Oceanique: Order Wisely and Go With Your Favorite Person (Chicago Restaurant Review 32)

In the destination restaurant category, Oceanique is another underappreciated gem. On a recent visit, we started with a bottle of New Zealand Zinfandel. It had kind of strange, tart, initial taste, but then left a concord grape aftertaste, almost like grape jelly, that was very good.

The waiter started us with an amuse bouche of halibut with red seaweed salad, which was surprisingly excellent, particularly since neither of us ever liked Halibut. For appetizers, we split caviar and smoked salmon. Both these dishes were tremendous, though we would have liked more creme fraiche with them. Steve especially thought the salmon was as good as any appetizer he has had. The salads were less remarkable. Steve's organic salad looked rather unappetizing and didn't taste all that much better. Lisa ordered an artichoke and goat cheese salad, which is a little unusual for her, but she wanted to try something different. The salad overall had a strong, bitter taste, but was very fresh. To cleanse the palate before the entree, we were served a Michigan apple sorbet. It had a slightly grainy texture, like real apples, and wonderful taste, although Steve was somewhat worried, given that we were already two hours into the meal at this point, that this was a precursor to dessert, and our dinner had been forgotten.

The name of this restaurant is Oceanique, which should have tipped us off, particularly since we've always ordered seafood here before. But this time, Steve ordered rack of lamb, even though its accompaniments were things like eggplant and brussel sprouts, which he loathes, and fennel, and he's not sure what that is, but he's heard Martha Steward mention it. Predictably, this was not a great dish, although less because of the hated ingredients than that the lamb itself was disappointing (little flavor and somewhat tough). Lisa fared better, as she ordered surf and turf, which was King crab and filet mignon. Excellent surf, flavorless turf.

For dessert, Steve had a mixed berry tart with caramel ice cream (it was supposed to come with pistacchio, but Steve hijacked the caramel, which went with another dessert). He liked the dessert and believes the caramel ice cream should be paired with it all the time. Lisa ordered a chocolate tart with fig ice cream. She wasn't too sure about the fig, but it set off the very dark chocolate tart perfectly, as it was neither too sweet nor too bitter.

Contiuning a theme in Evanston, the bathrooms left something to be desired (see one of our first reviews, of Quince in Evanston). Both were singles and were not very clean, with tile floors that looked somewhat grubby, whether they were or not, and the Men's Room smelled unpleasant. Lisa did like the decor in the Women's Room, other than the floor tile, as it had a floral, light blue theme and looked somewhat French. Steve was just pleased that there were no racy photos (see prior reviews of Shaw's Crabhouse and Al's Charhouse).

The total bill, with a bottle of wine and caviar, was about $350. It would have been more like $200 with wine by the glass and no caviar.

We were there from about 7:15 p.m. until 10:30, which was partly because we ordered a lot of food, but also because the service here is leisurely to a fault. So definitely go with someone you like. This is not a good first date restaurant, unless it's love at first sight. Overall, though, we love this place every time we go to it, and highly recommend it if splurging on an evening out. As we mentioned, the seafood is the best bet.

Our ratings for Oceanique, 505 Main Street, Evanston, Illinois:

9 of 10 (if Fish Hooks rather than Steak Knives) (we can't stress enough, especially given the prices here, that you should order wisely, i.e. fish); 1.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes