Nine or Gibsons?

I looked at both menus and they seem similar.

Any great insights on these two places, or is it simply a matter of individual preference?

What is the atmosphere like in both places?

Ultimately, given the choice between cooking a steak at home or going to these two places, is there a reason to go out rather than cook at home?

The context: My wife and I usually go to places like NoMI or Kevin (with trips to Alinea or Avenues or Everest once or twice a year). For Father's Day, I wanted to do something different. I have never gone to either of these places, but after looking at the menus, I am almost tempted to just cook the steak myself instead.

If George Jetson opened a steakhouse, it would look like 9. Gibson's is very traditional. Both are good. Both have excellent people watching. 9 more for young and beautiful. Gibson's for the movers and shakers and potential psuedo-celebrity sitings.

I prefer the food at Gibson's, but the hanger steak with roquefort cheese shallot butter is an excellent lunch choice at 9.

dan1234 wrote:If George Jetson opened a steakhouse, it would look like 9.

I think this perfectly sums up the atmosphere at Nine. I've been there several times for lunch, and, while the food was okay, I personally didn't really care for the atmosphere, which I found sterile. I'm definitely partial to Gibson's and Hugo's.

Coincidentally my wife and I go to Kevin weekly (it's our favorite in Chicago as Kevin, Alan, and Chris always make our time there fantastic) and NoMi is in our top 5. We have been to both Nine and Gibson's and would take Nine over Gibson's every day of the week. Not to say the George Jetson comparison is off...it isn't. Something tells me if you are enjoying the restaurants you mentioned that you will be disappointed in Gibson's service, food, and crowd, though.

I've not been to N9ne.

If you're not interested in the scene/atmosphere at Gibson's, I can't really recommend it. The steaks are good, but probably not good enough to make up for the rest of it. We regularly eat at Kevin and love it as well. My guess is you won't really dig Gibson's.

I should have gotten back to this sooner. Thanks for those who provided advice.

Short answer on the meal at Nine: Great company, a great night, but the food, service and room did nothing for me.

Nine seemed too bright. It felt like somebody's basement in the 1970s. The service was good but had that too familiar feel that I really don't like. I want the waiter to be a professional and not my buddy.

We started out with two appetizers. One was crab (long overcooked) over a mixture that included corn. Completely forgettable. The second was the things that look like ice cream cones stuffed with tuna. Nice, but it gets a zero rating for creative. I had a similar dish five years ago at Spago Maui and even then thought it lacked creativity. For what it is worth, the taste was decent.

My wife and I both had steaks. I don't recall which I chose, but I found it disappointing. I prefer steaks that have a bit of crust, but then are less cooked inside. This steak was cooked uniformily, and somewhat overcooked. It just was not what I expect from a medium rare steak. I routinely do a far better job of cooking steaks on my stove. My wife had a steak that featured some cheese (gorgonzola?). It was better than mine, and was cooked properly, but it was good but not great.

Due to the reason for the event (an early Father's Day dinner), my wife and I had a great time that evening, but I sure will not return to Nine.

N9NE vs. Gibson's might be considered a "tallest midget" contest.

Cuv wrote:N9NE vs. Gibson's might be considered a "tallest midget" contest.

Not sure that I agree with your analogy. I know Gibson's frequently gets bashed, but if the OP likes his steaks with "a bit of a crust", he would have found Gibson's WR bone-in ribeye very much to his liking, IMO.

I agree with the comments that Nine is a bit sterile. I did not enjoy the atmosphere the several times I've dined there.

Steak houses are tough to evaluate. Few are particularly imaginative, although the old standards are often excellent. I'm partial to Custom House, which I consider better than Nine in every measure.

Interestingly, for a city with so many wonderful neighborhood restaurants, I haven't found many great steaks in the neighborhoods. I've enjoyed the steak frites at Le Bouchon and other bistros (including at Hopleaf, which serves frites with a terrific mayo aioli), but rarely have I been blown away by neighborhood steaks. Am I missing out on some great neighborhood steak?

I would choose Gibson's over N9ne every day fo the week...I thought the food at nine was awful...same experience with the steak over cooked...medium rare should not be barely pink.

I like Gibsons...especially the appetizers...had some lump crab meat that was excellent.

My guess is the OP wouldn't like Gibson's either based on where he/she stated he/she prefers to eat. Maybe a trip to Gibson's by the OP in the next few months will give us some insight?

Personally, N9NE beats Gibson's but I agree with the poster who has concluded there aren't many FANTASTIC places for steaks in Chicago with which to begin. My favorite 5 places to visit at the end of the day are:

Kevin
Blackbird
NoMi
Topolobampo
Mirai

A steakhouse wouldn't appear in my top 20 and the first one to crack the list at all would be the painfully ubiquitous Ruth's Chris.

Just as a counter-point, I had the best steak (twice now) I've had in Chicago at Nine. Perfectly crisp charred outside and bloody in the middle for a rare Ribeye. I'll drool thinking about it - I've been to most of the other big-dog steakhouses in the city... but prefer the steaks I've had at Nine to any. Could be they've dropped off recently in quality, as I last went in late '06.