Some C-minuses, some C-pluses
Chef Samuelsson's C-House has work to do to make the grade
'C-House from chef Marcus Samuelsson opens." That was the opening line of the press release I received a few weeks ago.
Actually, it should have read "C-House is now open for dinner," because the restaurant, which is on the first floor of the Affinia Chicago hotel, has been serving breakfast and lunch for quite some time now. And that would lead me to believe that C-House had sufficient time to get its act together. It hasn't. There is still work to be done.
166 E. Superior, Affinia Hotel; (312) 523-0923. Hours: Breakfast, 6-10 a.m. daily; Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday. Dinner, 5:30-11 p.m. daily. Brunch, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Prices: Small plates, $9-$16; large plates, $19-$48; desserts, $3-$9.
Try: Fish tacos, arugula risotto, oysters, salmon pastrami sandwich, mini-brownies.
Wheels: Valet ($13); wheelchair accessible.
In a bite: Though there are some chicken and meat selections, C-House is all about seafood (raw bar, shellfish, seafood "towers"). The atmosphere is elegantly casual. Bar, communal table, banquettes, seats at the raw bar. Food comes in separate cast-iron serving pieces set on wood trays. The prices are up there as high as the decibel level when the restaurant is full (lunch is a lot more serene than dinner). Service is excellent in every respect. The wine list is very good, and bottle prices are not out of reach. Not good for children. Reservations suggested.
KEY:
Extraordinary; 
Excellent; 
Very Good; 
Good; Zero stars: Poor The connection between celebrity chef Samuelsson (Aquavit, Ringo and Merkato 55 in New York City) and C-House isn't opaque, because he did spend a couple of weeks here (according to our server) doing whatever a celebrity chef does when connecting his or her name to a venture. Samuelsson does have the bona fides, but I hardly expect he will be personally involved in day-to-day operations (maybe a day here and a day there at best). Day-to-day running of the kitchen is the responsibility of C-House executive chef Seth Siegel-Gardner, who, as related by our server, "has worked with Mr. Samuelsson in New York for two years."
The food was good, but there wasn't a lot that rocked my world. While it's true that this is a hotel restaurant, and hotels are notorious for not getting the food right, my expectations were high that C-House (the name is a play on the idea that seafood is the main thrust of the menu) would get it done, and done right. I was hoping for more, and more didn't happen. After a lunch and a dinner, I came away close to $200 lighter in the pocket and not feeling all that good about it.
Let me get the negatives out of the way so I can accent the positive. Fish and chips. If I told my grandfather that I had paid $22 for four pieces of mushy, squishy fluke (outside and in), he would send me out in the lake with a leaky rowboat. Fluke (aka flounder) is not the first fish that comes to mind when I think of fish and chips. This was the worst fish I've had in many a moon. The chips were good, though, and so was the tartar sauce (though it was hardly used).
Lobster club. OK, so this is a sandwich on the dinner menu under the heading "Large Plates." I say not large, and I say $24 for a sandwich made up of slices of toasted brioche and precious little lobster (and where was the promised avocado?) is a rip-off. It comes with fries, though. Shouldn't a progressive eatery such as C-House consider the possibility of a really great lobster roll, not a measly lobster sandwich?
A side dish of "Chorizo Mac & Cheese" was almost good. The cheese part was goat and cheddar (according to the menu), and it was delicious. And the morsels of chorizo gave the dish an edgy flavor kick. The Mac part was that pasta shape known as campanelle. But it was so far past al dente you could eat it even if you were toothless. A better side dish by far was the grits with roasted corn. The grits were creamy-rich, and the corn added a pleasing bit of texture.
And now some of the good. The three mini fish tacos were excellent. The yellowtail fish was fresh as a daisy, and it was jazzed up with a tangle of pickled pearl onion.
Kumamoto oysters (there is a raw bar to one side of the restaurant just in front of the exhibition kitchen, and you can be seated there if you choose) were what they should be: crisp, clean, plump, succulent and thoroughly enjoyed.
The arugula risotto (listed under "small plates") was quite delicious. The combination of nicely cooked rice, walnuts, arugula and a sliver of beet worked beautifully.
From the lunch menu, the "salmon pastrami" sandwich was a clear winner in every respect, from the lightly toasted marble rye slathered with cream cheese and layered with arugula to the silky-thin slices of salmon (cured in the manner of pastrami). It's a sandwich that costs $15, but it's worth it, and it comes with fries.
What you make of the dessert choices depends on whether you like a little dessert or even littler desserts (they are lined up as CandyBar, Cookies, Confections, so you get to choose a few or several). Cute. A little dessert was the brown butter cornmeal pound cake with blueberry-buttermilk ice cream. Actually, this was shaped like a breakfast muffin. Not bad, not wow. A littler dessert was the mini-brownies with cream and sprinkles and, though Lilliputian, was excellent. But three bucks for two brownies not much bigger than a postage stamp is, well, pushing it.
Pat Bruno is a local free-lance critic and author. E-mail brunoeats@aol.com. Listen to Pat Bruno talk about food and wine Tuesdays at 6:23 p.m. and 10:23 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 7:53 p.m. on WBBM News Radio 780-AM.