I posted the other day about not loving steakhouses because it is usually a mediocre experience for a high price (e.g., see baked potato $15, mushrooms $17, etc.). I’ve steered away from steakhouses forever.
I moved to Chicago a little over a year ago and in my restaurant research have understood that we have great steakhouses in the city. So last week I posted on which I should try in the city and by far and away Bavettes was the most recommended restaurant.
My thoughts:
Ambiance/service: 10.0/10.0
– We’ve been to a lot of the Hogsalt restaurants and Bavettes fit right in. We didn’t have a reservation and were able to walk in to the downstairs bar at 4:30P on a Monday. Like all the other Hogsalt restaurants, they were slammed. They opened at 4P at the restaurant was probably at 75% capacity – crazy! The bartender was A+. Downstairs is more lowkey than upstairs but the vibe was still great. Can’t be beat.
Cocktail/wine: 9.0/10.0
– I had the Oaxacan old fashioned – 🤌🤌🤌🤌🤌. We also had a couple glasses of a Bordeaux blend & Sauvignon blanc and both were really good.
Food:
Bread & Butter – 7.0/10.0
– The bread was really fresh and had a great crust. It was described as a sourdough but didn’t have the flavor that comes with sourdough. Cultured butter was pretty good but nothing you haven’t had before. I don’t care about paying for bread at all but still have to take note of it.
Smoked Salmon Caesar – 8.5/10.0
– Great salad! They have this, or a version of this, at most of their restaurants and it always hits. This one specifically didn’t have a lot of smoked salmon and was mostly Caesar. Love the salt and vinegar chips in the salad.
Dry Aged Bone-In NY Strip – 9.0/10.0
– A perfectly cooked piece of beef. Seasoned pretty well and they serve with maldon+spices so you can take the seasoning where you want it to be. They nailed this. I ordered Diane sauce with it and ended up just eating the mushrooms out of the sauce as a side because putting sauce on this beef would be disrespectful.
Creamed Spinach – 6.5/10.0
– This was good but it was basically a spin artichoke dip. Sides are one of the reasons I dislike steakhouses – not creative or inventive whatsoever and you can make most of them at home for 20% of what you pay. Other options here were baked potato, sweet potato, etc. which is super boring. Prob would skip sides if we came back and just add another app.
Strawberry and Cream Dessert – 7.0/10.0
– Soft vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, strawberry sauce and a meringue (pavlova?). Can’t ever score strawberries with ice cream lower than a 7.0 but nothing memorable about this dessert.
All in all I’m slowing boarding the steakhouse train. If visitors came and wanted a steak I would definitely take them to Bavettes. Would I go over places like Avec, Rose Mary, Mirra, Monteverde, or even Armitage? Probably not but we shall see.
Next stop per recommendations: Asador Bastian.
by Worried-Fly-8729
Dining and Cooking