by Adam L Stanley | May 28, 2016 | Food
Foodie Review
El Ideas
2419 W 14th St
Chicago, IL 60608
Summary: Highly Recommended
Approaching the restaurant you may think that you’ve gone the wrong way. If you drove, you would likely struggle to find parking and if there is snow, you will probably have difficulty walking to the restaurant. When you walk into the restaurant itself you will wonder how you could possibly have paid so much for a meal in what looks like an old workroom for a mobile phone company. However, from the first bite that you taste, the first song you hear, you feel at home, comfortable, well fed, and very much satisfied with your decision to dine at El ideas.
I have now been here three times and this review is based on a combination of the visits. To establish my “street cred”, I have dined at the following restaurants that I think are in the same genre: Elizabeth, Goosefoot. Also, I have dined at the more formal versions: Grace, Acadia, Alinia, Everest, and Tru. I would recommend El Ideas over most of these places.
DECOR: 5
The concept of the restaurant is very unique. Come into our kitchen and watch us cook the food. Enjoy each others company and pretend as if you were in your own home with good friends you have known for quite a while. While there are some that sit in their chairs and remain at their table the entire meal, many of the guests wander around and share stories while watching the food as it being prepared. I thoroughly enjoy the overall experience.
The kitchen is easy to access and you can see all the action. Yet, unlike places like Girl and the Goat or other such spots, being near the kitchen does not mean smokey overkill and the need for dry cleaning. I also love that the kitchen staff plays awesome music throughout the night, turning it down each time they announce a course. You’re listening to “Bubble Butt Funk” while eating.
SERVICE: 5
It would be so easy for this place to have all kinds of attitude. The food is incredible, the prices are high, and the reviews consistently good. but there is absolutely no attitude. The team seems to truly enjoy their work and their art. The service is stellar, with each course served with an explanation and a buzz of excitement. Chef Phillip Foss is friendly and welcoming, not the prima donna style chef I have seen elsewhere. Stepping into his kitchen, you feel welcomed and they genuinely enjoy showing you their spices and maybe occasionally sharing a shot with you.
Bill, the front of house manager, is a no nonsense get it done kind of guy. He keeps things flowing smoothly and makes sure everyone has a great experience. I don’t recall seeing him smile but he made sure service was stellar.
FOOD: 5
In talking with some of the guests it was clear that they were a lot of frequent diners to fine food establishments. People like myself who have had tasting menus at Tru, Everest, the now defunct L20, and even Alinea. To some extent the menu here is similar. Smaller portions of flavorful creative cuisine. But the food here is much more like Elizabeth than those other places, with each course beautifully presented in a very creative manner. The food is playful, complex, and delicious.
My favorites include the one item that has been on every menu since the place opened, a play on french fries and ice cream that is pretty much impossible to describe so you just have to take my word for it. According to Eater, Foss “pours liquid nitrogen-chilled vanilla ice cream over a classic potato-leek soup, turning the vichyssoise into a creamy slush for a split second, before the heat of thrice-fried yukon gold nuggets at the bottom of the bowl melts everything back to liquid.” I’m not entirely sure what all that means, but it is a very interesting dish.
An amazing deconstruct of shrimp and grits would certainly be on my list, and the Uni was delivered with the lick your plate requirement. One of the few times you can lick the plate in fine dining without being given nasty looks, this was a fun part of the meal and certainly an equalizer.
Added plus: the restaurant is BYOB.
VALUE: 4
The fact that this restaurant is BYOB is fantastic and allows you to have excellent wine without paying 3x markups. That is fantastic. However, when I think about the fact that you still pay about $150+ per person I must say that this is pretty high end for a meal without alcohol. It’s fine dining so I would not expect it to be cheap, but would knock it down a peg simply because one could have an amazing meal at Momotaro or Brindille with wine for less per person. I would consider El Ideas about the same value for money as Grace, however, which is of course more of a true peer comparison.
OVERALL: 5
Overall, I would give El Ideas top marks and consider it amongst my favorite restaurants in Chicago. I would recommend it for friends, family, business colleagues, and potential romances. Frankly, it could be a very disarming first date as you two watch each other lick a clear glass plate. For food, the environment, great service, and the uniqueness of the experience, it is well worth trying to get a ticket for a special occasion or to splurge.
In relationship with #foodies,
Adam
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
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L’Anima (London) Food Review | Grace Food Review | Other Food Reviews
by Adam L Stanley | Jan 24, 2014 | Food
Clearly I love food. Anyone that follows my blog or my tweets on Twitter understand this more than most. I love to eat, I love to dine out, and I love to experience new cuisines and restaurants. I have a low tolerance for bad food and no tolerance for bad service. Of course I can’t write a blog for every restaurant that I visit. So I’ve decided to do a series of comparison reviews. In some, the connection will be obvious. In others, perhaps less so. In the first of the series, I set out to find two restaurants that were of similar quality in food, decor, value, and service albeit different cuisines. In this case, also looking for strikingly different levels of activity and, likely, different levels of competition and long-term success. For the first pairing, I chose two upscale restaurants.
Today I focus on the first of the upscale restaurants, Grace, one of the West Loop’s premier dining establishments. As a comparison, I dined at Acadia and will subsequently do a full review of that South Loop spot.
A tale of two city restaurants … Grace and Acadia (Part 1)
Foodie Review
Grace
652 W. Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60661
Summary: Recommended / Special occasions only.
This is one of the restaurants I have wanted to visit since moving back to Chicago. Everyone has heard of Chef Duffy’s fascinating and tragic history and rise to where he is now. You kind of want this place to thrive. But, this is Chicago, so backstory or not, the food and service must be stellar. And I was impressed. The food was spectacular. It was showy without being too over the top (I don’t really want a pillow on my plate). And I left more satisfied than when I dined at Alinea, albeit less so than L20 or Everest.
FOOD: 5
Very interesting presentations of each course. We all had the menu with meat and lots of it. We loved the heirloom tomato dish with a delicious whirl of sauce. There was an amazing oyster dish that my friend Sherry thought was superb. An artichoke dish could have been skipped but the meat dishes were amazing, including both lamb and beef. Wine pairings were good but not great, and I have yet to find a wine guy as good as Dan Pilkey, formerly of Ria. It is perhaps because of him that I find so many not up to par. (Let’s be clear here, I am not an expert and they certainly know more than I do, but the good ones bring you along with them and the wines fit perfectly with the meal.)
When I dine at these showy places, I often worry that the emphasis will be so much on presentation and flare that the food will be bad. Or, that the temperature will be off. That was not the case at Grace, and all of the dishes came out at good temp and high quality.
SERVICE: 4
Service was exceptional and well coordinated, albeit a bit practiced and “obvious”. My friend summarized service as “quite good but a little bumpy given the prices. Â Could have been more precise.” I agree. At Les Nomades, service is amazing and the servers are there when you need them and almost invisible when you don’t. Here, and maybe this is more due to newness of the restaurant, the service seemed too much like they practiced and wanted to get it right like a routine. I kind of want them to seem a bit more like they are simply happy to serve us. Â Overall, I think service was great. Nothing we needed was ever held back, transitions were smooth, and timing was on point. If I felt they were happy to be hosting us, I would have felt a tad better.
One note: The sommelier, as I mentioned above, was good but not the best. IMHO, she needs to learn to be less intrusive and a bit more nuanced in her interactions with the diners.
DECOR: 5
This is a beautiful, understated, classy establishment. I love the open and airy kitchen with bright woods and colorful spices on display. It’s fun to watch the activity in the kitchen without being overwhelmed by it as can be the case in some restaurants (I sat sweltering in front of the kitchen of Little Goat recently.) The room is small and thus not many patrons. You can have a conversation without screaming or worrying that your neighbor hears every word. Everything is tastefully presented.
VALUE: 3
This is a very very very expensive place. And I knew that of course before dining. It is in line with most places of this style and caliber but I still feel it is pricier than it needs to be. One caveat is that it has been a few years since I dined at Alinea and thus cannot vouch for whether that place and others have also gone up significantly. But, you get what you pay for and Grace is an experience more than a meal.
OVERALL: 4
Grace is a great addition to the West Loop culinary scene and its nice to have another high-end restaurant over there versus in the Gold Coast / River North area. Grace is ideal for a very special date, not business in my opinion. More for celebrating a milestone birthday or anniversary. Given the prices, this clearly could not be a regular dining spot for most people and I personally would not see myself returning anytime soon given the tremendous number of other choices in Chicago, many of them significantly less pricey. That said, the chef’s story, the great food and tasteful decor, and the strong level of service make this highly worth trying if you are a foodie.
Stay tuned for review of Acadia in part 2 of this tale of two city restaurants.
More on the chef >> http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/grace/
Adam Stanley and Chef Curtis Duffy
In relationship with #foodies,
Adam
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
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L’Anima (London) Food Review | Grace Food Review | Other Food Reviews
by Adam L Stanley | Jul 30, 2013 | Food
**Update – This place is now closed. As it should be.
Summary: NOT Recommended / Needs overhaul or closure.
This review makes me a bit sad. I really want this place to succeed because Chicago needs more wine and cheese spots. Having just moved back here from London, I was excited to see this spot right across from high-end Oak Street shopping like Prada, Barney’s, and Tod’s. The street and area need more upscale coffee, wine, and “drop-in” dining spots for heavy shoppers (I am not one, but my partner is..). The first time I tried to go to TR, there seemed to be no one working there. I walked in and looked around and there was no one. Odd. The second time I went, we had decent glasses of wine and pitiful service, The third and my final attempt was last week. There was an incredibly friendly young man there who greeted me and brought me wine list and menu. I don’t remember his name but I do know that he was not the owner or sommelier and his knowledge of wine was fairly limited (kind of bad for a wine bar, but forgiven because he was very professional, courteous and friendly). While he tried his level best to make the experience pleasant, I remain hugely unimpressed by this place and suspect it will close.
TR Napa Valley
61 E. Oak St
Chicago, IL 60611
The Good. The Bad.Â
Good:
– Wine flights are generous pours and well worth it for the price of around $28 for three wines in a flight, about 125 ml each.
– Server guy was friendly if not overly knowledgable about either wine or cheese.
Bad:
– Individual glasses of wine are strangely RIDICULOUS. I mean like prices I saw in London at some of the private clubs like Annabel’s and Arts Club. The least expensive GLASS of wine was $24.
– Apparently only the owner really knows about the wine on offer and he does not seem to be there very often. Or at least, the three times I have tried he was nowhere to be found.
– they served Carr’s table water crackers with cheese, along with fig and other accompaniments that looked like they got them from Jewel’s or Dominick’s. Not to be a snob, but when I go for wine and cheese, I want something a bit more upscale than aisle 3 at the local grocer.
– hasn’t been there for long, but it is already looking dated. The flowers were dried out and looking sad. The paint was chipping.
Predicting this place will close soon unless the owner is independently wealthy and does this just for a hobby. I did hear there is a private club that is “invite only” with costs to rival the best clubs in New York and London. Good luck with that.
In relationship with #foodies,
Adam
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
Technology. Leadership. Food. Life.
AdamLStanley.com
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L’Anima (London) Food Review Grace Food Review | Other Food Reviews
by Adam L Stanley | Jan 1, 2013 | Food
#Foodie Restaurant Review
Summary: Highly Recommended / Special Occasion
Because the food is exquisitely near perfect, decor is fabulous, and service is exceptional, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental for a special occasion. A bit pricey (£30 – £40 for a main; £15 – £20 for a starter) and thus less of a value than somewhere like Avenue or Vivat Bachhus, it still is a much better experience for the money than Galvin La Chapelle. And you will only spend a bit less around the corner at Buddha Bar, an overpriced, overly trendy, good but not great food, disappointment.
I would be more than happy to go to “Dinner” again, with friends or colleagues, and especially to celebrate a special occasion or a visitor from the States. You will love it, I’m certain. Let me know what you think!
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Mandarin Oriental
66 Knightsbridge
London, SW1X 7LA
Above photo from restaurant website.
Long Version
FOOD: 5
Starters included this amazing Meat Fruit dish, a gastronomic pleasure that looked like an orange but was a chicken liver & foie gras parfait wrapped in a mandarin cream. It tasted as good as it looked.
I had the Rice and Flesh, a saffron rissotto style rice with calf tail and red wine. Our mains were fantastic, starting with my spiced pigeon which paired perfectly with my sommolier recommended 2010 Buio Buio Isola Shiraz. The pigeon, and I will admit I do not often do the rat bird thing, was so well prepaered I didnt even think about Trafalgar Square’s missing flocks once! Tender, juicy, goodness. Two friends had steak, one the ribeye and the other the fillet. Both looked, smelled and tasted exquisite. I tried the Herefore Ribeye and then stole another bite. May come back for that one night. The light eater amongst us had a rather standard cheese tray but shame on him for doing that at this place. (He had a dinner party just before our celebration meal, unfortunately)
Tipsy Cake (c 1810)
Sides were perfect, including wonderfully prepared, clearly unhealthy, triple cooked chips along with buttered carrots, and finally green beans with shallots. To end the meal, we had coffees and the Tipsy Cake with spit roast pineapple, which was orgasmic. Not one person dining with me was less than blown away by the food from start to finish.
DECOR: 5
Open Kitchen
My favorite part of the decor is the fact that the entire kitchen is visible through huge all the way to ceiling windows. Throughout our meal, we watched large pineapples slowly roasting on a spit and a well disciplined kitchen team working their magic. It was actually strange after a while, watching them completely ignore us. I almost thought it was a two-way mirror like in police stations. (too much television).
The colors of the walls and furniture, the unique lighting, and the general ambiance of the restaurant (warm, inviting, comfortable) made this a fantastic place to dine. (As an aside, this was a complete change from the absolute rubbish Mandarin Oriental Bar just outside, which was like a Marriott Courtyard lobby bar. Shamefully boring and shockingly plain in its decor, given this is a Mandarin Oriental.)
SERVICE: 5
Our primary server was Jonas and he was fantastic. But from entering the restaurant, service was perfect. Wine glasses promptly filled, food served on point and well coordinated, and food described exceptionally well. Jonas was patient as my partner kept discussing whether Amber came from the whale’s arse (waste) or his regurgitation. Long story there but clearly the remainder of our party of four had zero interest in this story, though apparently Dinner uses some Ambergris in cooking to add flavour. Ambergris is also an aphrodisiac so not sure if that adds more credence to one side of the debate or not …but I digress. (If interested in finding the conclusion of the debate, click here.)
Service was not pretentious and the staff seemed genuinely interested in our enjoyment of the meal and overall dining experience.
VALUE: 4
Clearly, we did not go to this place with a pretense that we would be getting a cheap meal so I compare its value to a group of restaurants in London with similar options, decor, and reputation, if not with a Michelin star as Dinner received in 2012. A bit pricey (£30 – £40 for a main; £15 – £20 for a starter) and thus less of a value than somewhere like Avenue or Vivat Bachhus, it still is a much better experience for the money than Galvin La Chapelle. And you will only spend a bit less around the corner at Buddha Bar, an overpriced, overly trendy, good but not great food, disappointment.
For those of you in Chicago, I would compare Dinner at Heston Blumenthal to Naha, Takashi, or Sepia more than Everest, Graham Elliott, or Les Nomades. Great food for moderately high prices that one can splurge on occasionally as opposed to ridiculously high priced indulgence that makes you feel guilty for not donating more to your favorite charity immediately after dinner.
Our meal for 4, had one of our friends not eaten beforehand, would have been roughly £400 including service and VAT. That’s steep given we only had 1 bottle of wine with the meal and that it excluded cocktails before dinner at the crappy Mandarin Oriental Bar. Mains were well prepared and presented, but I think you pay for the labour to put together such a presentation. Same food, of course, would be cheaper at most other restaurants. But, for a special occasion, I would suggest this place over Galvin La Chapelle without hesitation.
OVERALL: 5
Because the food is exquisitely near perfect, decor is fabulous, and service is exceptional, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental for a special occasion. It’s pricier than some but not all fine dining spots in London, so the only ding it got from me is in Value (4 out of 5). That said, I would be more than happy to go to “Dinner” again, with friends or colleagues, and especially to celebrate a special occasion. You will love it, I’m certain.
In relationship with #foodies,
Adam
Adam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections
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Cheers!
by Adam L Stanley | May 8, 2012 | Food
Overall Verdict: Highly Limited Recommendation
This place does, in my opinion, deserve one Michelin star HOWEVER it does not merit a return visit by me. I would recommend it to tourists or acquaintances if they are fans of Latin American cuisine and want to say they went to a Rick Bayless restaurant. I would not recommend to friends, colleagues or clients.
Topolobampo
Mexican, Steakhouse
445 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60654
LONG VERSION:
Continuing on my Michelin star restaurant quest and admitting up front that this review is biased based on comparison to the other Michelin star restaurants at which I have dined. See all reviews of the list here
bit.ly/nGR9Vc
Most relevant comparisons: Takashi (very casual restaurant, cramped space); L2O (unexplained spotty service), Spiaggia (REALLY dry and boring personality of the staff), Naha (decor), Sepia (good but not Michelin worthy food).
FOOD: 3.5
Quick note for vegans and vegetarians – stay home or go elsewhere. You will leave starving. There was an AWFUL salad that without the cheese and creamy dressing was tortuous to eat. But, since I only play vegan temporarily, I base my evaluation on all of the food that I and my guests consumed.
Food was rather flavorful and well prepared. A la carte portions are fairly small so don’t think you’ll be better off doing that instead of the tasting menu. Do the Tasting Menu! You’ll think you are ordering more than you think you should, but if you try a la carte with appetizer and entree, be ready for after dinner meal.
My biggest problem is that I felt like it should be a high-end tapas place. The timing was odd, sharing was not really encouraged despite the casual family-style atmosphere, and the portions were small. Again, maybe the Tasting Menus would have made the experience better.
Drinks were good.
SERVICE: 3
Timing is awful. Host guy told us to order everything at once to avoid long delays between courses. Didn’t work. There was a period of about 30 minutes where there was not a morsel of food on the table; no bread, salsa, chips, nada! It was odd.
Also, the servers are just not very enthusiastic. Quite a contrast from the ambiance of the restaurant, the staff is bored and dry. They are, however, friendly and do seem interested in customer service so this is not a knock on them.
DECOR: 2
Reminds me of Brazzaz; a colorful mess. And it’s loud and cramped. I think it is interesting that this place has a sister attached but don’t really understand why. Throughout the night I was thinking maybe we should have gone to the sister place instead. The website and opentable said “business casual” and most reviewers seem to say the place is kind of dressy but on our night, we saw shorts clad tourists.
In relationship with #foodies,
Adam
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
Technology. Leadership. Food. Life.
AdamLStanley.com
Follow me on Twitter | Connect with me on Linked In | “Like†me on Facebook
L’Anima (London) Food Review | Grace Food Review | Other Food Reviews
In talking with some of the guests it was clear that they were a lot of frequent diners to fine food establishments. People like myself who have had tasting menus at Tru, Everest, the now defunct L20, and even Alinea. To some extent the menu here is similar. Smaller portions of flavorful creative cuisine. But the food here is much more like Elizabeth than those other places, with each course beautifully presented in a very creative manner. The food is playful, complex, and delicious.
VALUE: 4
Starters included this amazing Meat Fruit dish, a gastronomic pleasure that looked like an orange but was a chicken liver & foie gras parfait wrapped in a mandarin cream. It tasted as good as it looked.
The colors of the walls and furniture, the unique lighting, and the general ambiance of the restaurant (warm, inviting, comfortable) made this a fantastic place to dine. (As an aside, this was a complete change from the absolute rubbish Mandarin Oriental Bar just outside, which was like a Marriott Courtyard lobby bar. Shamefully boring and shockingly plain in its decor, given this is a Mandarin Oriental.)
