Tapas at Eivissa
It seems as if the tapas scene is picking up steam again (three new local incarnations in the last several months), and if anybody is going to hop on that trend train, it’s chef Dudley Nieto. Here's a look at Eivissa's offerings:
It seems as if the tapas scene is picking up steam again (three new local incarnations in the last several months), and if anybody is going to hop on that trend train, it's chef Dudley Nieto. His culinary resume is an alphabet soup of openings, transitions and closings: Adobo Grill, Xel-Ha, Zocalo and Zapatista. Now there is Eivissa. And Eivissa is all about tapas, sangria and pintxos.
Chow at Wally & Agador's
The menu subtitle to Wally & Agador’s is “Gourmet Cafe & Take-Away.” Here's a look at some of the dine-in/take-out options:
The menu subtitle to Wally & Agador's is "Gourmet Cafe & Take-Away." Keep that in mind as you read on. There are but four tables in this postage-stamp-size space, so we are not talking restaurant by any stretch of the chairs. If you stand at the counter at this lower-level space or near one of the deli cases, you will get up close and personal with the guy making your sandwich. But you know the old saying: "Good things come in small packages."
I have spent a lot of time in Spain, especially Barcelona, so the over-the-top approach taken by tapas restaurants in this country is, well, different. Tapas in Spain is more about standing and eating (sometimes on the fly), rather than a sit-down, drawn-out dining experience. Also, tapas in Spain is meant to be a snack after work and before dinner (dinner in Spain starts no earlier than 9 p.m.).
Holy Mackerel! has joined sister restaurant Harry Caray's on the ground floor of the Westin hotel in Lombard, part of the restaurant eruption that has taken place along Butterfield Road and in and around the Yorktown shopping center. There are more restaurant seats in that neck of the woods now than there are seats in some major league ball parks, so eateries are really slugging it out to bring in customers.
Old restaurant space never dies; it just gets revived (unless the wrecking ball gets to it first). So what was once Ranalli's is now Rocco's Cafe & Pizzeria.
When making a dining-out decision, suburbanites -- from fish-lovers to vegetarians to hard-core meat eaters -- have a panoply of options covering all manner of American and ethnic cuisine at varying levels of price and sophistication.
Terzo Piano is the smart new restaurant on the third floor of the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. Terzo Piano means "third floor" in Italian. And the name connects with noted Italian architect Renzo Piano, who designed the Modern Wing.
Stick with me here. Fred's at Barneys New York is a restaurant on the sixth floor of the Barneys New York in Chicago. When Barneys moved to a new building across fashionable Oak Street a while ago, the decision was made to add an eatery that replicates the one at Barneys in New York City.
If you have heard and read about Spiaggia on North Michigan Avenue (one of the Obamas' favorite restaurants), you will know it is very expensive (pasta dishes average $25; main courses about $45), gentlemen need to wear jackets, and the menu can be somewhat intimidating. Get the picture?
"Market is a multifaceted restaurant and sports bar." That's how the restaurant's Web site puts it, and, by gosh, that definition is as accurate as a strike that catches the inside corner of the plate.
District Bar is a restaurant and bar, and the many flat-screen TVs notwithstanding, I wouldn't place it in the sports bar category; it just doesn't have the rough edges and grit that I would associate with a sports bar (the wall of books as you enter, it turns out, is actually a secret pass-through to a private dining room).
