is for wimps.

Overview: Fiesta Mexicana has two locations, one at 4806 North Broadway, the other at 2423 North Lincoln Avenue. I frequent the Lincoln Avenue location. As a side note, the Lincoln Avenue location is just a few doors south of the Biograph Theater, where gangster John Dillinger was shot to death in 1934.

I’ve been going to Fiesta Mexicana for well over ten years. Fortunately, the restaurant hasn’t changed much in all that time. There are three main dining areas: a small front seating area, a surprisingly large smoking section (also in the front), and a patio dining area in the back of the restaurant (this area is a large screened-in room, not really outdoors dining). This year they have added two tables outside on Lincoln Avenue, but in my opinion Lincoln Avenue is far too crowded for "alfresco" dining. Stay inside.

Tables in the two front dining rooms are covered in colorful Mexican tablecloths, albeit under heavy clear plastic. Complimentary chips and salsa arrive almost as soon as you are seated. The chips are thick and crunchy. The salsa seems very fresh, with pieces of tomato, and onion visible and a distinct coriander scent. The salsa is not chunky, it is actually on the thin side, but it packs a bit more heat than what you would get at Chi-Chi’s or Pepe’s (to name two Mexican chain restaurants). Good stuff. Margaritas come in a wide variety of flavors and sizes (including half pitchers and full pitchers), and are nothing special--not bad, but not outstanding either.

The menu features all the standard items you would expect in a typical Mexican place: tacos, enchiladas, and fajitas (and combinations thereof) are prominent items, stuffed with beef, chicken, cheese, or chorizo. There are a number of skirt steak dishes, as well as seafood. Shrimp is a featured seafood item; five dishes feature the crustacean, and it plays a supporting role in at least four other dishes. Whole red snapper is a surprise on the menu.

Service is usually very good; however, on my last visit, I was very surprised at dinner when a whole red snapper was served to me. I was surprised since I had ordered shrimp. In all my visits, this was the first time a mistake had been made.

One thing that does set the Lincoln Park Fiesta Mexicana apart from other sit-down Mexican restaurants is the live mariachi band that plays Friday thru Sunday. They usually start up around 8pm or so. The Kingston Mines blues club is just up the street, and on occasion some of the blues musicians will drop in for a jam session, making for interesting listening.

Their website is http://fiestamexicanachicago.com/

The Half Shell has been serving seafood in Lincoln Park since 1968, and the place probably hasn’t changed a bit since it opened. The word "dive" definitely comes to mind when describing this restaurant / bar…these days, if a place like this opened, it would probably be considered "retro chic." But The Half Shell is the real deal.

It is a little difficult to find, as the entrance is below street level under what looks to be a house. It’s also a little difficult to see once you are inside – the ceiling is quite low and the lights are dimmed. The décor can best be described as…well…there really isn’t a décor. The bar runs pretty much the length of the restaurant, along the right hand side as you enter, with tables scattered on the left hand side. The beer is cold and is a relative bargain at $3.75 a mug (in Lincoln Park, $3.75 is cheap).

The menu is a bit limited in raw bar options, but does feature a variety of oysters. Alaskan King Crab legs are also very popular and reputed to be among the best in the city. On the hot side, most of the other seafood options are served fried. The "32-pointer" is the cream of this crop: frog legs, smelt (small fish found in Lake Michigan), shrimp, clams, and perch, all deep-fried and served piping hot. Buried beneath – French fries and toasted white bread. All this, served in a plastic red basket and butcher paper. There are some non-seafood options (steak, burgers, chicken), but there is no point to ordering something like that in a place like this. Most entrees are between $12 and $18 dollars.

Service is no-frills affair either, although I’ve found it to be efficient. Also note that credit cards are not accepted, they are a cash-only restaurant.

So, if you are looking for a unique seafood dining experience, The Half Shell will deliver. It is not Shaw’s Crab House, or King Crab (another popular Lincoln Park seafood restaurant), but it must be doing something right to stick around for over 30 years and have a loyal following.

Visited July 31, 2005

The Old Barn is a South Side institution. It has been a "special occasion" restaurant (Mother’s Day, wedding receptions, anniversaries, etc) for over 80 years. The building now housing the restaurant was, in fact, a horse stable many years ago. Rest assured that the ambience does not remind you of a stable (except for the equine-related décor), nor does the food.

Banquet rooms and a beer garden have been added to the original building, which itself contained a number of different dining rooms. Each dining room has a slightly different décor and size, but all are well appointed (as to be seated in "The Tack Room"). There is also a spacious lobby.

The Old Barn’s menu cannot be classified as trendy or contemporary. I would call it a "classic American" category: steaks and chops (prime rib is a specialty), veal, poultry, and seafood (lobster, crab legs). They feature three or four daily specials. Their French Roquefort salad dressing is quite a favorite – they do not skimp on the chunks of cheese mixed into the salad. A soup or salad comes with most of the entrees, as does a serving of freshly baked rolls.

The filet mignon comes in a petite cut of 8 ounces and a larger cut of 12 ounces, and is served with a side of sautéed button mushrooms. A serving of vegetables and potato (baked, mashed, garlic, or fries) also accompany the meal. The garlic potatoes are served in what is almost a soup of butter and garlic – as befits a "special occasion" dinner. The steak was cooked to perfection, while the filet itself was very nice cut of meat. The offer of steak sauce was a bit surprising, but perhaps a nod to the "steak and potatoes" appetite of the South Side.

A special of the day was a barbequed ribs and coconut dusted fried shrimp combination platter. Four shrimp, served with a choice of tartar sauce or cocktail sauce (my choice), fought for attention next to the vegetables (steamed carrots), French fries, and a third of a slab of ribs. The ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender (the way ribs SHOULD be served, period!), and the sauce was smoky with just a bit of a bite to it. I was very happy with both the ribs and the shrimp, although the fries could have been a bit crispier. No moist towellete in a foil package here, though; a hot linen napkin with a lemon wedge is provided for your sticky fingers.

The restaurant is located at the southwest corner of Central Avenue and State Road, and is set back quite a bit from the road, in a fairly residential area... so it might be a bit hard to find. However, the trip would be well worth the effort.

Their website is: http://www.theoldbarn.biz/

If you happen to live in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, you have no doubt received a Sapori Trattoria coupon for $12 off an entrée or a four-course dinner for two for $57 (up until recently, this was a $55 offer). The four-course-meal offer was enough to finally entice us to visit recently, and it was good enough that we returned again (this time bearing the $12-off coupon!).

Sapori (loosely translated from Italian as "flavor") is located in a very densely packed neighborhood, and much of the parking is permit-only between 6pm and 9:30am. However, the restaurant offers a parking voucher. Stop in before parking your car to get the voucher and information on where to park. Otherwise, taxis and public transportation (Diversey el stop, no. 8 Halsted bus) are good options. The restaurant is quite intimate and cozy, and you will likely be a participant in your neighbor’s conversation. The tables are close together and it seems that there is rarely an empty one (which is why I strongly recommend calling ahead). There is a large banquet room in the back, but that seems to be for private parties only.

The menu has a wide variety of pastas, as well as other entrees. The wine list also offered a variety of price points and a good selection of Italian and California wines. Here is an overview of the food, based on our two visits.

Appetizers
Bruschetta – A solid version of this simple appetizer.
Fried Calamari – Somewhat typical version of this dish, served with a marinara sauce. The calamari was lightly breaded (a plus in my book), but the marinara sauce was a bit thin and was not particularly spicy.
Caesar Salad – Sapori’s Caesar salad has the basics: a large bowl bowl of romaine lettuce with a very rich and creamy Caesar dressing mixed in. The salad alone would practically make a meal. We shared one order and did not want for more.

Entrees
Chicken Breast – A very good-size boneless chicken breast served with a mushroom sauce and grilled asparagus and crowned with a sprig of rosemary, I believe.
Gnocchi – Thumb-size potato gnocchi served with tender slices of chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and a perfectly executed pesto sauce. The gnocchi are very soft, yet somewhat chewy, and were very filling. The portion was large enough that it became another dinner a few days later.
Cappellacci Pasta stuffed with Lobster – Freshly made raviolis are filled with chunks of lobster and served with a light cream sauce. Everything about this dish is subtle – the cream sauce is not heavy and the seafood does not overwhelm the sauce or the pasta. Be sure to keep at least one slice of the freshly baked bread to mop up the cream sauce.

Dessert
Bread Pudding – I am not very familiar with bread pudding, but that may change after trying it here. An interesting texture, not too heavy but still substantial, with a pleasant aroma.

UPDATE: In summer 2006, this location closed for 3 months for a re-make. It looks a lot more like the typical chain BW-3. Not sure if the trade of "local flavor" to 15 flat-screen TVs was worth it...but the wings are still top notch.

In January 1993, a white-tablecloth restaurant called Montana Street Café, which offered buffalo steak as an entrée, closed its doors. Shortly thereafter, a new eatery opened in the same location, with the quirky name of BW-3. Oddly enough, the logo featured a buffalo, although this one had wings, and it offered a hint of the cuisine served within... yes, buffalo wings!

For the longest time, the restaurant on Lincoln Avenue was the only outpost in Chicago. Recently, the group that owns BW-3 has gone public on the stock market and changed the name of the restaurant to Buffalo Wild Wings. Since going public, a number of restaurants have opened in the area, mainly near suburban shopping malls.

Perhaps simply because it has been there so long, the Lincoln Avenue location does not feel like a chain restaurant. Chicago sports memorabilia fill the walls (signed jerseys from local sports heroes, newspaper headlines, etc.). There are three distinct areas within the restaurant. The first is the bar/takeout window area, which can get very crowded when the restaurant is busy. The second area is the "main" dining room, which features a big-screen TV at one end, booths, and TVs scattered on the walls throughout. This room, with the bar, is part of the original restaurant, with wood floors and exposed brick walls, so it can become somewhat noisy later in the night. The third area is a separate dining room, which seems to be more for private parties but opens when the place gets busy. This area does feel more like an "anyplace" restaurant... we will gladly wait an extra few minutes to sit in the main room.

As for the food, in all the years I’ve been going there, it has been nothing but wings. Of the 12 sauces available, I have settled on the "hot" sauce, which is the third spiciest. You will smell it coming, and it might just make your eyes water a bit before you start eating. The other two hot sauces are "wild" sauce and "blazin’" sauce—ouch! Besides these powerful sauces, they have four mild sauces (like teriyaki and sweet barbecue) and four medium sauces (spicy garlic and Thai), so the options are a little wider than most wing places.

As if the wings didn’t clog up the arteries enough, a side of buffalo chips with cheese takes up the slack. The chips are circular-cut potatoes, less than a quarter-inch thick but not potato-chip thin, topped with a slice of Velveeta (I guess) melted on the top.

There is also a variety of burgers, sandwiches, and salads, but really, wings rule.

Their website is www.buffalowildwings.com; you can check if one has opened near you.

Alinea takes food that you may (or may not) be familiar with, and prepares/ presents it in an unexpected manner.

There are two menu options: the "tasting" menu ($125) features twelve courses, while the "tour" menu ($175) has twenty-six (yes that is 26) courses. The tasting menu is a subset of the tour. A wine pairing is about two-thirds the cost of the food... options to "upgrade" certain glasses or select different options based on your preferences makes it a bit difficult to give an exact price.

The restaurant called a few days before our reservation, to confirm our choice of menu... selecting the "tour" holds the table for the evening, as they plan on four to four and a half hours for the meal. As it turns out, we took just over five hours to complete dinner. We also selected the wine pairing; in all, we had twelve (yes, 12) different wines. Phew!

Besides taste, Alinea seeks to involve the other four senses of sight, hearing, touch, and smell in the meal.

Of the 26 courses, some were referred to as "one bite" courses, designed to be eaten in a single bite. These items provided the most "how did they think of this" moments. In some cases, the servers would suggest the best way to eat the course. For example, the very first course (both menus) is the "hot potato." This single bite course is two pieces of potato (one hot, one cold), with black truffle, served on a thin steel pin, which rested on a small saucer with a
parmesan cheese-based sauce. You pull the pin, which drops the potatoes and truffle into the sauce, then "slurp" the entire contents, like eating an oyster. A cube of applewood ice-cream (tour) arrives suspended at the end of a thin, foot long "antennae," which is placed on your table... in this "hands-free" course, you simply pull the food from the antennae.

A (tour) one-bite course of seared lamb was served covered in a bed of baked eucalyptus leaves. When you pick up the lamb, the eucalyptus releases its unique aroma. A "full" course of duck (duck breast, cornbread made with duck fat, and foie gras) with quince is served on a pillow filled with "mace" scented air. The pillow slowly deflates as you eat, releasing the aroma. "Mace" is not pepper spray (that would be interesting), but is a cooking spice derived from nutmeg.

The creativity, and uniqueness, of Alinea will surely appeal to those who follow dining with the effort and energy other people expend on sports or music. Although sports and music are great diversions, we need food to survive... so why not try something like this once?

Their website is www.alinea-restaurant.com. Martin Kastner designs some of the unique serviceware at Alinea, which is now available for purchase at www.crucialdetail.com.

Salvatore’s is a long-time Italian restaurant in Lincoln Park located on Arlington Place, a small residential street just north of Fullerton Parkway. I have lived in the area since 1992, and Salvatore’s was well established at that time.

The restaurant hosts banquets and events for other special occasions; on the night we dined, a wedding reception was in full gear in a large room just steps from the maitre'd stand. Fortunately the dining room is separated with large double doors, which did a very good job keeping the tunes of the "chicken dance" where it belonged.

The high-ceilinged dining room features tables with white tablecloths and fresh flowers and mock -Roman sculptures lining the walls, which also have paintings of the Italian landscape. A very large bar area with a piano is located at the far end of the dining room.

Appetizers:
Funghi al Forno: A bowl of small mushroom caps sauteed in butter and masala wine, then baked under a sprinkling of Provolone. This dish was piping hot and very good. The wine sauce was too good to leave, so we made use of the basket of warm Italian bread placed on the table.

Grilled calamari: This dish was a special that night. Five large "hood" sections of calamari surrounded a few "tentacled" squids. Rather than fried, they were lightly grilled in olive oil and served over endive leaves, with more oil drizzled on top. We applied a quick squeeze of lemon as the final touch. The calamari was very good but might have been better if served hotter. Thankfully, we had some Italian bread left from the mushroom cap dipping to soak up the "dressing" from this appetizer.

Entrees:
Grilled Chicken Breast Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Roasted Peppers: This dinner special was a sizable portion of boneless chicken, grilled and stuffed as described. It was also served over a bed of very flavorful wild rice. A side of steamed broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower was also served. The bites of chicken containing the cheese, peppers, and rice were very good. The dish could have used a bit more of the stuffing, and more rice as well. The chicken by itself was tender, but wasn’t particularly flavorful.

Scaloppine Alla Salvatore: Veal, red peppers, and mushrooms sauteed in a light white wine sauce. The two large, thin slices of veal were accompanied by the same steamed vegetables as the chicken special. Solid, but not spectacular.

We finished with shared dishes of tartufo and tiramisu. I am not a huge tiramisu fan, but it was quite good.

We had two minor issues with the service. Only one cappuccino was delivered, although we ordered two. The waiter did get the missing cup out quickly. Also, we had difficulty getting our server’s attention for the bill.

Their website is www.salvatores-chicago.com.

The Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder is one of the more interesting restaurants in Chicago. It opened in 1972, and the menu, décor, and dining approach have not substantially changed.

CPOG does not take reservations; it is strictly a walk-in affair. You pass through the glassed-in waiting area, through another small foyer, into the restaurant. Make your way forward to the slightly lower dining area, and look hungry...and watch for the host. At CPOG, they don’t take your name, they just remember your name and the number of people in the party. On Friday and Saturday nights around 6pm, it will not be unusual to hear the wait will be one and a half hours...this place gets very busy. It can get quite crowded in the bar area. Given the slate tile floors, wooden booths, and low ceilings with exposed beams, it can also get quite noisy. The preponderance of wood reminds me of a 1970s ski lodge...but I have come to like it.

The menu is not fancy. The salads are huge and are meant to be shared among the table...one salad can serve as a full meal for two people. The "Mediterranean Bread" is a large (12 or so inches in diameter, perhaps), thin, piece of baked bread (wheat or white). It is somewhat like thin crust pizza, minus the sauce and toppings. It has Italian seasonings sprinkled on top, a container of which is also on the table, along with the requisite crushed red peppers. There are a number of sandwiches (the "oven grinders"), which are made with what appears to be an entire loaf of bread. I would like to write up how these things taste, but I haven’t had the courage to order one. I am rather addicted to the "pizza pot pies."

The pizza...oh yes...

A mix of vegetables and tomato sauce, layered on cheese, with sausage and/or mushrooms optional, are baked in a bowl. The crust, again wheat or white, is stretched over the bowl. This concoction arrives piping hot at the table. The waiter tips the bowl upside down and scoops the contents into the bread, which becomes the crust. Most of the time, a perfectly presented individual pizza is the result. They offer a half-pounder ($9.75) or a one-pounder ($19.50).

They do offer an Italian dessert (tortoni), but the complimentary chocolate-covered toffee, made for them by a small candy company in Minnesota, is more than enough after a night of eating and drinking at CPOG.

A final, important note: CPOG is a cash-only restaurant.

Their website is http://www.chicagopizzaandovengrinder.com.

The hardwood booths of the bar area contrast nicely with the lightly painted wood panels in the dining room; the top few feet of the walls are painted with a "roof top" mural of the neighborhood. For example, the top portion of the Wrigley Field scoreboard can be viewed in one corner, a sliver of the Sears Tower in another, and church spires in another. This unique décor gives the impression of eating in an outside courtyard, where you can peer over the walls to the surrounding neighborhood.

The menu is straightforward and seasonal, often featuring items from local farmer’s markets. While the number of entrees on the menu is not expansive, the variety is: fish, chicken, vegetarian, beef, pasta, pork chops, and duck sausage are represented. There is a nice selection of wines by the glass, and a very nice selection of full bottles.

For an appetizer, we shared grilled shrimp with fava beans, onions, and a slice of parmesan cheese. This dish (a special that evening) could easily stand as a entrée for light eaters; four good-sized shrimp were grilled to perfection, in what seemed to be a sun-dried tomato-based sauce. The cheese added some sharp flavor to the dish.

We tried two entrees. For a seafood dish, we had skate (not a fish exactly, but a ray). According to the menu, the skate was sautéed, although it seemed to have a light breading which I did not expect. It was served with a fantastic potato-onion cheese fritter and a roasted garlic-lemon-caper pan sauce. Sauteed red peppers and steamed spinach added some color and flavor to the dish. The subtle flavors of each ingredient worked very well together.

The wood grilled pork chop, on the other hand, was not subtle. The thick chop, grilled medium well, stood unadorned with sauces, except for its own. A creamy yukon gold potato gratin was almost reminiscent of macaroni and cheese, as it was "cheesy" (in a good way). A dollop of mustard apple sauce provided a tart balance to the chop and the potato. Again, a very simple and very tasty entrée.

The unmistakable aroma of peanut butter preceded our dessert’s arrival: peanut butter mousse cake. A crushed graham cracker crust provided some crunch underneath the silky peanut butter mousse. Chocolate ganache, on top of the cake, lent an air of "Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup" to the affair. With the layer of ganache, and since it is peanut butter based, the cake was understandably not as light as a chocolate mousse cake. Peanut butter fans will not be disappointed. My wife and I split one piece, which proved to be just enough. We also shared a glass of Barros Tawny port, which paired nicely with the cake.

The chef, Erwin Dreschler, and his wife Cathy opened Erwin in 1994. Chef Erwin was very visible in the dining room and front desk throughout our meal. There is construction in the area as of May 2006, but Erwin is alive and well.

The Galway Arms is another entry in the Lincoln Park bar and eatery scene. They look to differentiate themselves from the other places in the neighborhood by laying claim to be the first "Celtic Fusion" restaurant and bar. From the menu, it seems "Celtic Fusion" can be defined as standard bar food (buffalo wings, burgers, sandwiches) plus "traditional" Irish / United Kingdom comfort food (corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie). There are some interesting entrees on the menu, such as sweet potato encrusted salmon or a braised lamb shank. On our visit, however, we stayed closer to bar food.

We started with an appetizer of chipotle hummus with pita chips. The "chips" were simply quartered pitas, which did not seem to be made on the premises. We expected the hummus to have more of a kick, given the addition of the chipotle, but it was quite a mild dish.

The southwest wrap is a grilled, marinated flank steak served in a soft corn tortilla, with fried onions, lettuce, and garlic mayonnaise; french fries were the choice (versus coleslaw). The fries were thick cut and plentiful, and were not soggy. There were likely better choices...my wife had wanted the shepherd’s pie and I shouldn’t have talked her out of it.

I ordered the fish and chips: three beer-battered cod fillets, dill tartar sauce, and lemon pepper Parmesan seasoned fries. The fish was very good; the batter was very crispy and did have a bit of beer flavor, and the cod was of course quite moist. The tartar sauce added a bit of flavor, but the fish did not really need it. The "lemon pepper Parmesan seasoning" wasn’t any of those things. I anticipated that the fries would have been cooked with the seasoning, but instead a bit of black pepper and a few shakes of grated Parmesan cheese (like you find at a pizza place) were sprinkled sparingly on the fries.

We decided to wait for a table outside...in fact on this night, we did not see anyone eating inside. The patio, however, did not have an empty seat. Chicagoans love to eat outside in the spring and summer! We had a Blue Moon draft at the bar (it was on special for $3.50); the bar area is all dark wood, with a few Jameson whiskey and Guinness beer signs sprinkled throughout. There is a narrow atrium above the bar, with lots of exposed brick and iron work that is reminiscent of a fire escape. There are two or three separate dining areas tucked away inside as well.

Having lived in the area for some time, I know that two other restaurants (a Greek place and an Italian restaurant) have not been able to survive at this location. It will be interesting to see how well the Galway fares.

A drink or two on the patio is a fine idea. For bar food, a decent option...

Their website is www.galwayarms.com.