200 East Chestnut Supper Club

Has anyone been?
Comments?

200 East Supper Club
200 E. Chestnut St
Chicago, IL
312-266-4500

From the review that recently aired on Check Please!, it looks like you've got to show your Medicare card at the door to get in.

Thanks. Rules out that option.

I was interested in learning more about this place after I saw the Check Please! episode (all three diners were fairly positive FWIW). There is a Time Out review from last fall, noting that it's more about the dancing/socializing than the food, but I think that's kind of inherent in the "Supper Club" title.

Time Out Review

stevez wrote:From the review that recently aired on Check Please!, it looks like you've got to show your Medicare card at the door to get in.

Let us know how you like it!

Tommy2dogs wrote:

stevez wrote:From the review that recently aired on Check Please!, it looks like you've got to show your Medicare card at the door to get in.

Let us know how you like it!

Thanks, but I still have a few years to go on that one.

The food is pretty classic Italian-American, made from old-time family recipes, and a very interesting family it is, too.

The dish I especially enjoyed was the stuffed Melrose peppers. I don't know that the peppers are the authentic Melrose variety from Melrose Park, but the sausage, made in-house, is delicious. (While, doubtless, one could point to assorted similar preparations the world over, Melrose peppers stuffed with Italian sausage and cheese and topped with marinara is one of the dishes that, like a certain not-to-be-named chicken recipe, have a long Chicago heritage. 200 East, by the way, does not serve c****** V****** but instead "Brickhouse chicken," -- seasoned brick chicken, named to honor the late Jack -- which is quite good too.)

The chef, Tony Navarro, comes from a very well-known Chicago family, the longtime operators of Pasta Vino and Pal Joey's in Schiller Park. His siblings currently run Shoeless Joe's Sports Bar and Cafe Zalute in Rosemont.

Many of Navarro's recipes are family legacies from, among other people, his great aunt Mae Maritote. Here's an interview with Navarro, in which he cites Mae, his godmother, as one of his influences and notes that she was Al Capone's sister and married to Navarro's mother's uncle.

If you know your Chicago history, you may know that Mafalda "Mae" Capone's husband was John Maritote, which means that Navarro's grandfather was Francis Maritote, aka Capone henchman Frank Diamond. Diamond was shot down in 1954, when Navarro would have been a baby, but he was also in the restaurant business in a way. He ran "speakeasies and resorts," according to a 1933 Time article, which also notes that Diamond was listed among the Chicago police department's 38 "public enemies."

I thought the band was decent, too, and the people watching tremendous. I wouldn't call this a destination restaurant, but if you're looking for Italian-American in Streeterville, give it a try.

200 East on Chestnut
200 E. Chestnut St
Chicago
312/266-4500
www.200eastchestnut.com