North Pond: Not For Us (Chicago Restaurant Review 37)

Continuing a recent and regrettable trend, we found North Pond not at all up to our standards. We really wanted to like this restaurant because it has a beautiful decor and is in a lovely spot in Lincoln Park with a great view of a pond and Chicago's skyline. We were also seated in a cozy room right next to a working fireplace. But you can't eat decor, even though we wish we could have here.

We each started with a glass of Toad Hollow Cacophony Zinfandel, which not only has an intriguing name, it was clearly the best part of the meal. It had a nice flavor and was full-bodied, so it warmed us as we sat in the bar near the outside door waiting for our table.

The food concept here is organic food from small local sustainable farms. While our friend Aileen (the environmentalist) would no doubt approve, we couldn't quite choke it down. We started with an interesting amuse bouche of Arctic Char and various other ingredients. That actually tasted okay and was an interesting taste change. We had to stretch to find appetizers that we could stomach. Steve ordered the oxtail ravioli. It tasted like mediocre beef stew. Lisa had a charcuterie plate with duck pate and some sort of mousse and fruit that was unidentifiable. The somewhat sweet bread with it took the edge off the rather bitter mousse, but it really wasn't her type of food, though she generally likes pate. We both had the lettuce and carrot salad because it looked the most like a green salad. It came with an extremely light vinaigrette that Lisa found too sweet. Steve thought the porcini Madeleines that came with were the best part. Lisa found them a little oily (sort of like our waiter at Nomi -- see last review). The lettuce was limp.

The entrees were worse. In fairness, we were told that the beef was grass fed, which would result in a tougher texture. However, this cow must have been the schoolyard bully. Lisa had to practically saw the meat. The toughness would not have been too bad, though, had the taste not been so gamey. Steve's lamb was slightly better, although the portion was so small, it was hard to judge (which forced him to eat half of Lisa's muscle cow). Lisa did like the pureed sweet potato that came with her meat. Steve found it disturbing, though that was mainly because it had a toasted outside and he thought it was bread until he bit into it.

For dessert, Steve couldn't find anything that appealed to him, so he chose the cheese course. Bad move. This came with one miniscule slice of cheese that Steve didn't like and that made Lisa gag. (She said it tasted like old shoes.) There was one saving grace, a small round cheesecake type dish. The plate included some other brown thing that Steve thought might be cheese but instead it tasted like a rancid vegetable. Lisa's sorbet and ice cream was a bit better but still odd. The cinnamon ice cream scoop was all right, but not especially tasty. The apple scoop had a soapy flavor, and the caramel tasted burnt, which seemed all wrong for ice cream. Steve thought all the flavors tasted like eating a candle or the inside of one of the quaint shops in Geneva, which might be a good thing for smell, but not for taste. We did get a four-piece amuse bouche with two dark chocolate pieces Lisa really liked and two sugary things that were very light and good.

Lisa finished with some tea that allegedly had a berry flavor and was some sort of curative herb. It didn't really taste like anything. Steve wanted to feel like a nineteenth century Englishmen, so he had port, which at least Lisa liked. (Steve often thinks port sounds good, but always remembers once he tastes it that he doesn't like it.)

The bathrooms were a solid two and a half. The decor is a bit rustic, in keeping with the look of the restaurant, which unfortunately makes it seem less polished and spotless than is ideal.

The total bill at North Pond for this wonderful meal was $225 with wine by the glass. Since this was the second worst dining experience we've had since starting our blog, we obvioiusly felt this was overpriced.

Our rating for North Pond, 2610 North Canon Drive, Chicago, Illinois:

4 of 10 Steak Knives; 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Nomi: Adventuresome Dining (Chicago Restaurant Review 36 )

We bid handsomely at a recent fundraiser for alleviating hunger in Chicago for the opportunity to have dinner at this restaurant, which is located on the top floor of the Park Hyatt. We had been to Nomi for brunch and enjoyed it but had heard it was much better for dinner, which the maitre d' reiterated when taking us to our table. From our perspective, however, brunch was better. Steve particularly felt the entire experience was designed more for show than good food.

The highlight was a bottle of Two Hands Shiraz, which has become our favorite. Its flavor is light with a nice grape aftertaste. They started us out with an amuse bouche, which had many ingredients (which you wouldn't think would go together), but was tasty. We had to have only an appetizer to start because no salads were offered (although there is a sushi choice for eaters more adventurous than we are -- tuna tartare is our limit). Lisa had the nantucket bay scallop tart. She had really liked that type of scallop at Max's in Hartford but did not care for this because the scallops had little flavor. But we both liked the tart (crust). Steve's lobster carpaccio was bad but the gelatinous goo accompanying it was vile.

For entrees Lisa enjoyed her wild mushroom risotto. Steve also liked it, because the mushroojms were overpowered by the rice. Lisa particularly liked the sauce/spice which nicely set off the taste. Also the risotto was firm, not "mushy". Steve had Maine lobster which was ok, but not enough to feed even a slightly hungry five year old.

Dessert was really bad. Steve had carmel beignets. The beignets were no better than Dunkin Donuts donut holes (although the carmel custard was good). Lisa had the "chestnut gift", which was definitely misnamed because we wouldn't give it to anyone. It looked like a candy bar, the dark chocolate coating, which Lisa would expect to love was mediocre and the center was tasteless. We did like the dessert amuse bouche which they brought out to complete the meal.

Our review of Nomi would not be complete without mention of our waiter, who was miserably unfriendly. Lisa thought we didn't meet his high standards for patrons; Steve thought he just had bad gas.

The bathrooms at Nomi were the second highlight of the meal. Both got perfect scores because they were clean, beautiful and had an interesting decor. The total bill would have been about $250 with wine by the glass, which is ridiculously overpriced in our view for the lack of quality and quantity of the food.

Our ratings for Nomi, 800 N. Michigan, Chicago, Illinois:

4.5 of 10 Steak Knives; 3 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Morton's in Rosemont: All But The Main Course (Chicago Restaurant Review 35 )

Morton's is probably the most famous Chicago steakhouse, having formed a fantastically successful nationwide chain, so you would think the steak would be great. Unfortunately, the steak was probably the weakest part of our dinner when we went to the Rosemont location recently.

We started with wine by the glass. Lisa ordered a Stonehill Pinot Noir, and Steve had Two Hands Shiraz. Both were quite good. For an appetizer, we shared shrimp cocktail. The shrimp were big, which is the way we usually like them, but these did not have great taste. The sauce was good, however. The salads were the highlight of the meal. Lisa had a beefsteak tomoto, onion and blue cheese salad. The tomatoes tasted fresh and almost sweet, the onions were tangy, and the blue cheese (crumbles and dressing) set both off perfectly. The salad actually rivaled Wildfire's tomato and onion salad, which is our favorite. Steve loved his wedge salad, particularly the blue cheese dressing, which was the best he'd ever tasted.

The entrees were somewhat disappointing. We split the porterhouse for two, with Lisa eating most of the filet portion and Steve focusing on the bone and the sirloin. Steve thought it was well charcoaled, but the only part that had any flavor was the bone itself. Lisa also thought the filet lacked flavor although it was cooked perfectly medium rare and one or two bites at the center tasted all right. (Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a steakhouse.)

Dessert, at least for Lisa, was a vast improvement. She had the hot chocolate cake, which must be ordered 20 minutes in advance. It has a hot, dark chocolate center, and a perfect bitter dark flavor. Steve was sulking over the poor quality of the steak and passed on dessert, but had a few bites of Lisa's, which he thought was quite good.

The bathrooms, which were actually part of the office building in which Morton's is located, were what one would expect from an industrial office. They were clean but uninspired. Plus, the water in both the women's and men's bathroom sinks was cool at best.

Our total bill was $250 with wine by the glass. That strikes us as a bit high considering the tepid quality of the entree. (Steve at least has been to Morton's many times and feels that the quality of the steak has been declining over the years.)

Our rating for Morton's, 9525 Bryn Mawr Ave., Rosemont, Illinois:

7 of 10 (the salad and dessert were really really good) Steak Knives; 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes.