Bobby's Deerfield a hit!

Went to the soft opening last night of Bobby's Deerfield, the new restaurant by the Arifi brothers, owners of Cafe Lucci in Glenview. I had high hopes since Lucci has gotten better and better, has Best of Award of Excellence Wine Spectator, great service even by city standards, etc. Bobby's didn't disappoint - VERY impressive. Unlike all previous efforts at this address, this restaurant manages to be both refined, foodie-friendly, and still comfortable enough to feel like a neighborhood place where everyone (will soon) know your name. Extensive bar with craft cocktails and small-batch, upscale spirits for their standard pours; great craft beer list and interesting wine list, though more limited than at Lucci.

Menu offers a nice variety, from starters like house-cured salmon pastrami and crabcakes that are actually worth eating, to a spicy calamari or giant portion of fresh burrata. Same with entrees, from casual to refined - highlights included a fabulous brisket and beef burger, homemade gnocchi with beef ragu, fabulous fresh whitefish crusted with thin sliced potatoes with light lemon sauce. Desserts, especially banana and chocolate cakes, were generous and great. Everybody we knew, from foodies to more timid older diners, found something satisfying, and prices were reasonable.

As always, the Arifis do everything with class - valet parking, friendly and attentive hosts, service that while still working out a few kinks is clearly aimed to hit the high standard of Cafe Lucci. And, wonderfully, conversation-friendly even with a full house. Finally a worthy addition to the suburban restaurant scene!

695 Deerfield Rd
Deerfield, IL 60015
(847) 607-9104

We stopped by last Friday and really enjoyed it. The appetizers are fantastic; I'd like to try all of them, maybe with a cocktail or two at the bar. (The bar is ambitious; we drank our last glass of wine there and were sorry we didn't have room to try a custom cocktail.) Even the items that are the same as Cafe Lucci were updated with different sides and presentation. I'm very impressed by how much they've been able to adopt a new decor and atmosphere without losing the excellent service and attention to detail. Amazingly smooth for one week after opening. I hope Deerfield will appreciate them the way Glenview does.

Well, hubby and I ate at Bobby's this weekend, and while it was OK,
and I'm glad Deerfield is patronizing the restaurant we had a very different experience than the posters above.

We decided to start with a variety of appetizers.
We ordered the foie gras
the escargots
the crab cakes.
Now admittedly, the only one that had any description on the menu was the foie, which was described as having a cherry sauce.

So the apps came,
smallest piece of foie I have ever seen for $17 (yes I know it's foie but still) with a cloyingly sweet cherry sauce -no hint of acid to balance it)
Then when we go to divide it in two there is a big nasty vein, which should have been caught by the kitchen- and overall it's tough-
I don't even know how you make foie tough.

So the escargot comes and there is melted cheese on top. huh? WTF
I have never had escargot w melted cheese on top- if you are not doing a classic prep- you should at least warn people with a menu description.

Next crab cakes- these are square, and the waiter proceeds to tell us proudly there is no bread filler in THESE crab cakes,
they are made with spaghetti ??? and cheese?? AGAIN with the cheese?
Believe me- my life will not be incomplete if I eat an item sans fromage!
And then there is like a remoulade sauce and more cheese on top, plus an undressed salad on the side.
So we try said "crab cakes" O.M.G. crime against crab- there are maybe 2 lumps of crabmeat in the whole thing, which you cannot taste,
due to all the other cr*p in there.
Oh and please don't bother putting a pile of salad on the side if you aren't going to dress it.
When we said something to the waiter about the crab cake being not what we expected, he didn't offer to get us something else, he didn't offer to comp it,
he said, "Oh but it says on the menu it's Augie's Crab cake".
OH really? like I am supposed to know what the heck THAT means???
again- try putting a description on your menu to warn people.

So we next decided we'd split a spaghetti carbonara for a final course.
It sounded fairly straightforward and there was a description.
The only odd ingredient was the inclusion of what was described as caramelized onions.
OK- I like caramelized onions.
When the dish came, the onions were copious amount of very lightly sauteed onions.
white with a bare hint of tiny browning near the edge.
Last time I checked, caramelized onions should be tan-brownish.

Anyhow- the joint was hopping- so maybe people like cheese on everything-
All I know is I might go back for the burger, but I would NEVER order any of the dishes I ate again.

and I don't know- maybe the title of this thread should be modified to just- Bobby's Deerfield...?

Did you order your cheesesnail "wit onions" on some fresh-baked Sarcone's bread?

irisarbor wrote:...and I don't know- maybe the title of this thread should be modified to just- Bobby's Deerfield...?

This problem comes up here from time to time when the OP editorializes in the sujbect line, which is his or her call to make. However, in such cases, you can always start a new thread, if you so desire. Generally speaking, this is one of the few instances where we Moderators will not merge separate threads about the same place.

Thanks,

=R=
for the moderators

Thanks Ronnie-
I really didn't know if my post deserved an entire separate thread,
and the restaurant certainly is a hit with Deerfield, judging by the way the tables were filled.
I just know that I will never eat "spaghetti-cakes" again

And then there's the Bobby Deerfield that was not such a hit:

We were there a couple of Saturdays ago. No big complaints--somehow we avoided the cheese-on-everything syndrome. I've had better Caesar salads around town, but the veal I had was pretty good. Tender and tasty, flavor of the meat complemented but not overwhelmed by the sauce. The biggest negative (and it wasn't all that big a one) was that our waitress seemed on the insistent side in terms of moving our meal along, as if she was hoping to turn our table at least once before the night was through--which she well might have been, but as a customer you don't want to be made aware of that from the moment you sit down. We didn't linger or dawdle--I'd say between cocktails, dinner and dessert, going at our own pace, our foursome was for sure out of there in less than 2 hours--yet in subtle ways we got the impression we weren't moving fast enough for her. Damned if you do and damned if you don't if you're a server, I realize; if you make yourself scarce you'll have customers complaining about that. Yet whatever just-right was in terms of being present, checking on our being "there yet" with our order, etc., she was on the aggressive side of that.

Edited to add: I don't know whether this was her or the restaurant. I.e., this morning it occurs to me that it might not be a case of a hard-working but short-sighted young woman trying a bit self-destructively and counter-productively to make a buck, but rather restaurant management instructing all servers to keep the tables turning over.

Bobby’s will open a second location this fall, serving a menu similar to the Deerfield original. Dishes include grilled Moroccan octopus, hand-chopped steak tartare, cocktails, barrel-aged whiskey, and homemade pastas and desserts. 2518 N. Lincoln Ave.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct ... story.html

So, we ate at Bobby’s last night.

A client of my husbands gave him a $50 gift card for Xmas and we decided we should not let it go to waste.

My 6-year old daughter rated her crab cakes “disappointing”. Nothing we ate seemed to have been seasoned. My scallops over pasta were mushy with no sear and no flavor. My husband’s jambalaya had no heat.

We are not the target market for Bobby’s and I get that. There were a lot of people there seemingly having a great time. I will say our server was friendly and competent.

LynnB wrote:So, we ate at Bobby’s last night.

A client of my husbands gave him a $50 gift card for Xmas and we decided we should not let it go to waste.

My 6-year old daughter rated her crab cakes “disappointing”. Nothing we ate seemed to have been seasoned. My scallops over pasta were mushy with no sear and no flavor. My husband’s jambalaya had no heat.

We are not the target market for Bobby’s and I get that. There were a lot of people there seemingly having a great time. I will say our server was friendly and competent.

Maybe your take differs from mine but I think the target audience is people who live nearby and who are not particularly discriminating. Convenience probably matters more to them than food, and they probably have small children.

We ate there once, almost exactly 6 years ago, and have not returned. I don't remember exactly what we ate but I do remember thinking "ok, I never need to come back here." And we haven't, even though we live less than two miles away.

=R=

Bobby's crabcakes were the absolute weirdest things I have ever eaten.
I also live 2 miles away and NEVER eat here.
Sad sad sad.
what some people call creativity I call crazy.
do they still have spaghetti in them?

Iris - yes, they still have spaghetti in them! We were expecting the crab cakes on top of the pasta. So besides being devoid of flavor they also had a weird texture. The creamy sun dried tomato sauce served on the side didn’t help as it was also bland.

We left thinking that someone had literally banned salt and pepper from their kitchen.

Ron, the crowd last Saturday night skewed majority people in their 50’s and up. We only saw a couple of other kids in the place.

I've been to Bobby's twice since it's been around. Once for their hamburger which people raved about (I don't remember if I liked it) and another time for lunch a year or two ago where I ordered chicken parmesan (which is not on the menu but I asked if they could do it and I was in the mood) which I have to say was excellent and if I went back, I would probably order that again.