Has Anyone Tried Baccala?

Has anyone tried Baccala, the new place in the old Thyme Cafe space on Milwaukee in Wicker Park?

Baccala
1540 N. Milwaukee

mmmm...mmm

...the nomenclature for preserved cod hits the big(trendy) time!


um...where did I see the opening resto blurb? The Trib?(now with Hot! New! Foodblog!---if you can't arrogantly dismiss them...then...by George!...join 'em...10 years past date)...

I suppose it's food-forward that Baccala actually offers the eponymous.

mmmm...mmm

...the nomenclature for preserved cod hits the big(trendy) time!


um...where did I see the opening resto blurb? The Trib?(now with Hot! New! Foodblog!---if you can't arrogantly dismiss them...then...by George!...join 'em...10 years past date)...

I suppose it's food-forward that Baccala actually offers the eponymous.

Well, reading that was a complete waste of thirty seconds. What is your point? Was there one, other than unleashing a pointless rant about the Tribune food section's blog, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the restaurant?

sundevilpeg wrote:

mmmm...mmm

...the nomenclature for preserved cod hits the big(trendy) time!


um...where did I see the opening resto blurb? The Trib?(now with Hot! New! Foodblog!---if you can't arrogantly dismiss them...then...by George!...join 'em...10 years past date)...

I suppose it's food-forward that Baccala actually offers the eponymous.

Well, reading that was a complete waste of thirty seconds. What is your point? Was there one, other than unleashing a pointless rant about the Tribune food section's blog, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the restaurant?

rants are never pointless




pardon mich...but, ...holy crap!

really

yes...my response is a screed against the imposteurs(newsmedia beholden to an inevitable Fall) "upholding" "degree-worthy" "unbiased"...whatever...

you know what?

A restaurant calling itself "Baccala" better fucking be all about the aforementioned product and not some bs trendy mf asinine predatory duh attempt at drawing in a demographic ooh-ed and wow-ed by a de-frickin-rigeur (holy shit...baccala kept the Portuguese navy alive centuries ago and now it's a hip new resto in Chicago!?)...

pardon me

If yr gonna open a restaurant named, "Baccala" then freakin' bring it.

Christopher Gordon wrote:

sundevilpeg wrote:

mmmm...mmm

...the nomenclature for preserved cod hits the big(trendy) time!


um...where did I see the opening resto blurb? The Trib?(now with Hot! New! Foodblog!---if you can't arrogantly dismiss them...then...by George!...join 'em...10 years past date)...

I suppose it's food-forward that Baccala actually offers the eponymous.

Well, reading that was a complete waste of thirty seconds. What is your point? Was there one, other than unleashing a pointless rant about the Tribune food section's blog, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the restaurant?

rants are never pointless




pardon mich...but, screw yr precious seconds...holy crap!

really

yes...my response is a screed against the imposteurs "upholding" "degree-worthy" "unbiased" anti-media-diaspora, etc.

you know what?

A restaurant calling itself "Baccala" better fucking be all about the aforementioned product and not some bs trendy mf asinine predatory duh attempt at drawing in a demographic ooh-ed and wow-ed by a de-frickin-regeur (holy shit...baccala kept the Portuguese navy alive centuries ago and now it's a hip new resto in Chicago!?)...

pardon me(and I really don't mean it)

If yr gonna open a restaurant named, "Baccala" then freakin' bring it.

Christopher, you are actually making a vein pulse in my forehead. It's just a name. And, as Bill to the Shakes to the Speare *currrrunk* might have said, what's in a name? It's not like they called their restaurant "Torah" or "Bleeding Heart of Jesus" or "Your Mother's [fill in the blank]." Why be offended? They called it "Baccala," and yes, I suppose a baccala plate would make sense, but what if they don't have one? Should Cafe Matou be serving braised tomcat? Should Everest serve shaved Sherpa sorbet? Perhaps Johnny Rockets should serve fragments of Saturn V boosters to maintain authenticity? You are a force of nature that must be reckoned with, shall always be irksome, but cannot be changed, Mr. C. Gordon.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:

sundevilpeg wrote:

mmmm...mmm

...the nomenclature for preserved cod hits the big(trendy) time!


um...where did I see the opening resto blurb? The Trib?(now with Hot! New! Foodblog!---if you can't arrogantly dismiss them...then...by George!...join 'em...10 years past date)...

I suppose it's food-forward that Baccala actually offers the eponymous.

Well, reading that was a complete waste of thirty seconds. What is your point? Was there one, other than unleashing a pointless rant about the Tribune food section's blog, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the restaurant?

rants are never pointless




pardon mich...but, screw yr precious seconds...holy crap!

really

yes...my response is a screed against the imposteurs "upholding" "degree-worthy" "unbiased" anti-media-diaspora, etc.

you know what?

A restaurant calling itself "Baccala" better fucking be all about the aforementioned product and not some bs trendy mf asinine predatory duh attempt at drawing in a demographic ooh-ed and wow-ed by a de-frickin-regeur (holy shit...baccala kept the Portuguese navy alive centuries ago and now it's a hip new resto in Chicago!?)...

pardon me(and I really don't mean it)

If yr gonna open a restaurant named, "Baccala" then freakin' bring it.

Christopher, you are actually making a vein pulse in my forehead. It's just a name. And, as Bill to the Shakes to the Speare *currrrunk* might have said, what's in a name? It's not like they called their restaurant "Torah" or "Bleeding Heart of Jesus" or "Your Mother's [fill in the blank]." Why be offended? They called it "Baccala," and yes, I suppose a baccala plate would make sense, but what if they don't have one? Should Cafe Matou be serving braised tomcat? Should Everest serve shaved Sherpa sorbet? Perhaps Johnny Rockets should serve fragments of Saturn V boosters to maintain authenticity? You are a force of nature that must be reckoned with, shall always be irksome, but cannot be changed, Mr. C. Gordon.

he thrusts his fists against the posts and yet insists there are no ghosts

I think alinea should start serving typographical characters. They and Schwa can switch to serving alphabet soup for every course.

Christopher Gordon wrote:he thrusts his fists against the posts and yet insists there are no ghosts

Name dropper

Let me weigh in with the following. Owner John Bubula, in my estimation, pays an undue amount of attention to marketing, and not enough to food, hospitality or patron experience.

You can't say a name is just a name. Names are meant to do something--describe, convey, suggest, whatever.

Knowing his history, my sense is this new name has its underpinnings in the world of hype.

Olde School wrote:Knowing his history, my sense is this new name has its underpinnings in the world of hype.

What part of "salt cod" has anything to do with hype? Is there some sort of pent up demand for this dish that I'm not aware of?

yesfood wrote:Has anyone tried Baccala, the new place in the old Thyme Cafe space on Milwaukee in Wicker Park?

LTH is a Culinary Chat Board, is it so unrealistic to expect, hope, one response out of 10 might actually be about the food served at Baccala?

I quite like Timo, enjoyed reading of Chef Bubala's trip to Italy with Slow Food and intend to try Baccala in the next week and report back to LTH.

Enjoy,
Gary

Olde School wrote:Let me weigh in with the following. Owner John Bubula, in my estimation, pays an undue amount of attention to marketing, and not enough to food, hospitality or patron experience.

You can't say a name is just a name. Names are meant to do something--describe, convey, suggest, whatever.

Knowing his history, my sense is this new name has its underpinnings in the world of hype.

First of all, John's name is Bubala, not Bubula. If you're going to make a big deal out of a name, you should probably strive for accuracy. I'm not sure what experience you had with John that tainted your opinion of his restaurants, but as a neighbor who has eaten at Thyme/Timo more than 20 times over the past few years, I can safely say that I think of him as one who stands for the OPPOSITE of hype, who loves to cook, loves food, and does a wonderful job producing the warmest patron experience, IMHO. And since he DOES offer a baccala-based dish at Baccala, what exactly is the big issue with his choice of a name for his restaurant?

I had an absolutely fabulous dinner at Baccala last Saturday night. Aside from a few service issues due to an overenthusiastic busboy who spoke a language I had never heard before, the food and service were top notch. Much to my surprise, the prices were very reasonable, too. Everything, from the eponymous baccala to the house made ravioli and the braised lamb tounge was prepared flawlessly. The decor, which largely consists of food-porn photos that the chef took on his recent trip to Italy was a visual cornucopia that was a perfect accompaniment to the ingredient based, simple food preparations. I'll be going back soon and often. A real bonus is that the restaurant is Chow Poodle Approved, which is nice.

I don't know where all the hate is coming from in this thread, but I suggest the haters get to this restaurant and give it a try before posting again.

SteveZ--Glad to hear you (and GWiv, too?) had a nice experience at the place on Saturday. It doesn't seem like my kind of food (e.g., lamb tongue), though this will not prevent me from going, and I will do so soon.

I have nothing against Bubala (YYPedro will excuse me for the typo), but having been to Thyme/Timo exactly five times, I have had a similar feeling after each outing--kind of barely okay on food and service and yet still plenty expensive. It always added up to an especially poor price/value ratio--for me.

The hype part of my commentary is an outgrowth of the mediocre experiences, coupled with the strong PR machine Bubala seems to have working in his corner. I see his name in the paper all the time (in positive ways) and have always been slightly perplexed by such favorable notice, given that it doesn't square with my limited but not non-existent experiences.

Olde School wrote:having been to Thyme/Timo exactly five times, I have had a similar feeling after each outing--kind of barely okay on food and service and yet still plenty expensive. It always added up to an especially poor price/value ratio--for me.

It seems you've given Timo far more chances than I would have, had I been equally underwhelmed. But if the price/value ratio was more of an issue for you than the food/service, you might want to try Timo again. The only reason I mention this is because, unless John changed it (call first to confirm), they offer a Sun-Thurs $25 3-course prix fixe option that puts the Timo dining experience squarely in the high value arena, IMO.