Keefers in Chicago: Solid But Not Spectacular (Chicago Area Restaurant No. 69)

It was a fairly warm evening, so we decided to walk to Keefers, which is just north of the Loop area and is known for its steaks (although it is one of the trendy celebrity chef steak restaurants, not a traditional Chicago steak house). Since it was a week night, we had wine by the glass. Lisa had a Reisling which she liked because it was suitably sweet. Steve's Malbec had a nice rich flavor.

As is his wont, Steve took note of the bread basket, which pleased him because it had many different types of breads. We started with a salmon appetizer. Both of us thought the salmon was quite good, and Steve also really liked the potato cake that accompanied it. Lisa found the potato cake a little oily, but that is why she generally doesn't eat them. Lisa's Baby Romaine salad included fresh mozarella, tomato and olives, a good combination. Steve ordered the Hearts of Lettuce salad. It was good, except for the house dressing, which overpowered the salad a bit.

Up to this point, we really liked Keefers, however, as sometimes happens with celebrity chef steak houses, we thought the steak was the weakest part of the meal. Steve's Kansas City Strip was a perfect medium rare, but didn't have much flavor. Lisa had the filet mignon. It also was perfectly cooked, but tasted a bit bland except by the bone. Steve was excited when he saw the pomme frites and fried onions, which he usually loves. But they definitely didn't taste as good as they looked, particularly the frites.

We enjoyed the desserts. Lisa liked her vanilla and chocolate gelato, which included a scoop of very dark chocolate gelato. Steve had the apple tart with ice cream, which was good, but could have used more caramel (one would think caramel was as pricy as gasoline, the way restaurants skimp on it -- they clearly are not listening to us).

Service was professional, but struck us as a little cold. Also, the room, while spacious, was very loud once it filled up (impressively so on a Monday night).

The bathrooms were okay, but the pipes under the sinks in the women's room were spraying drops of water (which Lisa assumes is not usually the case there).

Dinner for two with wine by the glass was $170, which would have been fine had the steaks been very good but was a bit much for the spotty beef.

Our ratings for Keefers, 20 W Kinzie Street, Chicago, Illinois:

7 of 10 Steak Knives; 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes