No Nacional 27 reviews???

I wish I was a restaurant critic and had the ability to describe the meal we had last night the way some of you do. I will say that we had several different Tapas, each better then the last. I suck at this enough to say that I don't even remember the name of my favorite one but it had some type of dried jalapenos... mmm.. delish. If I was more pro I'd even bring my camera to snap a few shots because the presentation was also delightful.

Furthermore, not only was the service wonderfulbut the complementary truffles at the end of our meal were quite enjoyable too.

Oh and we decided go with Sangria del Sur which provided us with a few extra smiles and laughs

Next time I'm doing the five course 'Chiefs Tasting' (with Wine Pairing) and I'll take notes

Ever been? If so your thoughts????

Nacional 27
325 W. Huron St.
Chicago, IL

Went there last year. I was pleasently surprised. We couldn't decide what to get, so we did get the Chef's Tasting with the wine. It's supposed to be half portions of the drinks, but wasn't. Needless to say, my wife and I were pretty toasty by the last course.

It's a nice mix of latin food and although the atmosphere is updeat, it's not annoying or too loud. Its a nice place.

Randy Zwieban is the exec. chef at nacional 27 and does a superlative job there. he has a great sense of building flavors throughout a dish, layering them, for instance, using garlic in many forms (roasted, toasted, raw) in a garlic mojo in order to really push that depth of garlic flavor. his food is well-balanced and mature and manages to be both authentic and innovative.

he worked for 10 years as chef de cusine for norman van aiken at norman's in miami before coming here to chicago. he was originally brought in by LEYE to be chef de cuisine at Tru under Tramonto, but oversaw the re-concepting of lettuce's Hat Dance into N27 due to construction delays at Tru, and did such a great job of it that he stayed on and is now a chef-partner there.

great chef, great restaurant, and indeed, a great overall experience, as the bar staff is one of the most talented and imaginitive in the city and the service staff is well trained and well-polished.

highly recommended, and good to see them getting some attention on this board.

Our office holiday party was held at Nacional 27 last night. They closed the restaurant for our private party. Despite the fact that I had way too many mojitos, I can say that I really enjoyed the food. I'm not sure how much of what we had was on their regular menu. I loved the steak and the shrimp skewers being passed around during the cocktail hour. Also good were the sweet potato and plaintain croquettes. We had two choices at dinner, a skirt steak with mashed Cuban sweet potatoes or the "catch of the day", which happened to be Mahi Mahi with herb roasted potatoes and a passion fruit butter sauce. I was pleased with my order of fish, but thought it was a little overcooked. That didn't stop me from eating every bite.

I'd like to go back to this restaurant with my husband and try some of their regular menu offerings. All the waitstaff were very professional and friendly.

Suzy

IMO, any time food is done in masses for masses I feel like it lacks quality.

I haven't been to Nacional 27 for a couple of years, but I always liked the food there. In particular, the ceviche was excellent, and their mojitos were among the best I've had.

Nacional 27
312/664-2727
www.lettuceentertainyou.com
325 W. Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60610-3636

Posted by myself originally here

Meg received a nice gift certificate for use at any Lettuce Entertain You restaurant for Christmas from her boss. After much deliberation as to which one we would grace with our presence we chose Nacional 27. We read some great reviews about it on the Reader, which influenced us quite a bit. We dressed nicely, as they have a dress code of business casual and headed out.

To get there, we took the Brown Line out to the Chicago stop, got off and then walked about two blocks. This part of the city would not be a good one for parking, so this saved us a lot of headaches.

Upon our arrival we were warmly greeted by the friendly hostess and received a complimentary coat check. We had made a reservation earlier, which was suggested by their website. We were seated momentarily by the gracious host at a table with a great view of the entire dining room.

We were highly impressed with the decór of the restaurant. There was heavy use of fabric to create space, along with some excellent focused lighting and generous use of color.

Our reservation was made for 5:45 in part because we wanted to take advantage of their Late Latin Lunch which is served until 6:00. It is a three course meal where you get to choose from many of their signature dishes. You also get to choose a bottle of wine. All of this is at a set price of something like $29. It was a price that was hard to pass up.

Our waiter arrived shortly, was exceedingly pleasant, and brought us free plate of tapas to begin. I think they were little fried plantain slices (kinda reminiscent of a Pringles chip, but cut with different designs) which were topped with a salsa. We thought this was a nice touch.

He took our order and mentioned that he would steer us away from any dishes that were too spicy, as Meg's tummy isn't as strong as mine.

I chose the black bean soup, grilled skirt steak with grilled vegetables, and the coffee creme brulle for dessert. Meg with with the smoked chicken empanadas, follwed by the crusted beef tenderloin trio, and the coffee creme brulle as well. In addition, we ordered the ceviche sampler platter as well as some before dinner drinks. I had an incredibly flavorful mojito, and Meg had a Nacional 27 margarita. Mine came in a tall glass with plenty of crushed mint, a sugared rim, and a large raw sugar cane stick for stirring. Meg's margarita was the shaken variety, and tasted wonderful as well.

The ceviche arrived soon after the drinks. Meg and I were both in love with the tuna and watermelon. It was so incredibly flavorful. The other two were good, but nothing to write home about. This all arrived on a platter filled with ice, then on top of that was a dish with three sections dividing up the different ceviches. In each ceviche was one of the fried plantain slices I mentioned earlier. While the menu listed the watermelon and tuna ceviche was listed on the menu as spicy, neither of us thought it was too bad.

Next came our appetizers and wine. Our waiter opened and properly presented the cork of the red zinfandel. It had a nice full body, and Meg giggled as she thought the label looked like the label on the bottle of Heinz ketchup. My black bean soup was smooth, with nice little chunks of smoked chicken it it. Meg's empanadas were a little too spicy for her (DAMN YOU WAITER!!!). They were served with a very nice guacamole which tempered the spiciness a little bit, so she wasn't completely disappointed. I thought they tasted wonderful.

Next was our entrees. My skirt steak was a thing of beauty. It arrived topped with french fried sweet potato strings, was nice and tender, and cooked exactly how I asked. The vegetables that came with it (red and green peppers, mushrooms, onions) tasted like they had just been taken off the grill and went beautifully with the skirt steak. The only thing I didn't like about this entree was that they drizzled a sweet steak sauce all over the top, which would have been better if it had been served in little pools on either side instead. I thought it was a little too sweet, and would have rather dipped the steak in it per my preference.

Meg's crusted tenderloins was also cooked perfectly. I think she might have said "Like buttah" on multiple occasions during the meal to describe how tender the meat was. She did not however enjoy all of the "crustings". Each one had a different flavor. She enjoyed the bleu cheese one the most, but she thought the truffle crusted one was nothing special and thought the chimichurri crusted one tasted a bit weird. I tried the later two and thought they were both delicious.

We waited for a bit while things digested, talked, and continued to down the wine. Meg commented to the waiter that he was out to prevent us from ever seeing the bottom of our glasses on account of how often he returned to pour for us. We thought the service was beyond phenomenal even though the waiter didn't accurately steer Meg away from the spicy empanadas.

Our coffee creme brulles arrived a little later, and I can honestly say this is now one of my favorite desserts in Chicago. The caramelized crust on top was nicely thick, and the coffee flavor of the custard was profound and indulgent. We were in heaven. I think I've tried the creme brulle at four other restaurants now (Smith and Wollensky, Pete Miller's, Ristorante WE, and RL ), and I'd definitely go back to Nacional 27 for this again.

Overall, we had a great time. The prices are right, the service is warm and attentive, and the food is very good. I'll definitely be going back.

I saw the title of this thread, and thought another post was in order.

I really enjoy Nacional 27, and think it is one of the more underrated restaurants in the city. The room is beautiful, the food is inventive, and very well prepared. The wine list is well put together, the staff is knowledgeable, and the manager, Adam Seger, is considered one of the top mixologists in the country.

Dinner started with lamb tacos, shrimp skewers, and ceviche. The lamb had been braised, then shredded and mixed with a custom adobo bbq sauce. A touch on the sweet side, but great flavor. I enjoyed the shrimp skewers as well. The ceviche of scallops and shrimp had great flavor and disappeared quickly.

The main course was Grilled Smoked Pork Tenderloin Adobado. The and sauce worked so well together, with the grill flavor of the pork, and the light smokyness of the sauce. It came with a corn mushroom flan that was very tasty. I sampled some of the other dishes, and thought that the Beef Tenderloin Medallions were great. Top notch meat with a blue cheese crust.

Nacional 27
325 W Huron St
Chicago, IL
312-664-2727

I'm glad to see good reviews of the restaurant -- I went twice back in about 2003 or so and had two very bad experiences (mostly service) so I swore never to eat there again. BUT, this was many years ago. The mixologist there is quite famous, and volunteered his time at the Taste of the Nation event, so I have to say they support good causes as well!

As a salsa dancer, I thought I would give a warning that the main floor of the restaurant turns into a dance club on Fri and Sat nights. After 9pm or so, there will be a crowd of dancers waiting, wishing that the late diners would hurry up and move to the bar area so we can start dancing! Blaring salsa and bachata music isn't fun during dinner, even for me.

I've written about GM/Mixologist/Sommelier Adam Seger and if you can collar him to make you one of signature seasonal cocktails, you'll be in for a treat.

King of Cocktails

Seger's a supreme food enthusiast of the highest order and he and exec chef Chef Randy Zweiban who used to work with Norman VanAken (so did our fair Charlie Trotter) take their food seriously.

One of my favorites is the slow roasted Gunthorp Farms Pork Cubano...It takes three days to cure the pork shoulder paired with coconut rice and garlicky mojo. Day one the pork receives a spice rub, day two it gets a lime mojo marination, and day three it's slow roasted and gulped down. On Day four, it becomes a fond memory.

Time to bump.

I hadn't been here in years...well, actually, decades. But, for a “Cuban Christmas,” the restaurant had a four-course menu, with options, for only $45, including wine! So how could we not check it out. Since I neglected to post immediately, I can no longer offer precise comments and will limit myself more to impressions.

One of the nicest touches was this “menu” of alcohol-free drinks.



LDC cannot drink alcohol and, almost everywhere we go, that means she’ll have a Coke or other soft drink. We asked about a substitution here for her drinks and were given this little menu. We were and are quite impressed that a restaurant—any restaurant—would take the time and effort to come up with this number of alternatives and then make the extra added effort to showcase them with their own menu. A+ for effort and achievement.



I was under the impression that Nacional 27 was Cuban; to that end, I was surprised that we received a bowl of very fresh chips and salsa. Chips actually exceeded the salsa in my estimation: the chips were extremely fresh and still warm, without any oiliness at all. The salsa was fine in an okay sorta way: nothing to write home about. I see now that they advertise themselves as a “modern Latin” restaurant, so okay. I was disappointed, though, that although we got more chips, we never got bread(s) of any kind.


Appetizer plate

Appetizers came on a “sampler” plate with a bacalao crostada, lobster empanada, lamb taco, accompanied by the bar’s holiday mojito. Speaking of portion size and plating: portion sizes here are not particularly generous. They’re not too small, but they’re not generous. And whoever’s in charge in the kitchen has only made things worse by plating these smaller portions on overly large plates, making the small portions seem not only lost on the plate, but even smaller than they are. As it happens, the portions worked out perfectly for us, but course after course, the presentation made us wonder why the kitchen chose such enormous plates—particularly when most of the plate was empty—not even decorated with sauce or garnishes or .... Each of the appetizers was excellent. Our biggest complaint was the portion size: two or three bites and gone. And, as the picture makes evident in a general sort of way, the small portions looked lost on the plate. Oh, the mojito: not good at all. Substitutions were made that did not work particularly well and worse, there were about three or four large hunks of lime in the glass and the drink tasted overwhelmingly of alcohol and lime.


Lobster empanada

The salad course was hearts of palm with avocado and papaya (wine: Albarino, Do Ferreiro, Rias Biaxas, 2005). Fresh-tasting, tangy, and enjoyable—but overdressed. This is a complaint we find we often have and has prompted us to almost always ask for dressing on the side. We didn’t here and once again suffered the consequences. It’s a shame because both the salad and the dressing were excellent—but the salad always suffers, no matter how excellent it or the dressing is when its overdressed.


Hearts of palm salad

Main course, a choice: suckling pig “Cubano” or “spice rubbed” jumbo prawns. We ordered both (wine: Tempranillo, Montecillo, Reserva, Rioja 2003). The suckling pig turned out to be about five large chunks of piggy drenched in sauce and accompanied by a ratatouille of sorts and a portion of great garlic mashed potatoes. Piggy was fine but not noteworthy in any way. Indeed, I enjoyed the potatoes more. Prawns also heavily “dressed” and with the same accompaniments. While we understand the need to keep costs down when offering such a great deal, neither of us was certain that the pig and the prawns were well-served by having the exact same sides.


Suckling pig "Cubano"


Giant prawns

Dessert, another choice: warm Mexican chocolate torta or mango tres leches cake. Again, we ordered both. The kitchen, being aware that our anniversary was lurking around the corner, very generously gave us doubles as well as a clever “garnish” of papaya and mango with mint and...


Fruit salad

The cool lighting is courtesy of a tiny LED hidden in the ice under the cup of fruit. The desserts were really excellent.


Mango tres leches cake

The wines were pleasant accompaniments and I thought the tempranillo a very good match but we didn’t make any great new discoveries—though, given the price, I wouldn’t have expected to.

We ate on the early side and the service was good. Our server had a strange notion of the proper pronunciation of various Spanish words and seemed a bit eager to be liked but his timeliness and care were fine.

All in all, a nice meal, especially considering the price. The room was relatively quiet since we ate early; I can easily imagine this place rockin'.


You may notice a couple of large speakers suspended from the ceiling...

I'd be interested to return and order off the regular menu, partly to get a better sense of what "Latin" means and partly to see what the standard menu is like. But for now, that's the update.

Gypsy Boy wrote:

We were and are quite impressed that a restaurant—any restaurant—would take the time and effort to come up with this number of alternatives and then make the extra added effort to showcase them with their own menu. A+ for effort and achievement.

No kidding. I haven't seen something like that before. Phenomenal.

Gypsy Boy wrote:I was under the impression that Nacional 27 was Cuban.... I see now that they advertise themselves as a “modern Latin” restaurant, so okay....

I'd be interested to return and order off the regular menu, partly to get a better sense of what "Latin" means and partly to see what the standard menu is like.

The "27" in "Nacional 27" is supposed to stand for the number of Latin countries that influence its cuisine.

Fifille says the reason N27 has such a wide selection of non alcoholic drinks is most likely due to their focus on dancing. Many dancers don't drink while dancing as it affects their performance.

Octarine wrote:Fifille says the reason N27 has such a wide selection of non alcoholic drinks is most likely due to their focus on dancing. Many dancers don't drink while dancing as it affects their performance.

I've found this to be true in my experience, particularly at places around town that attract more serious dancers as Nacional 27 sometimes does. Knowing this, a friend and I are in the process of planning a dance party for about 100 people, and we're budgeting about 30% less booze than we would for a regular party. What's funny is that, while dancers may drink less, there are often--not saying this for Nacional 27 or our venue--what I consider much harder substances readily available and enjoyed.