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My fiance does this all the time. She hates milk, so this is actually her preferred way to eat cereal.

I've had both, and my comments apply to both. And also to New York style, fold from the edge type thin crust pizza. ← Heresy!

What do you mean by thin crust? There's the cracker crisp style which you see at a lot of places (that I'm not really nuts about either), but then you have Neopolitan style like SN, which is an entirely different animal.

I'm not sure either. I think the pizza at Quartino is ok, but I prefer SN. I would think the difference has to be what goes into the crust (I'm certainly no pizza expert so someone else should feel free to correct me).

That's due to Chicago's recently-passed (and widely-criticized) municipal ordinance, which bans the sale of foie gras. Some restaurants are figuring out ways to give it away to diners, which is apparently legal. ← Very nice touch! but help me understand here. How is the dish "free"? I mean it was part of the Tour menu. right? It's not like Percyn ordered the dishes individually. Or am I getting it all wrong and this dish as a "25th" dish not listed and normally requiring a supplement charge? ← A number of restaurants are doing similar things, like charging $28 for a salad, but serving it with complementary foie gras. It's just a way to exploit a loophole in a very poorly written law.

I don't have any suggestions other than you might want to hold off on that drink until after Alinea.

Sweet Willie...get thee to Spacca Napoli! We finally made it there this weekend. We arrived a little past 8:30 on Saturday night. We were told it would be a 35 minute wait, but we were seated in about 15 minutes. Had the prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella appetizer. The mozzarella was really outstanding. The prosciutto was just ok, a little lean for my taste. Pizzas were just as good as advertised. Mine was with sausage and broccoli rape. The fiance had a special with truffled cheese, truffle oil and porcini mushroom. The crust is clearly well beyond anything else you can get in town. I'm just happy a Chicago-style hater like myself now has some options, with Spacca Napoli clearly at the top of the list.

I can hardly contain myself. Meh.

The fiance took me to Primehouse last night for my birthday, and we both thought it was outstanding. I had an insanely decadent appetizer of Kobe beef sashimi, which is served on top of a block of salt. Accompanying the wonderful slices of raw beef was a little dish of black truffle aioli and a couple slices of lightly toasted bread. Just way over the top good (in fact, I raved so much about the aioli, I was given a small container to take home). For my main I went with the bone-in ribeye which had been dry aged for 40 days. As far as I'm concerned, this is the best steak in the city right now. Cooked to a perfect medium rare, the steak had just the right amount of that dry-aged tang that makes a dry aged steak so special. We decided to gild the lily by accompanying the steaks with truffle mouse, which was just as good as it sounds. Sides of basil whipped potatoes and broccoli rabe we both very good. We finished off with an unnecessary dessert of the Kiickin' Doughnuts, little doughnut holes that you get to inject with three sauces. Of the three (chocolate, vanilla, and apple butter), the apple butter was the standout. While not inexpensive (bottle of wine, 2 appetizers, 2 steaks, 1 dessert, and 2 glasses of dessert wine ran about $300 before tip), I thought it was well worth it. I think Primehouse should be one of the first answers that comes up to the ever popular, "what's the best steakhouse in Chicago" question.

Former?

Not to nit-pick, but I believe those prices include gratuity, so you're really still talking about a $200 tasting menu (which is more than fair given what you're getting). But, to bring this back to JR, I wouldn't be surprised to see these types of prices from the new venture (assuming it is either a formal restaurant or an Atelier). If the food is good, people will go. Plenty of people will go at first on name recognition alone.

Then I looked on the website for his restaurant in Vegas, which says, "Six course tasting menu: $225/person; Sixteen course tasting menu: $360/person". It seems to me that there is now a very top tier of restaurants which are charging simply for the name recognition, rather than the food or the experience. You can have a wonderful dining experience at some of the nicest places in town, with some of the best food, for under $100. It's getting more and more difficult to justify places that are now charging three or more times the price. ← Those prices are for the more formal restaurant at the Mansion. You also have to take into consideration that prices in Vegas have absolutely no bearing on reality (you're not going to find a $300+ tasting menu anywhere in the US outside of Las Vegas, with the possible exception of Masa). At the Atelier in Vegas, the tasting menu is something like $100-$125 per person for 7-9 courses IIRC. Given the quality of the food and ingredients used I thought that price was more than fair.

I've talked a lot of smack about Fulton's since eating at their Disney World outpost a couple of years ago. When Chicago Magazine picked Fulton's as one of the best new restaurants of 2006, I scoffed. But then, word of mouth was getting better and better. The oyster program has been lauded in several places. Based on all of the positive reviews, I decided on Fulton's as an option for the rehearsal dinner the night before my wedding. I went over there during lunch today to check out the room and talk logistics. Coming away impressed by the presentation I decided to sit at the bar and have lunch. Wow, was it great. I started with half a dozen Sunset Beach oysters that were hands down the best oysters I've had in Chicago. Absolutely pristine. Just a small squirt of lemon and they were good to go. I moved on to the seafood Cobb salad, that was full of scallops, bay shrimp, and dungeness crab. Again, everything was fantastically bright and fresh tasting. I'll definitely be making many many return trips for lunch, and it's definitely moved up the list of places I need to get to for dinner.

This is fantastic news, and if the location is in Trump's new building that wouldn't be surprising at all. Hopefully it will be an Atelier. My meal at the one in Vegas last year was extremely memorable.

Hmmm, sorry you didn't have a great experience. I will say that they sometimes get a bit overzealous in clearing plates, which can definitely be annoying.

I was actually implying that Chicago is more on the conservative side, lots of steak and potatoes joints, where as Vegs is much more out there. Kind of what elrushbo said. ← Well, first, I wouldn't use the foie gras ban to pass any sort of judgment on the City. It is rarely if ever enforced and it is in the process of being repealed. In terms of Chicago being conservative because there are lots of "steak and potatoes" joints, there probably aren't any more steakhouses here than any other major city. Don't forget, Alinea and Moto are here, along with a few other restaurants driving a style of cuisine that you don't see as much of on either coast. As for Vegas supporting molecular gastronomy, I'm sort of on the fence about whether it would fly. Sure there is money out there to be spent, and certainly the wow factor means everything to those visiting the Strip, but I feel like to appreciate a restaurant like Alinea or Moto you need to have a certain level of knowledge of food and dining. I'm not sure if the whales that will be dropping the large sums of cash will be able to appreciate what they're getting.

I'm at Tsuki all the time and I've always been impressed with the quality of their fish. On the infrequent occasion that I've been less than satisfied, they've been happy to replace whatever I've been eating with something way better. I haven't been to Mirai quite as often, but every time I've been the fish has been outstanding. Again, I think Kaze has excellent fish (maybe half a step below Tsuki and Mirai), I'm just not into the other stuff. One other place that hasn't been mentioned is Heat. I've only been once, but I really enjoyed it. It's basically omakase so there is sashimi, sushi and cooked courses. Price depends on number of courses. We did their longest menu last year and for the two of us the meal was around $300 IIRC. Expensive, but I would definitely go back for a special occasion. For extra novelty, they have fresh kill sushi. Didn't try it though as the only fish on offer was tilapia.

Kaze is good, but a lot of their sushi is "doctored up" with different sauces and toppings. I'm not into that style, but their fish is very good.

I am a huge Tsuki fan and would highly recommend it. I haven't had a lot of their non-fish items, but the ones I have had are quite good (especially the house smoked duck). Mirai is another great choice for outstanding sushi. You can't go wrong with either one. Tsuki 1441 W. Fullerton (773) 983-9288 Mirai 2020 W Division St (773) 862-8500

They certainly can't be taken as serious, but there are quite a few negative reader reviews on metromix.com. They're good for a laugh as opposed to actual restaurant criticism. Probably half of complaints have to do with the portions being too small and people leaving hungry. I fail to understand how this is possible. I feel like a beached whale every time I leave Alinea.

So why is it fair to "review" them in a blast email that thousands of people read? I have to say (and maybe I'm a-typical), I read Dish more than I read the magazine. It's no better than when metromix does those "first look" articles about restaurants that have been open for a week.

Temper your expectations I just say that because I can't stand the pizza here. Others love it. To each their own.

I think that's the best idea so far. Either that or Alinea. I don't think the food at CT's is engaging enough to make solo dining there worth it.

Perhaps 18th Street, in the neighborhood we call Pilsen? ← Maxwell Street?

Neat topic. Here are my goals for 2007: 1. Get to Moto! I've heard so many mixed opinions, I just need to try it for myself 2. Get back to Schwa. I just need to suck it up and go on a weeknight. 3. Get to Nomi. Sounds like there are great things happening under the new chef. 4. Get to Prairie Grass Cafe. Yes, there is life outside of the City. 5. Eat in more neighborhoods. Even within the City, I need to get around more. 6. Get back to Alinea. It's been since March, and that's just too long. 7. Actually cook something. We'll see about that.