Tortoise Club

Doesn't appear to be a dedicated thread for this one.

My wife and I ate at Tortoise Club last night. We live near and enjoy Ralph Lauren, and the info I found on Tortoise Club suggested that it might be in a similar vein.

It definitely looks it: lots of dark wood, club-style seats, masculine textures, etc. It's a very nice room (and there's a private (-ish?) area I believe called the "The Library" or something, which we didn't see), even if the look isn't surprising or innovative.

Our server was, well, weird. He was foreign, and I thought at first his fairly heavy accent was just making communication difficult (even if that were true, communication is an element of service--would it be ok?). But he'd repeat things, ask a question and then not listen to the answer, pay attention to the women at the table next to us, etc. It wasn't terrible, but it made things a bit more difficult to enjoy.

The wine list is uninspired. Mostly well-known names, and some not even particularly good. Pricing is fair. We enjoyed our 2009 Ramey Sonoma Syrah.

Bread service is average for an "upper middle"-tier restaurant. The pretzel bread was nice, the Asiago just so-so, and the butter ok.

Menu-wise, I'd say Tortoise Club is a bit more interesting than RL, with sweetbreads and a wild pheasant pie. We started by splitting the Tuna Tartare, which was good--it had an avocado puree base with just enough of a tang to taste like the best part of mayonnaise. My wife had the short rib bourgignon, with root vegetables and potatoes, and it was very tasty. I had the pheasant pie, which I had read good things about. It had a foie gras-(cognac?) emulsion throughout, with some on top as gravy. The crust of the pie was perfect--flaky, crispy, toasty. The meat was quite nice, and the gravy delicious. The texture overall was very nice, in that it wasn't as heavy as it sounds. But the whole just didn't have any excitement to it. This was my thought when I tasted the short rib as well; it tasted good, but there were no real top notes or interesting flavor combinations to note. (This might just be me. I do tend to like a fairly bright acid profile in both wine and food.) We skipped dessert.

So on the whole I would call Tortoise Club "cool" (basically for looks), but we don't really feel the need to return. If your idea of "american fare" is "high end comfort food", then Tortoise Club might be totally awesome. I don't mean that as a slight; it's what they're trying to do and they're probably doing it well. Pricing was about what you'd expect ($250 for two after tip, including an $85 bottle of wine).

Out of 5 stars:
Decor = 4
Service = 2.5
Food = 4
Cost = 3

Tortoise Club
350 N State St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 755-1700

We ate at Tortoise Club last night, and our experience was quite similar to basis's description.

I had the sweetbreads appetizer. The plating was beautiful, with sauces, microgreens, and accompaniments arranged very attractively. The sweetbreads were good - tender and properly cooked, but not as flavorful as some I've had.

The short rib entrée was good also - tasty, moist, and tender, although a bit fattier than some (with not all the fat easily trimmable).

The dessert was nothing special. As you can see from the dessert menu on their website, the desserts sound pretty ordinary, leaning towards classic comfort foods like brownies, ice cream, etc. We almost skipped dessert entirely, then decided to split the TC toffee cake. It was not very good, rather dry and tasteless.

Our service was fine, though. Our server, too, was heavily accented, and was accompanied by a trainer during most of his trips to the table. We were pleasantly surprised by how knowledgeable the server in training was, immediately answering questions about wines and sauces without needing to check with the trainer. Both were friendly, and we enjoyed extended discussions with them of their prior experience at some of the other places around the city.

One note about the bread service - all three breads had been warmed when they were brought to the table, which is a plus.

The restaurant was maybe two thirds full and the room was rather noisy but not unbearably so. Attire is specified as "smart casual" on Opentable; gentlemen in about half the parties were wearing jackets but nice denim would be acceptable too.

Afterwards, we agreed that Tortoise Club was good, but not amazing. If you happen to be around Marina City, it's worth trying if you're curious and if their website menu catches your fancy (as it did ours). But "good but not amazing" doesn't merit a return visit from us, either.

Out of 5 stars:
Decor = 4
Service = 4
Food = 3 if you don't eat desserts, 2 if you do
Cost = 3