any word on Sola

Any word on the opening date for Sola? This is Carol Wallack's (Deleece) new restaurant in Lincoln Square (Lincoln and Byron). It was supposed to open in the fall but it was pushed to this month.

Isn't that a little far south to be considered Lincoln Sq? I hadn't heard of this place, any additional info? I always liked Deleece back when I lived over that way.

You're right - it is a little far south to be considered Lincoln Square...

The rumor is that Carol has split from the partnership with her sister at Deleece and she's opening Sola. Word is the food will be the Cal-clean that she's so good at, with some Asian/Hawaiian thrown in for flair. I'm just excited to have another restaurant closer to home!

I ran into Carol and her front of the house guy about a month back. I thought that she was planning on opening in March, but maybe I misunderstood. Mellonhead's rumour was confirmed by Carol herself. One idea that she told me about that might be of interest particularly to the parents in the area is curbside pickup. Order and your food would be brought to your car. Not sure if that will materialize, but it likely would be a helpful thing for the many working parents in the 'hood.

One idea that she told me about that might be of interest particularly to the parents in the area is curbside pickup.

That is marketing genius.

Mike G wrote:

One idea that she told me about that might be of interest particularly to the parents in the area is curbside pickup.

That is marketing genius.

Or is imitation the finest form of flattery? 41 North in Northbrook offers curbside delivery of take out food with reserved spots. I believe they have even posted a phone number for cell phone users to alert the restaurant you've arrived.

I've seen it several other places as well, though none comes to mind this moment.

Regards,

MAG wrote: One idea that she told me about that might be of interest particularly to the parents in the area is curbside pickup.

One needn't be a parent to like that idea.

I believe Ruby Tuesday and Old Country Buffet(or is it Applebee's?) offer curbside pickup.

Christopher Gordon wrote:I believe Ruby Tuesday and Old Country Buffet(or is it Applebee's?) offer curbside pickup.

Alright, I'll bite, how exactly does a curbside pickup buffet work?

Kman wrote:Alright, I'll bite, how exactly does a curbside pickup buffet work?

There's these big troughs 'bout car window high..................

Watching the ads I imagine you call ahead and ask for this n that and they package it up for you(or the dog).

The first place I heard of offering "curbside carryout" was Shaw’s Crab House. They’ve been doing it for four and a half years.

nick and tony's on wacker has offered curbside pickup for a couple years now. it comes in very handy downtown.

Hi - Nick and Tony's has closed. I believe McCormick & Schmick's is planning something for that space to open in a couple of months.

A friend invited me to dinner at Sola tonight, and considering I'd not eaten there before I jumped at the chance. I had a good time.

The large room, part of which is elevated to sort of a mezzanine level, is comfortable - contemporary comfortable. We arrived early, about 6 p.m., and only a couple of tables were occupied. However, by the time we left two hours later the restaurant was 75-80% full - which is impressive for a Monday night.

Our waitress seemed a bit overbearing - a bit too academic . . . we wanted to tell her to summarize, not read the Encyclopedia Britannica when interpreting the specials of the day. More is better than less, though - and her extra effort was appreciated (though annoying).

I ordered wine by the glass and my friend ordered an Absolut martini. Wine by the bottle is 1/2 price on Monday, and I'd have ordered one (a full bottle) if I was footing the bill but I didn't want to embarrass myself or my friend . . . because he was paying for dinner (and I didn‘t want to come off as a lush). The Syrah I ordered - two glasses by night's end - and which was recommended by our waitress was appropriate, and good..

We shared a crab cake appetizer - two silver Dollar-sized discs - a bit too soft and a bit too cool for our liking . . . but we ate them without complaint. I like crab cakes more encrusted than these, and there was no accompanying sauce - just the cakes. Okay, they were - nothing to write home about.

I should mention the breads, and butter - the heavenly butter. Some flatbread was in the small basket, one roll and three pieces of rye bread. All of the breads were fresh and flavorful - even if eaten on their own without adding butter. I thought the butter was exceptional and the waitress explained it was highly salted - and thus the distinction. True or not (highly salted), I considered foregoing the entrée - for a plate of butter, and more bread.

My entree was one of the nightly specials - cheese stuffed Dijon encrusted lamb chops topped with tomato's with a small side of string-like green beans. I ordered the lamb medium and it arrived medium rare - and I ate it without asking for further cooking; it was okay - bordering on good. I don't recall the (name of the) cheese filling, but it was flavorful - and the lamb chops were thick - three of them. I don't often eat lamb chops outside of Greek Town - and I was making a comparison between the two. I still prefer Greek chops.

My friend ordered encrusted-in-something Mahi Mahi, served on a bed of vegetables - and he finished the portion as if he really liked it . . . a clean plate.

I chose an espresso backed by a large snifter portion of sambucca instead of dessert, while my dinner companion ignored the desserts for a cup of tea.

I enjoyed the dinner, and with the seemingly eclectic metrosexual/gay, straight clientele surrounding us - it was a relaxing and fun environment. Several people were celebrating birthdays and sections of the youngish crowd in the room (20-somethings, mostly) broke-out singing renditions of “Happy Birthday.” Nice. Respectful. Fun.

Owner Carol Wallack was busily attending to a table of friends nearby and I stopped her and asked if she was one of the wait staff - which elicited a chuckle (her name is embroidered on her uniform). Though she displayed an indifferent - aloof - demeanor at first, she then seemed genuinely warm and inquisitive of our experience in her place . . . after we “broke the ice.”

A shared appetizer, two entrée's, three Absolut's and two glasses of wine, an after dinner drink . . . an espresso and a tea . . . and the tab came (before tip) to $136.

We ate at sola last night for my birthday. Overall, it was a really good meal.

Started w/complimentary pretzel rolls. I'm a total sucker for pretzel rolls, so I was excited about that, and they were pretty good. maybe a bit too hard, but good.

I had the tofu steak w/quinoa, which was extremely flavorful, quite tasty. The Boy had one of the specials, which was lamb chops with a bunch of other stuff I can't recall (sorry!!). He said they were cooked perfectly. We also split an order of the truffled parmesan fries, which I could not stop eating. The Boy thought they were too salty, but that did not stop him from eating them! I can't say for sure about the saltiness- I have a VERY high salt threshold, and he has a remarkably low threshold, so we're not the ones to make that determination. I will say we devoured the entire serving.

Dessert was sticky toffee cake with ice cream. Probably a bad choice on my part, it was exactly what I expected, and I'm pretty sure what it should have been, but way too sweet for me. I know, I know, silly to order that and complain that it was too sweet. as I said, bad call on my part.

Incidentally, Dale from Top Chef was our waiter. He was maybe not the best waiter we've ever had, but it was kinda cool to have him walk up to the table. Kind of like a surprise bday present.

Had a nice meal at Sola this weekend, including a silky parsnip soup and roast 1/2 chicken with a beautifully crispy skin, succulent dark meat, and slightly overdone, dry breast meat. It was served with a light, airy, delicious fritter made from celery root and coconut.

The highlight of the meal, by far, was the ice cream/ sorbet dessert. If in the neighborhood and looking for dessert, you must try the Sola ice cream. There are always 5+ flavors available, and you choose three. I had the lavender-honey, macadamia nut brittle, and coconut. Like much of the food at Sola, the ice creams are robustly flavored - the kitchen is not at all shy about pushing the envelope. The lavender aroma and taste were especially intense and wonderful, and made even better by the accompanying moscato I ordered. My bartender - famed Top Chef runner-up Dale - and I discussed the merits of putting a moscato/ lavendar honey ice cream float on the menu for summer. The coconut sorbet was simply the essence of coconut served in a perfectly creamy consistency just like the other flavors. A very satisfying end to a mostly satisfying meal.

I just ate there on Thursday last week. I have lived in the neighborhood for years and always meant to go, finally got around to it... unimpressed overall.

The menu was pretty interesting but our choices didn't come together so well. We started with the aforementioned truffle/parm fries which were good, not amazing. Although they're served in paper shoved in a pint glass which was kind of difficult to eat out of.

She had wasabi encrusted mahi mahi over veggies which were good. I chose poorly and got some special of cheese-stuffed lamb chops which were not great. The cheese was too powerful and it was hard to taste anything else.

Our wine choice was fine, a moderately priced spanish wine. We skipped dessert since our wait, on a Thursday at 8, was about an hour or more and I was just too filled.

All in all, I didn't appreciate Sola. Decor was nice, service was fine, but I expected a substantially better meal than I received and won't be going back. North Center desperately needs a couple new, great restaurants and Sola just didn't cut it for me. I could have ordered better which I'd do if forced to go back but I don't think ill ever be inside Sola again.

While I wasn't blown away by dinner at Sola, I really loved the brunch. I particularly enjoyed the chilaquiles.

SDG wrote:While I wasn't blown away by dinner at Sola, I really loved the brunch.

That's funny; I've only been there for brunch, and wasn't blown away. It was okay, but not at all unusual in any way (other than the decor/fixtures, which I recall were very cool). To mention a couple of other examples not too far away, I've been much more impressed with brunch at Magnolia Cafe and M. Henry.

We went to Sola about a year and a half ago. I liked it at the time, but haven't felt a burning desire to go back. The volume of the room actually stands out more in my mind than the food.

SDG wrote:While I wasn't blown away by dinner at Sola, I really loved the brunch. I particularly enjoyed the chilaquiles.

I feel the same way. I love the malasadas and their Mexican influenced brunch items. I also like that they take reservations via opentable.

I ate at Sola last night for the second time (the first time I was there Carol Wollack was extremely rude to my friend and I when we saw her leave her purse behind as she left the restuarant. We chased after her to return it, and she accused us of going through it).

While it was nice to have the half price bottles of wine (and to see Graham Elliot Bowles having dinner), I was sorely disappointed in the meal...again.

We started with the Truffled Gnocchi which had good flavor, but the gnocchi were gluey and undercooked, they actually stuck to the plate like gum.

Next we shared the Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Hawaiian Purple Sweet Potatoes which we ordered Medium. They were nice enough to split it in half and it was very easy to see that the pork was rare to mid-rare. We had to send it back. While we waited we snacked on the Truffle Fries which were so super-soggy. I agree the paper shoved into a pint glass is unattractive and hard to eat out of.

While I was encouraged that the meal would be great because of Chef Bowles being there, I feel like maybe the kitchen was too busy trying to impress him and his guests than taking care of the whole restaurant.

driscoll75 wrote:...the first time I was there Carol Wollack was extremely rude to my friend and I...

Interesting, I have always found Carol to be quite warm and engaging. In fact, on several occasions I've seen her make special efforts to greet customers and garner feedback from them. I know a few people that work for Carol, and all seem to admire and respect her.

Driscoll75, I know you work in the biz, and I know from another thread that, like all of us who've been in the restaurant industry, you've got a messy history with some folks you've encountered along the way:

The only thing I didn't like was the owner Brad. I had worked with him before at another restaurant and disliked him immensely

Is it possible that you (or your friend) have some history with Carol that might make your relationship with her different from others'?

With a Restaurant.com certificate in hand, Mr. X and I ventured out to Sola for dinner last night. This was our first time at Sola. While persuing the menu, I enjoyed a glass of Cava and he had an phenomenal Effen dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives. The bread basket was enjoyable -- the pretzel rolls were a treat and I really liked the flatbread. It seemed plain at first, but finished with a burst of rosemary and garlic. I try not to dip too deep into the bread basket as to not totally ruin my appetite. Fortunately, they came out with an amuse-bouche that took off the edge. It was braised lamb shoulder over curried couscous. There was a sprig of a Asian microgreen (the name of which I can't recall) that added almost a lemon flavor. This was a great bite.

I ordered the sweet potato prix fixe, a three-course menu for $30 featuring (wait for it) sweet potatoes in each course. I'm a bad LTHer -- I didn't take the menu or write anything down, so my descriptions of what I received will be poor. (The Sola website doesn't have the courses I ate last night.) I started with a salad that included duck confit and sweet potatoes and more. Although I wasn't wowed by it, I thought it was very good. Mr. X ordered the artichoke fritters and we both thought they were great. I was partial to the truffle aioli dipping sauce while he leaned towards the soy-lime sauce. The breading wasn't heavy at all, but they were a touch greasy.

For entrees, Mr. X had the seared scallops with lobster risotto and carrot-star anise butter sauce. The scallops were perfectly prepared. Mr. X was somewhat annoyed by the shredded carrots on top of the dish - he felt the texture took away from the dish. I was happy to have a bit or two of the scallops. My entree was a piece of fish called golden tile over sweet potato fritters with green beans and carrots. There as a flavored butter sauce on my dish as well. (bad memory...) This was a tasty dish. To accompany dinner, I asked our server to recommend a wine for me. Her selection, a Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier, was perfect.

Mr. X ordered the Taffy Apple Pie for dessert that comes with brown butter macadamia ice cream and calvados cider syrup. This wasn't pie in the typical triangular shape one might expect. It was an individual round dessert, rather tall for it's overall size, a delicate crust filled with thinly sliced, flavorful apples. He shared a bit with me and I don't knock him for practically licking the plate. Continuing on my terrible descriptions of my meal, my dessert was an ice cream sandwich -- two cookies with a layer of sweet potato mixture, filled with a wonderful ice cream and garnished with whipped cream and a caramel sauce on the plate. I too would have licked the plate clean if I had no decorum.

Overall, we enjoyed our dinner. The service was knowledgable and warm without being effusive. Water was filled regularly. The timing was good. The decaf coffee was excellent. (Mr. X shared a sip of his coffee with me.) For a Wednesday night, the place was hopping. I'm not sure if we would come here often -- it is at a higher price point than many of our regular spots. But last night's meal didn't break the budget as much as I thought (about $100 before the discount). I'm sure we'll return.

sola restaurant
3868 N. Lincoln Ave.
@ Byron
(773) 327-3868

I meant to throw something in here- we've been to Sola twice in the last 3 weeks- once with a group of friends and once on our own (we were curious as to how consistent they would be) and both times they knocked it out of the park both in terms of service and in terms of food. Of particular note are the artichoke fritters and the duck two ways.

I had my first bites of unbanned foie at Sola last night. Beef tenderloin served with foie gras bread pudding. Outstanding.

The rest of the meal was great too. I don't know why I've let almost two years pass between visits. Sola is a restaurant I need to get to more often.

jesteinf wrote:I had my first bites of unbanned foie at Sola last night. Beef tenderloin served with foie gras bread pudding. Outstanding.

The rest of the meal was great too. I don't know why I've let almost two years pass between visits. Sola is a restaurant I need to get to more often.

Was it still really loud or have they worked that out? I too really love the food there.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

jesteinf wrote:I had my first bites of unbanned foie at Sola last night. Beef tenderloin served with foie gras bread pudding. Outstanding.

The rest of the meal was great too. I don't know why I've let almost two years pass between visits. Sola is a restaurant I need to get to more often.

Was it still really loud or have they worked that out? I too really love the food there.

=R=

I think the noise has gotten under control there- it's certainly not as bad as blackbird, but not as quiet as spring, if that makes sense.

jpschust wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

jesteinf wrote:I had my first bites of unbanned foie at Sola last night. Beef tenderloin served with foie gras bread pudding. Outstanding.

The rest of the meal was great too. I don't know why I've let almost two years pass between visits. Sola is a restaurant I need to get to more often.

Was it still really loud or have they worked that out? I too really love the food there.

=R=

I think the noise has gotten under control there- it's certainly not as bad as blackbird, but not as quiet as spring, if that makes sense.

It does. Thanks

I really need to get back there.

=R=