Courtright’s vet and fine-dining journeyman Ryan McCaskey gets it right on the near south side by Mike Sula If repeated openings of high-ticket restaurants in remote or unlikely neighborhoods are a sign of a strengthening economy, just one more ought to be enough to indicate a light at the end of the tunnel—or at least validate a consistently practical response to enduring stagnation. Relatively low rents in far-flung digs away from restaurant densities allow chefs with fine-dining pedigrees to keep [...]

The souped-up Applebee’s that is Laurent Tourondel’s BLT American Brasserie by Mike Sula “How many restaurants still have their own matchboxes?” was the host’s boast as I edged my way toward the exit at BLT American Brasserie. I didn’t have an answer for him, but by then I suspected that was the best thing going for this sprawling, overdecorated glorified Applebee’s of a restaurant from New York-brand chef Laurent Tourondel, at one time the man behind BLT Steak, BLT Fish, [...]

Artful plates and audacious cocktails at Avondale’s new yakitori joint, Yusho. by Mike Sula I know I wrote two weeks ago that Takashi Yagihashi’s Slurping Turtle won the izakaya/yakitori style war, a trend that’s quickly becoming as tired and oversaturated as cupcake precious burgies. But that was before I visited Yusho, from former Charlie Trotter’s chef de cuisine Matthias Merges, a dim, narrow, bustling spot in Avondale, a neighborhood that can actually use something along these lines.… [ Read more [...]

The good eats at Chris Nugent’s new fine-dining spot Goosefoot is delicious but too fussy to be fun. by Mike Sula Say things go so bad the 99 percent really get angry. They’re not going to torch the Vietnamese pool hall, the abandoned laundromat, or the Korean blanket store on Lawrence.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

New reviews of Barrelhouse Flat, Cantina Laredo, and West Town’s Barbari by Mara Shalhoup and Kate Schmidt Apparently there are two ways to experience Barrelhouse Flat. One is to ask to be seated in the more intimate and presumably less drafty (and, by virtue of its location up a flight of pesky steps, less fratty) second-floor salon.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Takashi Yagihashi shows how it’s done at Slurping Turtle by Mike Sula “We got pegged as a noodle shop initially, but we’re actually an izakaya.” That was the hedge a server offered on a recent visit to Takashi Yagihashi’s Slurping Turtle, a bit off-message, since the chef himself disavowed a direct connection to the traditional Japanese pub in the pre-opening hype of his River North . . .… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story [...]

Theo Gilbert’s new Ripasso could use a pinch or two of salt by Mike Sula You can imagine that Theo Gilbert would have sided with the free commune of Perugia in the Salt War of 1540. That’s when the Umbrian city rebelled against Pope Paul III after he dumped a new salt tax on their heads.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Vera, the little Spanish wine bar from longtime Carnivale vets, celebrates simplicity by Mike Sula I kicked off a seven-day Thanksgiving binge with my second visit to Vera, the highly anticipated Spanish wine bar from former Carnivale husband-and-wife team Mark (chef) and Elizabeth (sommelier) Mendez. It was a prelude in stark contrast with the subsequent digestive tsunami of chili dogs, french fries, pepperoni bread, tater tots, beef jerky, cheese popcorn, deep-fried stuffing balls, sour-cream mashed potatoes, chocolate-pecan pie, bourbon, rye, [...]

With Next’s third menu, Grant Achatz and Dave Beran revisit childhood by Mike Sula “Well, I grew up in Michigan too, and this black-and-white truffle Oreo is bogus.” That’s the kind of blunt, experienced feedback I look for in a dining companion.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Philip Foss ditches good eats trucking for fine-dining at El Ideas by Mike Sula One afternoon early last fall, I stopped by Phillip Foss’s Meatyballs Mobile to sample a bull’s balls sandwich. It was a warm Indian summer day, and the Le Cirque-trained fine-dining chef was doing what he’d done most days since getting fired from Lockwood a few months earlier—lobbing goofy testicular puns and hawking meatball sandwiches from the back of a lunch truck to giggling, eyeball-rolling customers.… [ [...]