The Sun-Times food section came out a bit early this week, which is fine by us - breaks up the Wednesday food section monolith, and keeps us on our toes. In this edition, Michael Nagrant shoots the breeze with Stephanie Izard, the multi-degreed proprietress of Scylla in Bucktown. For the new season, Izard has scaled back the prices a bit to make the restaurant more accessible to the neighborhood crowd (indeed, nothing on the menu is over $18), but the quality of the seafood remains top priority.
We promised grumblings, though, and we shall deliver. In the Q&A; section of the piece, Izard complains about the lack of late night dining options aside from Mexican and fast-food (although she has a soft spot for Arturo’s). We take issue with this assessment of the scene: we count (roughly) fifty-nine contenders for a kitchen closer crew in and around Wicker Park and Bucktown. Example: around a mile away from Scylla is the newly opened BluCoral, which is distancing itself from its suburban cousin by staying open until 2am during the week and 3am on Saturday! This insight is particularly relevant for Izard, who proclaimed to Nagrant that her last meal would be sushi and french fries.
Elegant, artful fish [Sun-Times]
Scylla [MenuPages]
Scylla [Official Site]
[Photo: ulterior epicure/flickr]
p.s. The photo of the trout is from last year’s menu (shame on us), but you get the principle.
