Mastros certainly isn’t cheap, but Phil Vettel notes that “you pay, but you get.” The steaks are “everything you want those steaks to be,” but the best dish was probably the “magnificent” 16-ounce veal chop. The room itself is “lavishly appointed and dimly lit,” and the service is “extremely good,” if a bit “over-the-top.” He gives it three stars out of four. [Trib]
Though some may enjoy the pampering of Mastro’s, the attention only succeeded in making Jeff Ruby “uncomfortable.” It’s an expensive steakhouse, but the wet-aged steaks were unfortunately hit or miss. The rib-eye was “pretty good,” but the porterhouse was “unappealingly fatty,” and the “rib-eye chop was lukewarm.” Better were the seafood dishes, including a seafood tower “in a haze of dry ice.” [Chicago Mag]
Vettel thought Chicago Cut Steakhouse was best at selling service: “Staffers did something out of the ordinary to make a guest feel honored, including tailoring drink orders.” Luckily the steaks are “fantastic.” The “strip steak au poivre was one of the best I’ve had, and the bone-in filet was the best, period.” The restaurant is “easy to love now,” but he predicts that “come summertime, when the patio overlooking the Chicago River offers al fresco dining, there will be no stopping this place.” He also gave it three stars. [Trib]
Ruby actually liked the steaks better at Chicago Cut Steakhouse. The winner was a “tremendous, dry-aged in-house for 35 to 40 days, butchered on the premises, and cooked in 1,800-degree Southbend infrared broilers.” Bone marrow is melted “right into the beef, and it’s got that caramelized outer layer with the perfect salt char.” Nothing else “approaches this level,” but that’s okay for a steakhouse. [Chicago Mag]
