Fiddlehead Cafe

Has anyone been to Fiddlehead Cafe? I searched but didn't find any postings.

I haven't, but just in case someone wants to go:

Fiddlehead Cafe
4600 N Lincoln Ave
773-751-1500
http://www.fiddleheadcafe.com/

Have not eaten there yet, but had drinks at the bar...find the atmosphere FAR more appealing than the too bright, tacky art-filled room of Square Kitchen (really the main reason we never actualy ate there)..

We may just give it a shot this weekend...but if anyone has beaten us to it, I'd be very interested to read about it here first...

Results were uneven. I had a mushroom panini which was quite nice. Other folks were not so thrilled. I would like to go there again (and probably will because I'm in the neighborhood).

I will admit that I liked Square Kitchen. It didn't have a particularly inventive menu or anything, but they did what they did pretty well.

Fiddlehead's reach exceeds its grasp. I went there about 8 weeks ago with 3 other people. While I apologize that I can't recall what any of us ordered for dinner, I do remember somewhat snotty and intermittent service.

The service also swore by some type of original sangria. The ladies each ordered one. It was bogus. Very strongly flavored with pumpkin and nutmeg. Not what one would expect out of something called sangria.

I don't know what they're going for at Fiddlehead, but none of the 4 of us is picky or a foodie and none of us enojoyed the meal.

Maybe we caught them on a bad night, but I've heard similar reviews from people sitting at the bar at the Daily (across the street).

I would only try it again if people started giving it rock star reviews on the forum.

No rock star review from me. We went there Friday with a party of 4. My husband and I sat at the bar while we waited for our friends and ordered manhattans. They were decent but a little too sweet. I was very surprised because there was a guy smoking at the bar a few seats away. The bar is very close to the tables in that room (not 15 feet away or whatever the ordinance requires) and I didn't get the impression that the entire room was smoking because I didn't see anyone else. They do have a second large room divided from the first room by a wall. You can't see it unless you go toward the back to the restrooms. The overall atmosphere was not impressive--lighting was nice but the decor was bland IMO.

In contrast to Ad Rock's experience, we thought the service was top notch. The food, however, was underwhelming and overpriced. We split the truffle ricotta flatbread. I found it flavorless. We also had the quail which was not ideal for splitting obviously but it was very good. It came with some dried figs and was moist. Both men ordered the lamb risotto entree. It was $18 and the portion was very small. It would have been small as a first course and had no discernible pieces of lamb and an odd sweet flavor. I ordered the short ribs over celery root puree. It was a special and was $21 and was the best of the bunch but it was also small and didn't compare in flavor or size to the short rib entree at Magnolia Cafe. Our other friend had the trout. I didn't try it. She said it wasn't good.

We had 3 cocktails, two inexpensive bottles of wine, two appetizers, four entrees and two desserts (in contrast to the entrees, the desserts were huge) and ended up spending about $320. The previous week my husband and I went to Chalkboard and spent a similar amount per person and that meal was incredible.

We were very disappointed with Fiddlehead and apologized to our friends for our bad choice. They normally don't spend that much at dinner so we felt bad. I will not go back.

Despite the less than stellar reviews posted here, we decided to give Fiddlehead a try last night. While I would not recommend that anyone drive accross town or come in from the suburbs to dine here, I will say that our experience was far more pleasant than what was described up thread. We had an 8pm reservation and were seated promptly in a booth in the back room. I thought the service was very good. From the person who called to confirm the reso to the hostess, busboy, server and the manager who opened our wine - everyone was friendly, smiling and knowledgable. No complaints on service. Yes, I found the room a little uninspired. The walls could use some art to warm the place up a bit.
I started with the soup of the day which was Creamy Cauliflower. A bowl with a dollop of Boursin-like cheese and a drizzle of herbed oil was brought out and the soup was poured in tableside. It was good. My only complaint about the food here is that I found everything under-seasoned. I had to add pepper to the soup and salt to my entree. Of course, that could just be my tastebuds. Husband had the field greens salad which was, well, a field greens salad. For entrees, I had the panini sandwich and Husband had the lamb rissoto. The panini last night was Grilled Eggplant w/ Buffalo Mozzarella, Watercress and Pistachio-Dried Apricot Pesto. I really enjoyed it. The bread was a toothsome wholegrain and it was nicely "paninified" with melty cheese. The pesto gave it just a hint of sweetness. It came with a side of tabouli. Husband enjoyed the lamb risotto. We thought the pile of lamb on top of the rice was sufficiently generous and flavorful. He was pleasantly full upon finishing, but not stuffed.
We had a $34 bottle of Adelaida Pinot Noir. I think their wine list is ambitious, but that the glass pour selections are a little pricey for a neighborhood spot. There are choices at $7.00/gl but then everything jumps up to the $10.50 and higher range. It would be nice to have some $8-$9/gl choices. We saw no evidence of Sangria, nor was it pushed by our server.
Our bill, with tax and tip, came to about $100. Certainly not a cheap night out, but we did not leave feeling gouged - it was a pleasant evening.
Again, if you live in the area, or are coming for a show at the Old Town School, walk, don't run, to Fiddlehead. If anyone else gives it a try, please post. I'd like to know if our experience was an anomoly or if they truely have improved since January.

I went last night with a companion and had a similar experience.

The wine list does seem ambitious, but the presentation - seemingly designed to make it more accessible - was a dud for me. Lots of small, indistinct icons denoting one trait or another. That said, my friend's reisling was good. The beer selection, while not huge, has some range.

We started by sharing the blood orange and meyer lemon salad. The kitchen split it up on to two plates for us (thanks!), and it was very good. We especially liked the rosemary honey, which was a great match with the tart lemon. Unfortunetly, the honey seemed to have been put on the plate before the greens, so we had to mix everything up a bit to get the full experience. The portion, especially when split in two, was a little small.

We had the grilled eggplant panini and the pork shank as entrées. The panini was very good - nice combination of flavors and textures with maybe just a little too much cheese. The tabouli was a good match and a nice texture contrast, but was missing the zing of really good, really fresh stuff. The pork was also good-not-great - well roasted and juicy but the meat was a bit bland and a little more seasoning would have been welcome. The pear mostarda on top was very good - I would have liked a little more. The bacon-braised lentils sharing the plate were also good, but nothing besides the mostarda really popped off the plate.

Overall, a little too expensive for a neighborhood spot, and not quite good enough to be a destination.

We like what we've had at the Fiddlehead, usually enjoyable snacky visits. I teach at the Old Town School down the street, so it's convenient -- but also good enough that we'd invite friends. We like the cheese flights, especially the one involving the "Persian feta" (a spread from Australia), the duck confit sandwich, the seafood salad (almost all seafood), and the big desserts. We've found the service very good.

Our tradition is not to go out on New Years Eve, but I may push my wife on that this year. Fiddlehead has two New Years Eve tasting menus -- one vegetarian. Then the Old Town School has what should be a wonderful, energetic act with a 7:30 show (as well as a 10:30): the Punch Brothers. Their leader, Chris Thiel, has the reputation of being a remarkable young mandoliin player. His band has bluegrass instrumentation but apparently moves across musical genres; they recently signed a contract with Nonesuch.

As of now, Fiddlehead's New Year's Eve menu is not on their website but it was sent out by email. I've included it in a blog I write: Hot Times at Old Town. The blog (hate that term!) can be accessed through the front page of oldtownschool.org.

Skip

More basically positive anecdotal evidence (individual results may vary): Have only been there twice; once for brunch, once for dinner. These visits were last spring and summer, respectively. Memories are a bit fuzzy at this point, but positive all around.

Brunch was a pretty typical "yuppy": brunch. Items were somewhat rich and somewhat gussied up, but all were good, in that style. It was a bit expensive (for me, who's more of an A&T, Augie's person when it comes to breakfast), but not, I think for similar surroundings. Service was very good and attentive, including attention and a bit of ktichen accomodation for the tastes of the one child in the group.

Dinner was a spur of the moment birthday dinner for my father when something or other left us unable to get downtown where we had planned. (We live walking distance from Fiddlehead.)
I can't recall all we had but I do know that everyone was very pleased and it was, overall, a fairly sophisticated group of eaters. I had a lamb shank preparation with polenta, there was a chicken dish, and I'm sure my father had something involving beef. My mother had a couple of apps. including one of the cheese flights for her meal and was very happy about it. If I remenmber correctly, they produced something in the way of breaded chicken strips for our son, and they were excellently done---crisp, golden and nicely seasoned.
Service was, again, very pleasant and attentive.

Not saying they're incapable of the lesser meals described above, but our experience was very nice in the upscale neighborhood joint model.

Having lived in Lincoln Square for more than 15 years I've never even been into Fiddlehead since it opened until just last week. The wine list is very good and havs some great values. The glass pour list is unspectacular but has depth and the glasswear they serve in is nice.

A lot of though has gone into this wine list as well as into the cheese list.

However the menu seemed uninspired. Nothing that really interested me all that much. To be honest I don't even recall the app's we had. Entrees were a decent lamb shank and a steak frites. Both were OK but nothing I'd come back for.

I wanted to like this place more than I do. I really love the wine list but the food was just "eh."

Service was good.

This would be a great place to come and sit at the bar with a few friends, order some cheese and a good bottle of wine and just hang out. Pass on the menu.

I went there this summer on a date, and we sat by a front window looking onto Lincoln, very nice. We decided to have a bunch of "snacks" and wine flights, which worked very well. I haven't had the opportunity to have the full entree experience, but do recommend doing flights and apps, cheese plates, etc.

I'm very happy to have Fiddlehead close to my neighborhood. I've had a number of good meals there, highlighted by an excellent braised lamb shank and a beautifully prepared grilled sturgeon. I appreciate the chef's commitment to prepare local, seasonal ingredients whenever possible, and I've enjoyed universally friendly treatment by the staff, despite what's been quite a bit of turnover in the year or so i've been going.

Fiddlehead has a terrific, long stone bar and comfortable stools that make it a great dining-alone spot. One piece of advice (admittedly tough for the solo diner): if you want to get the best value for your wine dollar at Fiddlehead, go for a bottle and avoid the large and tempting by-the-glass list. There are good values on the bottle list, but the glass pours are comically short, imo.

I was just wondering if anyone has been to Fiddlehead Cafe in the last couple months. It sounded like it might be getting better reviews. Can anyone shed some light on this place? On paper, I think the food looks good. Is it just under seasoned?

Floyd wrote:I was just wondering if anyone has been to Fiddlehead Cafe in the last couple months. It sounded like it might be getting better reviews. Can anyone shed some light on this place? On paper, I think the food looks good. Is it just under seasoned?

I've made two recent visits, and the kitchen turned out some superb stuff both times. As spring approaches, the chef's commitment to local ingredients shines through. Last week, I had a very nice asparagus soup: a light, brothy puree that was simply the essence of asparagus, tempered slightly by the addition of a touch of cream. The highlight of the meal was the evening's special: seared duck breast served with a duck confit potsticker, with beatifully roasted shitake and oyster mushrooms in an intense duck broth. The broth was amazing: duck bones must have been roasted to a deep, dark color, creating a rich broth with potent smokiness and robust duck flavor.

A prior recent visit earned me a very nice roasted organic, free range chicken breast with crisp skin and juicy meat - served with a braised leg that was rich and falling off the bone. At 16 bucks, the chicken dish was a real bargain for this neighborhood and level of cooking.

Floyd wrote:I was just wondering if anyone has been to Fiddlehead Cafe in the last couple months. It sounded like it might be getting better reviews. Can anyone shed some light on this place? On paper, I think the food looks good. Is it just under seasoned?

I've been twice in the last month, once for brunch and once for dinner. Both times I left under impressed despite really wanting to like it.

For brunch I had an egg dish featuring truffles, goat cheese, and something else served with a puffed pastry. It was ridiculously rich and I found myself focusing on eating the oven potatoes - cold at that - so that I got some sort of food in my stomach. My friend's belgian waffle (french toast?) with fresh berries was quite good, fwiw.

For dinner I had the organic chicken two ways. The roasted preparation was boring and a bit dry. However, the cabbage leaf stuffed with leg meat and dates was tasty. My desert, the Chocolate Fudge Ganache cake, was so sweet I couldn't eat it.

Personally I've put Fiddlehead on my list of places where its nice to have a drink - and maybe some cheese - but that I wouldn't pay to eat at again.

JohnnyConatus

I actually think the Sunday brunch is much better than dinner service. I really like the Truffled Eggs which are scrambled eggs with truffled goat cheese, wild mushrooms, arugula, and this delightfully airy puff pastry. It's a nice start to a lazy Sunday morning.

possible downhill alert:

There's been a bit of chef turnover at Fiddlehead, and if my dinner last night is any indication, the kitchen has made some changes in philosophy and execution - neither for the better. Gone is the focus on local, seasonal ingredients, which makes me think that was largely attributable to former chef Rob Levitt, now running the helm of his own uber-seasonal place, Mado. I found last night's carrot soup way too artificially sweet, and the "duck club" sandwich was served on stale brioche. The real abomination was the french fries. Fiddlehead used to serve delicious, hand-cut fries that tasted like potato. Now you get crispy, tasteless McDonalds freezer-bag like stuff.

As noted in above posts, I've always liked Fiddlehead, and I hope they get their act together again soon.

My wife and I dined at Fiddlehead for the first time last night. Overall, it was good with the potential to be much better.

Being greeted at the door by a familiar face was a plus. Daniel, a manager there used to tend bar at Brasserie Jo and we sat at the bar many times and received great service from him.

We started with the House Smoked Salmon and the Roasted Beet & Strawberry Salad. My wife loved the salmon but thought it was a small portion. Just now checked the website and it IS listed under "Small Bites", so...

I had the salad and enjoyed it very much. Nicely roasted beets, tasty pork and nicely dressed. It was missing strawberries, though. I meant to ask but forgot.

My wife ordered the Duck Club w/fries and scarfed it down. I ordered a salmon special with a red wine reduction and fiddleheads. This dish just didn't work for me. The salmon was a bit on the dry side and the sauce was too strong. I simply couldn't eat it. The waiter took it away and, because I had a bite and loved it and thought it wouldn't take too long, ordered the duck club as well.

It was really good. No stale bread last night. As for the fires, I didn't have the old ones but we loved these crispy fries and even commented that they tasted like McDonalds fries. While I would hope they aren't using frozen fries, I do like McD's fires...

Daniel treated us to the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Guinness Ice Cream and we barley spoke as it disappeared.

A bottle of Owen Roe Sharecropper's Pinot Noir rounded out the meal.

I specifically asked the waiter to charge me for the salmon as it wasn't the restaurant’s fault that I didn't like it but it was missing from the bill and I appreciate that type of effort.

We will certainly go back and try some of the other great sounding things on the menu.

I went to Fiddlehead Cafe a few days back and wanted to share my thoughts. Its atmosphere is as lovely as the Lincoln Square neighborhood: warm, inviting, unpretentious, cozy, but not boring. It has an oddly shaped, elevated dining room that opens onto the street and allows for excellent people watching through the large windows that are open in the warmer weather and decorated by large hanging potted plants. I think the design and the feel of this restaurant has so far been the best example of unpretentious attractiveness that I've seen in Chicago.

Unfortunately, I cannot give the same level of praise to the food. While not disappointing, it seems to be overreaching. The menu promises intricate combinations and high level of execution, but the results do not quite deliver. Don't get me wrong, none of the dishes I tried at Fiddlehead were bad. It's just that they weren't quite what they could have been or what the menu and, frankly, the prices suggested they would be.

I started with Roasted Beet & Strawberry Salad with field greens, candied pecans, shaved fennel, pecorino and creamy balsamic reduction. The combination of the beets and the strawberries was truly refreshing and unusual. The different types of sweetness coming from each of those ingredients were well balanced by the slight bitterness of the greens and the salty rustic feel of pecorino. The crunch of the pecans was delightful, but the greens looked tired and I did not get the requisite kick from the fennel, which seemed as if it had lost its flavor from being out for too long.

The next dish I tried was a ceviche of shrimp, squid and scallops, which was the special of the day. It came in the form of very finely chopped ingredients piled into four pieces of tortilla chips. I thought this was the tastiest dish of the meal. The ceviche was juicy with just the right amount of citrus and spices. It played well with the crunchy tortilla chips and I thought the presentation was, again, pleasantly unusual and creative.

For my main course, I chose Steamed Mussels with chorizo, mushrooms, spinach and wild rice in a saffron broth. These were OK, but nothing special. The mushrooms were bitter, the mussels were average and the broth was a bit salty. My companion picked Duck Club, Duck Confit, Smoked Duck Breast sandwich with arugula, marinated goat cheese, strawberry-rosemary jam and fries. This was a bit of a disappointment. I am usually very fond of the duck in almost all its forms, but this sandwich was in my opinion incongruent. While the arugula gave a good bitter aftertaste to the earthiness of the duck, the rest of the ingredients seemed to me out of place. The strawberry-rosemary jam was a mistake. Particularly, the strawberry part of it. It was a puzzling, but not a welcome addition to the taste combination. The marinated goat cheese, should have been omitted along with the strawberries and the fries were fleshy and soggy. I was also puzzled by the need of a third layer of toast in the middle of the sandwich. It made the sandwich taller and, thus, more difficult to consume and really detracted from one's ability to concentrate on the duck. I think the chef got carried away by the design and, well.... sometimes, experiments like that just don't work out for the best.

Generally speaking, I had a very pleasant time at Fiddlehead and will certainly go back to try their other offerings, as well as make a note of this place for a cozy outing with friends. And did I mention that their wine list was very, and I mean, very extensive? I'd be curious to dig into that and the dessert on my next visit.

What I described upthread as a "possible downhill alert" may have turned into a full-fledged avalanche warning. Stale bread service and inedible, undercooked saffron risotto in a trout dish were the lowlights, but nothing really shined. Even with its friendly service and nice patio, Fiddlehead is darn-near off my list. I have a glimmer of hope that this was just a very, very off night.

I'll echo what Kenny said. I had a really bad experience there a few months ago. I went with a friend in the mid-afternoon and just wanted a little snack. I had very soggy grilled cheese and cool (as in temperature, and not on purpose), bland cream of tomato soup. I would have sent it back but we had movie tickets and had to hurry. Service was lackadaisical (I'm a terrible speller, sorry). My friend had a lox platter which included average supermarket-style lox and mealy tomatoes. It may have been just the time of day (it was an odd time-about 3p on a a weekend day) but I'm not willing to try it again.

I've been to Fiddlehead a few times and each time I thought it promised more than it could deliver. The ambiance is nice but the food always sounds better on the menu than it tastes on the plate.

Then my friends and I went there for New Year's Eve. Big mistake.

Here's my friend's Yelp review:

I should have known something was afoul when I sat at the bar to wait for the rest of our group of 7 to arrive for dinner. I sat down around 8:10 or so and ordered a glass of wine. The bartender was working solo and trying his best not to scream at everyone...I've been there, so no problem with that. It was the server who commented, "Be Ready for Bad Service" as she walked away that should have clued me in. I sat and sipped my wine and waitied for our group to arrive to be sat....which finally occured an hour an 15 minutes late. (We sat at 9:45, as did many other reservations around us that also sat more than on hour late).

No problem, we will make the most of this...I'm sure the server will be attentive and the manager will probably stop over more than once to make sure our large party, and the other large parties around us are happy. The server we saw MAYBE twice, the manager comped us a whole glass of wine, and we saw him twice as well. The ONLY reason it got a star is because the food actually tasted pretty good, and it did come out to us in a reasonable amount of time. The tables around us, not so much. Two hours after we had sat, the 6 top that was seated right before us was JUST getting their entrees, and another large table was so fed up they got up and left.

From the horrible wait, to the staff that didn't seem t
o care about anything...not a good evening dining out. Next year we will be eating at home.

AVOID THIS PLACE ON BUSY NIGHTS!

Stranger yet, there were at least 5 other yelp posts like this from that evening - our party and several others wrote them - but now they are gone. Perhaps the rumors I've heard about Yelp and Payola are true.

Bottom line, you can do better.