Brasserie Ruhlmann looks way cool....

......it doesn't open until tomorrow night, but I walked in the other day to see what I could see.

A spectacularly beautiful room, with a private dining room off to one side. Red banquettes (velvet? leather?), white table cloths, terrazzo floor, high ceilings, haute-design fixtures, outdoor patio with permanent bar, French-looking retractable awnings on the exterior. Dramatic.

Not sure of what the "script" is for the place, but I think it may be a different/better take on the ground already covered by Mon Ami Gabi.

I will be there Thursday, and follow with a report.


Brasserie Ruhlmann
500 W. Superior
312/494-1900

Anyone have any insight on the price point at this place?

I looked the NY menu, but I doubt that's a good guide.

I had dinner tentatively planned at Brasserie Jo tomorrow night, but this is an interesting option I wasn't aware of. I don't want to go someplace, though, with $30 something entrees and salads and sandwiches at $20+.

Aaron Deacon wrote:I had dinner tentatively planned at Brasserie Jo tomorrow night, but this is an interesting option I wasn't aware of. I don't want to go someplace, though, with $30 something entrees and salads and sandwiches at $20+.

Plus, do you really want to go on opening night? I'm going to give them a while to get settled.

stevez wrote:

Aaron Deacon wrote:I had dinner tentatively planned at Brasserie Jo tomorrow night, but this is an interesting option I wasn't aware of. I don't want to go someplace, though, with $30 something entrees and salads and sandwiches at $20+.

Plus, do you really want to go on opening night? I'm going to give them a while to get settled.

Not really, but hey, I live in Kansas City...my opportunities are limited.

Aaron Deacon wrote:

stevez wrote:

Aaron Deacon wrote:I had dinner tentatively planned at Brasserie Jo tomorrow night, but this is an interesting option I wasn't aware of. I don't want to go someplace, though, with $30 something entrees and salads and sandwiches at $20+.

Plus, do you really want to go on opening night? I'm going to give them a while to get settled.

Not really, but hey, I live in Kansas City...my opportunities are limited.

It's not like you're not coming back in a month or two, but if you end up going, I'm looking forward to your report.

Metromix includes these menu items/prices.

It ain't cheap.

"The opening menu lists choices like duck rilletetes with baguette ($16), steamed mussels in saffron broth ($22) and bouillabaisse ($28.), plus steaks and chops like a 26-ounce chateaubriand for two with au gratin macaroni ($65), and a 14-ounce NY strip steak with maitre d’hotel butter ($42). Look for a Parisian-influenced Art Deco interior inspired by the work of French designer Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann; highlights include alabaster chandeliers, a hand-laid mosaic tile floor, red velvet double-backed banquettes and arty gold and silver leaf clad metalwork suspended above a 30-foot bar."

Aaron Deacon wrote:I looked the NY menu, but I doubt that's a good guide.

I don't think the NY prices will be all that far off from the River North prices.

$16 for duck rilletes and $22 for mussels!...yeah thanks, think I'll pass.

FROM ZAGAT BUZZ TODAY: The long-awaited Chicago spin-off of New York’s Brasserie Ruhlmann opened Wednesday, October 10th, bringing together an all-star team that includes restaurateurs Miae Lim (Japonais, Mirai Sushi) and Rich Wahlstedt (Japonais, Le Colonial). They’ve appointed chef Christian Delouvrier (veteran of such leading lights as Lespinasse and Restaurant Alain Ducasse) to put his spin on traditional brasserie fare – with a side of steak for Chicago’s carnivorous crowd.

The Near West setting, dedicated to the flamboyant French art deco designer Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, has come a long way since its days as the Montgomery Ward HQ. The grand brasserie decor is replete with alabaster chandeliers, ebony paneling, hand-laid mosaic tile floors, a 30-ft. bar and Parisian-style sidewalk cafe (500 W. Superior St.; 312-494-1900).

– Alice Van Housen

Obviously it's not going to be cheap, and neither are Mirai or Japonaise. The good news for me is that the menu has a salade frisson with lardons as well as steak tartare. That's what I'll be having there for dinner tonight, and perhaps a cheese course and/or souffle for dessert (if they have it.) Luckily, the cardiac unit at Northwestern is only one mile east.

"A side of steak" added to "traditional brasserie fare" for Chicago? Zagat doesn't understand France or Chicago. Shocker.

Yeah, if we ever get a Florentine restaurant they'll have to add steak to the menu there, too.

Apparently the churrascarias in Brazil are all vegan, raw food places. Meat was added to the menu at places like Fogo here to appeal to the drooling, club-wielding "Chicago carnivores"

Our dinner at BR was Thursday evening, their second night in business. The overall experience was almost too good and too smooth to think this was a restaurant in its infancy.

Knowing we weren’t in Paris, the room had the faintly reminiscent feel of a New York “power” restaurant—a very large room with high ceilings, but where all manner of action and people watching could be done with unobstructed views across the entirety of the place. It was not completely full at the seven o’clock hour (perhaps they didn’t want to take every possible reservation so that the staff wouldn’t be killed so early on), but there was a nice hum to the place—not too loud or too soft. Most of the patrons were smartly dressed, though I did spot one jackass in an athletic jersey.

It seemed from the start there was no shortage of staff. If anything, there were almost too many people, including a roving manager with a Trekian earpiece (note to management: if it’s that important to have someone teleconnected, provide them a discreet listening device that Secret Service guys and network anchors wear. Then you won't have a Spock look-alike patrolling your perimeter) . But more on the service later.

We began with a salade frisee and onion soup gratinee. The salad was generously overlarded with lardons, which were big smokey chunks with a nice ratio of bacon to fat. They were heaven on a fork. High marks also on the egg, poached perfectly. The soup was a rather standard issue baked-over affair, although I gave it points on two scores. First, the cheese stayed spoonable throughout, never turning into a gross gloppy indigestible wad. Second, the broth had a good balance tending toward the sweet, and did not fall victim to the typical onion soup problem of saltiness.

Our entrees were skate, served in a lemon butter and caper sauce, and steak tartare. The skate was nicely grilled and was on a bed of haricot vert (which we also ordered as a side dish, not aware the beans would appear as part of the fish). Curiously, Mrs. Olde School and I never give a thought to portion sizes (large or small), though we both remarked how skimpy the serving seemed to be. The reality is that she left a bite or two on her plate, but we both thought the small size could easily become a sore point for others. The tartare came out looking slightly appetizer-like because it was served in a small chilled glass bowl and not on a plate (in fairness, our waiter had initially suggested we consider sharing the tartare as an appetizer). Still, I adored it. It had a quail egg in a half-opened shell on top of the mounded mixture, and its addition gave a silky creaminess to what was a highly seasoned rendition of this classic—lots of pepper, anchovy, worcestershire. The tartare came with frites, served in the now ubiquitous paper cone. They were slightly thicker than the McD-style fries often seen in brasseries, and cooked browner. I thought they had great potential, though they arrived not quite hot and slightly limp.

The service was excellent, getting right up to the line of annoying without crossing it. It was clear no one wanted anything to slip through the cracks and leave any table in want for a thing, so the waiter, back waiters, bus boys, and managers were all doing the bending over backwards thing. It never got to the point of having our water refilled after each sip, but we did get the hop-to from start to finish. It was much appreciated, but I think we will like it more when the staff settles in to a service choreography that’s not always at DefCon Five or Orange.

Dessert for us was a shared pot au crème, served in a lidded jar. This was a great dessert of custardy goodness with a liquid caramel base. I engineered my spoon around every interior surface to make sure not a molecule was left behind.

We did see a few people at the bar taking their dinner there. There looked to be about 20 seats, and I thought this might be a good option in the future. When I sat at the bar having a drink, however, the chairs seemed three or four inches too low for comfortable eating, given the bar height.

Our meal was $127, not including tip. This was for a Grey Goose on the rocks, two glasses of wine (one $8 and one $15), the two appetizers, two entrees, one side, one dessert and two coffees. Not cheap, not horrible. Ironically, we typically have to spend more at Mirai, with a dinner of sake, salads, and sushi.

BR is in our neighborhood, and we look forward to going back.

I went to Brasserie Ruhlmann for drinks and then dinner with a friend Friday night. As discussed above, the restaurant is absolutely beautiful. My only compliant is that the bar stools are too low for the bar making eating the bar somewhat clumsy. While initially there were only a few people there, by 7pm, the entire, huge dining room was filled and people were waiting to be seated.

My friend and I each had a cocktail before dinner at the bar. Her cocktail was made with pear vodka and was delicious. My cocktail was the "Printemps" made with stawberry vodka and was also delicious. Then we moved on to a kir royale and glasses of white wine. I ordered a shrimp cocktail. Shrimp cocktail is a "go-to" appetizer for me and I order it just about everywhere. Ruhlmann's shrimp cocktail held up to the best of them. The jumbo shrimp were firm and fresh tasting. The shrimp cocktail came with three dipping sauces: traditional cocktail sauce, vinaigrette, and lemon aioli. Although there were only 3 jumbo shrimp, the quality justified the price in my opinion ($14). I noted that Ruhlmann had a huge raw bar with dedicated personnel. It looked like the restaurant was going to focus on the raw bar service.

After the shrimp cocktail, my friend and I moved to a bar table for dinner. My friend had the traditional frisee salad with a poached egg and lardons to start and a filet mignon au poivre for dinner. I had the Ruhlmann burger with frites and we split a side of creamed spinach.

My friend pronounced her frisee salad to be the worst she has ever had. The egg was a tad over-poached. The real issue was that the poached egg was not drained before being placed in the salad. This resulted in the salad being watered down and caused a pool of unsightly poaching juice to form at the bottom of the salad.

Thankfully, my friend was impressed with the quality of her filet mignon. In fact, she thought it was a perfect filet in terms of tenderness and texture. However, she thought that the "poivre" sauce needed more "poivre." My burger was a take on the Boulud burger and had braised short-ribs on the burger. The burger had good flavor, but it appears that the kitchen has a bit of a problem getting meat to the correct temperature. Both my friend's filet and my burger were ordered medium and came to us at a medium-well temperature. We agreed that had the meat been served at the correct temperature both dishes would have been almost perfect.

My frites and the creamed spinach were both delicious. The frites were fried perfectly and accented with sea salt and the creamed spinach had a beautiful thick consistency and full flavor. I just wish I has some aioli in which to dip the frites.

Service was great. Water was filled, new silverware just appeared at the right moment and the drinks came quickly. The only misstep is that somehow we got skipped for bread service.

Overall, we both liked Ruhlmann. I think they need to get their temperatures right and work out the kinks in the kitchen.

The early reviews on Brasserie Ruhlmann -- on this board and elsewhere -- were decidedly mixed: beautiful room, but uninspiring, expensive food and spotty service. Then comes this week's Time Out Chicago, with a glowing review (5 stars out of 6). Perhaps they're finding their footing? Has anyone had any recent experiences there? I have reservations for next week, but was considering cancelling them due to the generally unflattering reviews.

ParisCat-

There is a thread here which discusses Ruhlmann:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... t=ruhlmann

The latest review is fairly recent - I also wouldn't consider the reviews to be "decidedly mixed." I've been there and would go back (in fact, was considering it this weekend). I'll also add that I thought the service I had was excellent. Very attentive and smooth without being overbearing or instrusive.

They're probably still finding their footing, but that doesn't mean you won't have a good experience.

I went last week, around 9:30 to grab a solo seat at the bar. Went with low expectations, the NY place has a so so rep and the restaurant seemed textbook brasserie like too many places these days. Of the space, I must say indeed it is lovely, kind of like a larger, loftier Balthazar in NY for those who've been. Went to the large bar area to eat at the bar, as others have reported its basically impossible to eat at the bar given the stool height, I instead sat at one of the bar tables which was nice though maybe not ideal for 1 person especially on a more crowded night.

The menu indeed does read like typical brasserie with a heavier focus on meats, seemed actually a nice twist on the concept, though the prices of some dishes are outrageous ($22 mussels as noted by others!). I settled for the Berkshire bone in PorkChop with a side of the creamed spinach. These were both spectacular. The PorkChop, thick, perfectly cooked to my taste (real medium rare so it was somewhat pink) with a bracing mustard sauce and lovely carmelized endives. In short, a perfect dish, and at $28 at a fair price all things considered. The spinach was also fabulous though so rich that I could barely eat half of it, a dish that two or three people could easily enjoy.

After the spinach I was done, so no dessert and thus a very limited sample of the menu. Still, save the Guinea Hen I had at Blackbird a couple of weeks back the Chop was the best thing I've eater in Chicago since I moved here in August. Straightforward food but with a precision that is just thrilling. I cannot wait to go back.

Aaron Deacon wrote:Anyone have any insight on the price point at this place?

Not all the prices are as outrageous as a few examples quoted above imply. You can see a complete menu, with prices, here.

martha stewart and her entourage recently dined here.......just wondering what she thought?
i have freinds who live at the montgomery[upstairs] who enjoyed their meal however commented on some flaws in service.i hope those have been worked out as i look forward to my own visit soon.
btw,$22.00 for mussells seems quite excessive indeed!

I didn't know they closed!

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ... ruhlm.html