More Chicago Dining

Charlie Trotter’s namesake restaurant is consistently rated one of the top eateries in the United States, and with good reason. Relative newcomers such as Alinea and Moto (whose chefs spent some time in Charlie’s kitchen) feature far more flamboyant dishes. However, the presentation, service, and creativity in the kitchen at Charlie Trotter’s remain very strong.

Charlie Trotter’s has always been focused on tapping into local and regional suppliers, to ensure freshness. At the same time, the grand menu will include seafood (no oceans near Chicago of course), so the kitchen pulls together food from just about everywhere.

The kitchen serves two different degustation menus: the vegetarian menu and the grand menu. The grand menu includes seafood and meat courses, while obviously the vegetarian does not. The wait staff will ask about any food allergies or preferences, and they will modify the menu somewhat if required.

As of early 2006, the grand menu was $145, the wine accompaniment was $85 (the vegetable menu would be slightly less). The accompanying review has a course-by-course description, with personal comments, of the grand menu for the day we visited. This review provides an overview of the entire Trotter "experience."

The restaurant is in an old "three-flat" apartment building, so there are multiple dining rooms in the restaurant, on multiple floors. There is no elevator, so when making reservations let them know if anyone in your party has difficulty getting up or down a flight of stairs. Each dining room holds fewer than ten tables or so, which provides a nice intimate setting. You enter on the first floor, into a foyer with a small bar (in numerous visits I have yet to see anyone actually have a drink at the bar). There is one dining room on the first floor, along with the kitchen. You will likely be invited to take a quick tour of the kitchen, perhaps by Charlie Trotter’s mother, who serves as a "maitre’d emeritus." Some wines are stored here, along with their cheese cellar. A second kitchen and dining table, used for Charlie Trotter’s PBS television show, is also located on the first floor.

The décor in each room is simple and uncluttered, with wainscoted walls in light yellow or cream. A flower vase may decorate a serving station. The walls, in general, are unadorned. Some areas of the restaurant have signed menus from special events hosted by or attended by Charlie Trotter. One interesting item is the Multiple Listing Service real-estate listing for the building...a nice piece of history.


Their website is www.charlietrotters.com, which also has information on Trotter’s To Go, a take-out restaurant in Lincoln Park, and his line of gourmet food gifts.

Menu from Spring, 2006 (with wine accompaniment)

Amuse Gueule (Gaston Chiquet "Tradition" Brut NV)
An "amuse gueule" (or "amuse bouche") is a small morsel, compliments of the kitchen, meant to start the meal with a unique and pleasing-to-the-eye dish.

Slowly cooked skate wing with fennel frond sorbet, grainy mustard, and fennel pollen (Lusco do Mino Albarino, Rias Baixas 2004)

Steamed Tasmanian ocean trout with razor clams, chives, and pork belly vinaigrette (Selbach-Oster "Zeltinger Sonnenuhr" Riesling Kabinett, Mosel 2002)
The idea of mixing "pork belly vinaigrette" with fish (the "ocean trout" is very similar to salmon) doesn’t sound appealing, but it worked.

Whole roasted squab with braised pearl onions, Marcona almonds, and Szechwan peppercorn reduction (Ata Rangi Pinot Noir, Martinborough, 2002)
I loved the presentation of this dish. The Szechwan peppercorn reduction was not spicy at all, but was flavorful and added a twist to this dish.

Millbrook Farm venison loin with kohlrabi, white polenta, and spiced date (Susana Balbo Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza 2002)
This dish paired very well with the wine. They may have heard us comparing (unfavorably) the size of their wine pours to other restaurants, since during this course they topped our glasses twice.

Meyer lemon and olive oil sherbet with candied Buddha’s hand (Recioto di Soave "Vigna Morogne" Tamellini 2002)
"Buddha’s hand" is a lemon-like fruit, not as juicy or tart as a regular lemon. Good way to cleanse the palate for the chocolates.

Mignardises (Quinta do Crasto Vintage Port 1999)
Mignardises are bite-size sweets served at the end of the meal. Charlie Trotter sends out between five and ten different kinds. Typically many of the items are chocolate-related.

Do you desire haute cuisine? Do you require an exquisite wine list, served with Riedel stemware, to accompany the meal? Is a hushed dining room, where tuxedo-clad servers appear and disappear, quickly and quietly, an important aspect of your dining experience? Do you feel naked dining without a suit and tie, or a evening gown and diamond earrings?

If the answer to these questions is "Yes" then by all means do NOT stop by Castaways! Castaways is an open-air bar and restaurant, perched on the roof of the ocean liner shaped North Avenue Beachhouse. Rather than the experience outlined above, Castaways specializes in burgers and beer (cans or draft), with rock music (live or pre-recorded) blasting away, its patrons dressed (or not) in swimsuits and flip-flops. Castaways can boast one of most drop-dead gorgeous views of the Chicago skyline...so on a warm summer day, there aren’t a lot of better options if you feel like a quick meal or a few drinks.

The north side of Castaways is dedicated to their beer garden, and take up perhaps one-third of the space. The live bands set up on one side of the garden, with a bar on the opposite site. As it was quite cool the day we visited, and not that busy, this bar wasn’t open. A few high tables, shaped like barrels, are scattered about. The stools for these tables would be better served to hold your beach bag or towel than your body...they may well be the single most uncomfortable bar stools I have ever encountered. A small price to pay, I guess.

Seating for the restaurant is ringed around the sides of the beach house, with the south-most tables offering the widest view of the downtown skyline. The east tables will give you an announcer’s view of the volleyball action on the beach.

As far as the food goes, it logically is centered on quick and simple casual dining. Burgers, sandwiches, and salads dominate. We had the chicken fingers, which were five decent sized deep fried strips of chicken. These were served with either a mustard sauce or with Frank’s Hot Sauce...we went with the Frank’s and were not disappointed. An order of spicy fries arrived hot and crispy. Maybe our tongues were already scorched by the Frank’s hot sauce, but the fries needed more "oomph" to be considered spicy...we addressed that by dipping them into the hot sauce.

As the restaurant is open-air, it may not be open if the weather is not cooperating. Also, you have to walk up a flight of stairs to reach the roof, there are no elevators or escalators.

Castaways is operated by Phil Stefani Restaurants, who also operate other restaurants in Chicago. Their website is www.stefanirestaurants.com.

Castaways is occasionally closed for private parties. The Chicago Sport and Social Club holds their "Sunset Jams" every Friday at Castaways; this event requires pre-registration and a ticket to enter, so consider that if you plan a Friday visit.

We have visited Café Ba Ba Reeba numerous times over the years, and it never disappoints. They specialize in tapas. This sprawling restaurant features a bar area, where you can order from a limited tapas menu; numerous dining rooms; and an outdoor space. The outdoor space is between two buildings and offers little open space, so breezes are hard to come by. It is furnished with white resin tables and chairs, which adds to the "eating in an alley" feeling. On the other hand the bar area and dining rooms are quite comfortable.

We’ve typically gone the tapas route when dining here, ordering two dishes at a time. Often, due to different preparation times, we wind up eating one dish at a time. Two people can share a single dish and get the full range of taste and ingredients, with more than two, you’d likely be reduced to single bite. This approach works the server a bit harder, but I guess they expect that here. It also tends to draw out the meal.

Here is a look at the five tapas we had during our most recent visit:

Salmon and scallop ceviche with orange mojo: A cold dish. We had never tried ceviche before, so unfortunately I have no basis for comparison. I enjoy both salmon sushi and smoked salmon, but this version of the cold fish didn’t measure up to either of those versions. Granted, it is a different preparation.

All the remaining dishes were served temperature hot.
Shrimp with garlic, olive oil & red pepper flakes: Grilled shrimp battle garlic cloves for supremacy of the olive oil sea, as red pepper flakes float unaware. A common complaint we have with "spicy" dishes is that they are never spicy enough. We cannot claim that to be the case with this dish; it is very spicy and very good. After finishing off the shrimp, keep the olive oil for dipping your bread.
Seared skate, date and caper sauce: A decent sized, especially for a tapa, skate is covered with capers and dates, and arrives swimming in the caper sauce. The capers and caper sauce are in danger of overwhelming the skate. I would prefer this dish with about half the amount of sauce.
Skewered chicken & chorizo sausage: These grilled meats are served with a garlic alioli (home made mayonnaise) and are one of tastiest dishes on the menu. The chicken is crispy on the outside, but the oily nature of the chorizo and the alioli prevent it from being too dry.
Goat cheese baked in tomato sauce: A bit of pesto sauce on both the goat cheese and on the bread add even more flavor to this dish, one of our favorites. Be sure to have a fresh bread basket on the table; although you receive quite a few pieces of bread, it will not be enough to sweep up the cheese and tomato sauce.

Their website is www.cafebabareeba.com.

Quartino is a recent arrival to the bustling State Street restaurant row north of the Chicago River. In addition to the sprawling, L-shaped dining room, the restaurant has a decent-sized bar with some seating available. Outside, under its awning, tables stretch along State Street.

We arrived on a Friday evening, quite early for our reservation, but were seated promptly...always appreciated! The proximity of other diners, hardwood tables and floors, and tin ceiling results in a somewhat noisy environment.

The menu features "spuntini" dishes, which are "small plates" meant for sharing...think "Italian tapas" and you have the drift. We focused on the spuntini plates, but did notice the entrees were modestly priced (none over $12) and, naturally, favored pasta and risotto.

Neopolitan Pizza: Strictly speaking, the pizza isn’t a spuntini, but we elected to start our dinner with a pepperoni pizza. The thin crust pizza has less sauce than an "American" pizza, but was very good. The crust was chewier (as opposed to crunchy) than a typical pizza, with a very good amount of pepperoni covering the mozzarella cheese. We force ourselves to stop after one or two pieces.

Veal Meatballs: Served with sun dried tomatoes and golden raisins, with a bit of olive oil, the meatballs arrived still sizzling in a small cast iron skillet. The veal was of course tender and flavorful, but could have been given a bit more time on the stove, to give them a bit more texture. Cutting the meatball with a fork tended to crumble the entire meatball.

Pan-Roasted Clams (or mussels): Either mollusk is served in its shell, in a pinot grigio and red chili broth. As we enjoy spicy food and like pinot grigio wine, and like mussels, this dish seem sure to please, although we opted for clams instead of mussels. Unfortunately, this dish did not live up to expectations; it was quite bland.

Gran Coppa: The disappointment of the pan-roasted clams was washed away by this dessert. A dollop of whipped cream rested on top of one scoop each of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream; fresh blueberries and hazelnuts filled in the space between the ice cream, and a small biscotti teetered precariously over the edge of the chilled metal martini "glass" which held this combination.

We had three "quartinos" of wine: Trambusti Chianti, Ca Bianco Barbera, and a Vin Nobile. They don’t have wine glasses per se; you sip your vino from a tumbler instead. All the wines were decent, but none were particularly memorable. They ranged in price from $8 to $12, with each carafe providing three or so glasses of wine.

Overall, we enjoyed the meal and felt it was a good value for the money. We appreciated being able to try multiple dishes, with different wines, and not feel completely stuffed by the end of the night.