• Phil Vettel’s review of that other high-profile Chicago gastropub, The Bristol, has an almost zenlike presence in my RSS reader. It shows up in edited form, the entire thousand-word thing cut down to just this: “The Bristol: 2 Stars (and that’s good for Bucktown). I’m sitting in the Bristol and feeling old.” That’s basically it, right there. This is high-quality neighborhood fare meant for the pre-AARP crowd. If your kids are in junior high, daddy-o, make your damn monkey bread at home. Otherwise roll around in that egg-yolk raviolo goodness and revel in your spry joints and long-distance vision.
• Vettel also corrals some of Chicago’s high-profile restaurateurs, getting their take on the year ahead — a dreary-looking one, at best. Recurring themes seem to be that customer loyalty is going to be worth its weight in gold, and that restaurants should work on enhancing the value for the dollar. Heck yes, we can get behind this.
• Christopher Borrelli checks out Summer, a new Thai restaurant whose name is a little bit of a loop-thrower this time of year. Small plates are flavorful and interesting, larger plates fall flat. Decor? Summery, of course.*
• Kevin Pang puts on his Cheeseburger Bureau Chief hat (seriously, how much do I love that the Trib runs with this? So much.) as he revisits his year of burger reviewing (book proposal!), what with all these fancy-schmancy outlander fast-food places opening in Chicago, he’s been very busy. So he chows down one more time on five representative patties. And I also just realized that oh my god, if there was ever a party at which Kevin Pang, Adam Kuban, and Josh Ozersky were all present? I would really really really really also want to be at that party.
[Photo via mrmatt’s Flickr]
*Kebabs? No, there are none.
