08/04/08

Excellent brunch

by bonneroo

First of all--they serve brunch until late on Sunday, and they have $10 bottomless mimosas. Next, they have great brunch items, like a ham & brie sandwich on brioche toast with Granny Smith apples, and various decadent version of eggs bendict, inluding over crab cakes. Great coffee, relaxed but good service.

• Pros: serves brunch until late in the afternoon, great food & brunch cocktails
• Cons: parking not the easiest, but not a huge deal

04/13/08

New Chicago favorite

by manny6

In Chicago on business, looking for a nice place other that the high dollar/high end restaurants in the loop. Found this place on the web. Took the "L" to the Thorndale stop, then short walk to the restaurant. The restaurant was a cozy neighborhood bistro. The food was wonderful, well proportioned and reasonably priced. The wine list was extensive covering several new varietals. Met the owner "Tom", who greeted us personally. The staff was extremely friendly and knowledgeable, suggesting excellent wine pairings with each course. This is our new favorite Chicago restaurant, well worth the trip!!

• Pros: Excellent wine list
• Cons: Distance from the loop

03/10/07

Great Potential

by cache8

(The place has only been open 5 months, so don't put too much weight on the following review.)

I live nearby, so I've been to BC 7 or 8 times since they opened. The atmosphere is cozy, the waitstaff is friendly, and there is great potential (I really hope they make it because it's nice to have an affordable bistro type restaurant in Edgewater), but they really need to step the food up a notch. I would rather see a more mundane menu done well then to be disappointed by dishes that sound wonderful, but fail to live up to their descriptions. The ingredients are right, but somehow the execution falls short.

Unfortunately, the dishes I like keep disappearing from the menu. First was the beef speidini appetizer, next the lovely asparagus salad went missing and now the moules christoph is gone. What gives?? Other dishes with great potential, but that seem to be underperforming are: the nosh plate (a bit sparse), crab cakes (loaded with crab, but so oversalted as to be almost unpalatable), soy glazed salmon (again over salted plus the thai slaw was too limp and did not have the bright acid that would have helped balance the salty salmon), half roasted chicken (the chicken was under cooked and tough and the potatoes were amazingly dense), the coffee roasted loin of pork (a plate of mush with some jamaican spices stirred in).

The wine.... I'm not a wine buff, so my opinion should not be taken too seriously, but I will say that I just have not been impressed by any glass of wine I've tried there. Each glass has seemed pretty mediocre, especially the North by Northwest pinot noirs, one of which actually tastes "off", but I tried it on two different visits, so apparently it's meant to taste that way.

Overall, I consider BC to be average right now, but I think that with some additional time under their belts, focusing on executing the food correctly they will be above average.

• Pros: Relaxing atmosphere, friendly waitstaff
• Cons: The food underperforms