Cape Cod Room - Chlorine and Chorine

After a decade of living in Chicagoland, I finally sashayed to the Drake Hotel to dine at the Cape Cod Room (and to peer at the quite lovely Palm Court). The Cape Cod Room is a Chicago institution, encased in watery amber. Someday it will be gone, and it will be missed (for awhile).

The room is a throwback to dining in the 1950s, a darkened room with corners and alcoves, a place for liaisons. As the name suggests, the Cape Cod has a nautical theme and its known for its wood paneling and red checked tablecloths. Oh, for those days before we were omnivores! A day in which lobster was not to be enveloped in prickly pear puree, but in its shell. Those were the days in which the waiter and the maitre d' were more important than the chef or the architect. And the cute hat check girl was the most important of all. The Drake's waiters are cheerily old school - hale, hearty, and as preserved as the room. The busboys (and this is an establishment with a clear status hierarchy) are less committed. We were served the dishes ordered by our neighbors. As we refrained from a taste, no harm, no foul.

Although the Cape Cod Room offers a set of dishes that they label as "present tense" (in contrast to their classic "past tense" dishes), this is not a restaurant where molecular cuisine reigns. My companion and I avoided these nouvelle dishes, so perhaps they give Graham Bowles at the Peninsula a run for his money, but you would need to be gambling with someone else's bankroll to find out. Ordering Pan-fried Sea Scallops with a Vegetable Spring Roll, Grapefruit Sauce, and Wasabi Caviar exemplifies Caveat Emptor. Ditto Chermola marinated seared tuna with pumpkin ratatouille (Chermola is a Morroccan spice rub). Someone should take one for the team, but it won't be me.

We stuck to the tried and true. The Cape Cod Room offers a trio of soups - the Drake's Classic Bookbinder Soup (from Philadelphia's Old Original Bookbinder's, open since 1865 - and soon to add a Sushi Bar, Caveat Emptor Redux), Lobster Bisque, and New England Clam Chowder. Each is solidly prepared, smooth and silky. These are libations that take one back, not forward. I have had spicier Bookbinder soups, richer Bisques, and chunkier chowders. But each was satisfying - and at $8 for the trio a reasonable offering.

Our Crab Cakes - another Cape Cod speciality - were filled with rich, sweet, firm crab, lightly fried with a too-delicate mustard sauce. At thirty-six dollars, diners are playing much for nostalgia, but they are a positive bargain compared to the CC's dover sole at $52. These are admirable crab cakes, but let us hope that someone is picking up the tab.

Dessert was a serious Key Lime Pie, coupled a somewhat wan scoop of Coconut Ice Cream, more characterized by strands of nutmeat than rich taste.

The Cape Cod Room at the Drake Hotel is a part of our collective culinary history and on Friday night it was well-filled. It is not yet running on fumes. I was pleased for the experience, and should I be entreated to return I would not resist loudly. This is the restaurant for unadventurous relatives who love seafood, living at a distance for the coasts, and for shadowy trysts with chorines or hoofers with the simple, extravagent tastes characteristic of those lithe and twinkling bodies.

Cape Cod Room
The Drake Hotel
140 East Walton (Magnificent Mile)
Chicago
312-787-2200
http://dining.thedrakehotel.com/capecod/capecod_intro.html

What a wonderful post -- respectiful but not blindly worshipful, and so evocative of the age to which the restaurant takes the diner. Thank you for writing this, GAF.

May I ask what the "chlorine" in the topic title is a reference to?

Sorry if I'm slow this morning; I'm still groggy after a feast last night...

Ahhh, you caught me. Sometimes a pun demands to be told, even when it is not relevant. The chlorine refers (not terribly appropriately, I confess) to the watery theme of the restaurant. I just liked the title so much, and I said when will I ever be able to use it again. Perhaps the Drake should add a swimming pool to the Cape Cod Room.

Excuse me if I disagree, I have eaten a few times at the Cape Cod Room starting in the late 1960's. The Room earned it reputation when sea food of any quality was not available in the Mid West. It was not even a pale shadow of restaurants on Cape Cod. Times have changed, and 747's now fly in sea food from around the globe and any decent restaurant can get fairly good quality. The Room was expensive and the quality was OK back then and has not changed in my opinion. These venerable institutions are invariably so so, counting on the Convention and Visiter trade and the reputation they acquired many years ago. I am glad you enjoyed yourself but I wouldn't reccamend the Cape Cod Room to anyone.-Dick

I visited the Cape Cod Room this last week. Based on our experience, I would say that you can get much better seafood in Chicago at quite a few places at a much lower cost.

I tried the shrimp tempura appetizer, clam chowder, crab cake and red snapper entrees, and carrot cake for dessert. It was all OK. Acceptable. We ate it, but didn't finish it, which is not a common occurance.

The restaurant itself was kind of quaint, if a little dusty and cramped, but any resemblance to my native New England ended at the cheesy red and white checked table cloths.

The service was also a little odd with several different servers showing up throughout the meal to take our order. They also put bread out at all the tables at the beginning of the night. Nice since its waiting for you (without butter) when you sit down, but not so nice since it was a little stale by the time we did sit down. Also, they filled up all the water glasses with ice at the beginning of the evening, and then fill up the glasses with water when you sit down. A little odd to sit down to a table of stale bread, no butter, and glasses of melting ice.

The highlight of our meal by far was our fascination with the woman at the next table, dressed in a one-armed skin tight grey shirt, painted-on grey snake-skin spandex pants, and a fur hat ring with her long pony tail sticking out of the top.

The prices were way out of line - entrees in the $30-35 range. $12 for the tempura appetizer. $50 for some run of the mill Sauvignon Blanc you could probably find for $10 at Sam's. I had a much better meal for half the price at Glen's Diner recently, lack of Spandex not-withstanding.

My estimation is that the Cape Cod Room is getting by on its prestigious location and past reputation.

Last call at The Drake's Cape Cod Room

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