The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. R.J. and Jerrod Melman, sons of head Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises guy Richard Melman, are doing their own thing at a smart new restaurant called Hub 51.
Hub 51 is a cool, very busy restaurant, a fun place to be. A lot bigger than I had imagined it would be, and with food a whole lot better than I thought it could be. Papa Richard may have had a say or two about what's up with this dish or that, but it was apparent his two young sons are running the show. I do know I am deeply enamored of the food here.
I like, too, the depth and breadth of the menus (the lunch and dinner menus overlap just a touch, with the dinner menu adding entrees under "Fresh Fish and Platters"). So off to lunch we go, where, with the help of a friend, a nice cross section of the menu was devoured with delicious delight.
One might think it nuts to pay $18 for a fish taco, but this halibut beauty was worth every penny. A fine fillet of grilled halibut swam up to a medley of rice and salsa, a taste of guacamole, and a raft of black beans swizzled with sour cream. Outside this platter was a packet of freshly made tortillas studded with roasted corn kernels.
Guacamole arrived piled high in a molcajete. On a separate platter were the crispy tortilla chips and a roasted tomato salsa. The guacamole was mighty fine -- chunks of avocado mingling with bits of tomato with a pleasing back taste of lime. I would have enjoyed a bit more heat, though.
The deconstructed egg salad, came on a three-part rectangular platter with the salad in the middle, a fresh fluff of baby greens on one side and a small pile of crisp "seven-grain toasties" on the other. It's hard to explain what makes an egg salad great. The texture? The balance of mayo? (And mustard?) The creaminess? The simplicity? (This version was not all fussed up with celery and the like.) This was probably the best egg salad I have ever tasted.
As for the "First-Rate Cheeseburger," the meat was plenty good (fresh-ground prime that arrived perfectly medium-rare as ordered), the cheese was Swiss (no American cheese in the house, and that's a bummer), but the sesame-seed bun didn't hold up its end. The bottom of the bun was falling apart, so the last few bites were a mess. The fries? Good but not great.
Lunch wrapped up with "Martha's Three-Layer Carrot Cake." Almost the best carrot cake I ever ate. Three layers of nicely spiced, moist, tight (not crumbly, which is good) cake with a dynamite cream cheese frosting between the layers and over the top. (Martha is Mom to R.J. and Jerrod.)
The dinner menu, which changes often, brought on more good eats. Nestled among a pile of warm and fresh tortilla chips was a wealth of sweet peekytoe crab, a smattering of melted cheese and dabs of guacamole.
The spicy tuna roll was eight pieces long, crusty-rice on the outside, solidly fresh tuna packed into the center and served with a spicy miso bean sauce (tobanjan) for dipping.
Big platters sampled included a top-notch charred sake salmon fillet that was laid on a bed of melted fresh fennel (great idea) and sauteed spinach. "Overnight-braised short ribs" was rich in flavor, fork tender and deeply enjoyed. The meat was served with wonderful mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables with a dab of pan jus.
Desserts included a double fudge cake "with extra frosting." Delicious.
And just for the fun of it, a fresh-dipped ice cream bar came with a fork (impaled in the chocolate-coated bar) and knife. A pebbly and tasty scattering of mint and nuts flowed across the bottom of the plate.
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