Soul in Clarendon Hills

I was very depressed yesterday, so, I wanted to do something which would help me to feel better. One thing which helps to make me feel better, is to dine at a restaurant which makes me feel like I'm in heaven, or at least to make me feel as happy (or close to as happy) as I would be in heaven. I really hate being in a restaurant that makes me feel like I'm in hell. There have been alot of hellish restaurants which I've dined at in the past several months. Places that have management from hell, tables which slide into my leg, bathroom doors that nearly slam into my face, overspiced fish, undercooked pizza, undersmoked ribs. I hate having to leave a restaurant feeling worse than I went in. I don't like having lost money/time in an unsavory business. So, with that said, I took another risk at attempting to dine at a new restaurant, in hopes that I'd leave surprised and satisfied.

I've been anticipating the opening of Soul, by keeping track of Soul on google during the past few months. Finally, last week, I found out that Soul was opening on Monday (yesterday). From the moment which I walked near the handicap-accessible door, a host hurried from the host podium, which he did in order to open the door for me. Then, a hostess seated my mother and I at a rather spacious and comfortable booth near to the very brightly lit open kitchen. From the booth, I observed the very well organized waitstaff walking around, genuinely smiling at happy customers, chefs who were very calm, focused, and well prepared in the kitchen, and management who were confident and collected in their operation of the place. The blackened walleye which I ordered, was cooked perfectly, seasoned perfectly, and served with nicely crisped, yet not overly crunchy potatoes, which I substituted rice for. The service was very attentive and polite, the management also was very caring about my being happy there, and the chefs made a special side order of egg noodles with blackening seasoning, for me. Everything at Soul was so good and nice. This restaurant has a very good soul and spirit, which hopefully will cause Soul to shine and prosper.

Soul
1 Walker Ave.
Clarendon Hills, IL 60514
630-920-1999

I dined at Soul tonight, and while I'm not sure I can be as loquatious in my praise, I have to completely agree with BP.

Soul's space is well appointed and there's obviously been a great attention to detail in how they've built the place. They are located across the train tracks in Clarendon Hills and there are subtle nods to trains throughout-- from funky paintings to the subway tile in their lower level.

But, onto the food. Bill Kim of Le Lan consulted on the menu, and from my understanding, will be there on and off in the kitchen. Everything my dining companions and I had was perfect. We started with the oxtail appetizer that was served over black-eyed peas that had very mellow, but nicely seasoned flavor. Our other appetizer was the crab cake which had a smooth avocado sauce with it, and again was nicely seasoned. The portions at this place are huge-- they could reduce them by a third and people would still leave stuffed. Our entrees were just as good- the short rib pot pie being the stand out of the night. Others at the table had the halibut and mussels and the duck breast. Everything is made with local, seasonal produce so the greens were especially fresh and the flavors suited this time of year well.

I really couldn't find anything to complain about through this entire meal. With this being only day 2, we went in ready for some snags here and there, but the staff-- as BP noted -- was extremely welcoming and genuine from the beginning to the end of the meal.

Clarendon Hills has some great restaurants at all price points, and I'm happy about this addition. Between Maijean, several Italian places, and now Soul there's great variety to be found in this small burg.

I went back to Soul tonight and I tried the ice cream. It was sooo good! I recommend it for dessert. However, I do think that they ought to have mousse to go with it.

Unfortunately, I must retract my original complimentary statements about Soul. I've dined at Soul four times in the two weeks since the restaurant has been open for business. Friday evening's visit, being the fourth visit to Soul, was a major disappointment. The staff did not prepare my food order properly, and they were not completely honest with me, regarding onion content (food allergy) in the sauces. I'm not entirely sure about who is to blame for the mistakes, whether it was the server's errors or the chef's errors. However, I left without eating at Soul. I want to point something out. If anyone who is unable to climb stairs, decides to dine at Soul, make sure that you check with the management about elevator accessibility and availability. The bathrooms are located in the basement. I was taken to the elevator through the kitchen by a server, who told me that when I was finished in the bathroom, to walk back to the elevator and to walk through the kitchen back out to the dining room. When I did so, I nearly fell, due to the slippery flooring in the kitchen. When I explained about this issue to the manager, he was very polite in saying that the server should have taken me through the front entrance of the elevator. The problem however, is that the door in the elevator leading out to the front entrance, didn't open. Only the door leading out into the kitchen, opened. Not good at all. Such a shame. I really liked Soul, until now.

Sorry I missed you and that your experience was so negative, BP. Having previously tried and not liked Maijean (I probably should go back since it could just have been a bad night for that kitchen) and since I was planning to go to ZaZa's to take pictures and post on that place, as I was catching up on LTH yesterday I noted this thread and figured what the heck, let's try it. The family had their taste buds set on Italian, so I had to do some selling, but off we went. I would really like to support fine dining in Clarendon Hills.

Where do I start? My experience was not at all like yours, BP. Service started out a little strange, as we were here and there with the drink order, seeming to confuse our waiter (we brought a bottle of wine and wanted to know what the corkage policy was, but wanted to look at the wine list, then two of us ordered drinks, but at separate times, then the son wanted to order crab cakes while the rest of us were still thinking about drinks...). Corkage is $15, and if I had been the waiter, I would have been confused by that dance, too. Things then settled down and went pretty smoothly though there was some confusion about which dish to give to who, and they tried to serve me the wrong entree. Overall, service was a little confused, but fine.

The decor begs discussion. It seems a big place, though I did not check it all out. Maybe 4 rooms total? Each had about 10 or so tables, making it a bit more intimate than a single big room and a lot less noisy. This is good. The best room is to your left as you enter and the back of it is an open kitchen. We were seated in the back row, right in front of the kitchen with a great view - a very good thing. Our side was full and I thought they were doing a good business until we left and I saw the other two rooms were empty at 830 on a Friday - not such a good sign.

The main decorations in that room were these - a painting that is a bright green sort of Roger Brown meets American Gothic. Two buff 30-40 somethings in, and half out, of their overalls in front of a farm scene holding what appeared to be cell phones (green cell phones). A bold visual statement, and it would have been even better if they left out the people who were strangely disturbing to this party. The light fixtures above our tables were big, red upside down buckets. I looked for some sort of fried chicken logo on the buckets, but they were without other decoration so maybe the chicken bucket effect was inadvertent since the decor did not otherwise whisper subtle. I love the buckets.

In the middle of the room was a large hoop with two rows of red lights on it. I could not figure out what that was about, maybe it was someone's idea of edgy, but not too edgy. I want the lights to be chasers.

Lots of staff and attention, runners, waiter, bus boys, miscellaneous managers (dressed very casually and not easily recognizable as managers, so there was one exchange when a manager asked about my food and I thought it was a diner asking for information until he asked if I wanted a spoon). The whole place felt packaged, trying a little too hard to be hip. This type of spectacle is not a bad thing for me.

Oh, and the food. Have I made it clear that this place smacks of marketing concept, as opposed to a chef's vision, or a lifelong love of a particular cuisine? This does not have to be a bad thing, and it is not here, but it does help to explain certain inconsistencies.

First, unlike many places, the more complex and interesting the dish, the less successful it was. Maybe some of these dishes were conceived on paper and not in the kitchen, but to be fair, there also seemed to be some execution issues. Appetizers were the absolute low point, and the meal improved with every course.

We started with the crab cakes. As my son said, the crisp, outside cornbread breading was the best part. I am not sure whether it was intentional and something in the seasoning or that they used some fish with the crab, or something else, but they had a fishy taste and not a rich, fresh crabmeat taste. The son thought they might have been better with a bit more sauce (but he is a sauce fiend) and that they worked best when eating them along with the salad. Not great, and I would not order them again.



Mixed green and caesar salads were good, and if you wish to have an appetizer they seem like good choices.

The mixed beet salad with blue cheese, mache, endives, pistachios and what seemed like a citrus mayonnaise was a mess with a couple of interesting touches. Beets were quite nice with the mild blue cheeses, but underdressed. The Mayonnaise would have addressed that, but was way too sweet resulting in something akin to a mayonnaise with seven up flavoring, so I mostly tried to avoid that once I tasted how it totally overwhelmed the beets and blue cheese. The pistachios, mache and endives actually combined to wonderful effect, earthy, rich, complex, and maybe if it had just been the beets and that, without the mayo, this would have been very good. But it was not because I could not totally avoid that sweet mayo.



The bean and smoked turkey soup was a jumble of ingredients and textures, underseasoned and with nothing to pull it together. The nice point was that everything, beans included, was cooked very lightly giving it lots of texture and subtle flavor, but it just did not come together. Maybe the thinking was that the creamy cheese on top would melt into the broth adding flavoring and texture, but it did not happen for us.



Pretty rough start, but everything worked well after that. Simpler dishes were executed well and came together fine.

Pan roasted salmon was tasty and cooked just right.



Blackened Walleye was good (the son complained that it needed more sauce again). Note the roasted broccoli with Nueske Bacon to the side - very good flavor and the roasted broccoli delivered a good, concentrated flavor. Chewy texture was a bit different, but it worked. We also had the cornbread texas toast - really a couple of large slabs of warm, slightly fried (?) cornbread with some fresh cherry preserves and a lot of melted butter. What could be bad with that?



One member of our party wanted to go vegetarian and there was some confusion as she asked if they could prepare a vegetarian entree and was directed to the Tagliatelle with mushroom "bolognese" sauce and cheese. I will let the Italian purists rage about a vegetarian, mushroom sauce being called bolognese. As it happened, this was very good. A bite began with a burst of fresh herbs on the palate, then evolved into a complex tomato sauce. There was a lot going on here but it worked perfectly.



The short rib pot pie seemed like a good match for the SB Cab Franc I had brought, so I went with that despite Cioppino being the special of the day, and the seafood entrees looking generally very promising. It was rich, chunks of rib in a wine reduction, and savory. It will be a fine, warming dish on a cold winter day.



Desserts were a strong cap to the meal. Fresh Beignets with what was like a chocolate, coffee milk shake with fresh marshmallows was the best for me, though the chocolate, coffee was too rich to finish. The beignets are worth a trip. I only had a small bite of the triple berry crisp as it disappeared before I could get more (you can see it in the background of the photo), so it was a big hit, even if I am not qualified to comment.

The small salads on the side of pretty much every dish are a great touch. Cress featured in a number of them, but there was variety to them and the greens were perfect.



Good meal, reasonably priced for the quality of ingredients and preparation, just keep it simple. It seems possible that they will work out the kinks and the more ambitious dishes will evolve into something that works, but that is not the case now.

Very well written review, dicksond.

I really liked Soul, prior to Friday evening. The experience that I had there on Friday evening just didn't seem right, and the feeling was evident in how the staff operated. You mentioned that Soul was fairly empty when you were there around 830pm. I was at Soul around 6pm, and it was even less busy then. The dining room right by the front kitchen, was completely void of other customers. I noted this as a very bad sign for the place, which Soul only can remedy by resolving the issues. However, up until my experience there on Friday evening, Soul generally was great. Ultimately though, consistancy in greatness is what keeps a business what it ought to be. The total failure in Soul's business towards me on Friday evening, tells me that this is really how it is, and that the other experiences there were just luck. I say this based on the very dead atmosphere there on Friday evening, when I was present. The service and food issues need to be resolved. I'm unsure about how they plan to resolve the elevator/bathroom issues though. From a safety and convenience standpoint, the design is not accommodable, even if it is accessible.

We are glad to have this restaurant in this area. They have gone outside of the usual box compared to others in area. They did a great job with the design and the food was very good.

Welcome to neighborhood.

Hins Res wrote:We are glad to have this restaurant in this area. They have gone outside of the usual box compared to others in area. They did a great job with the design and the food was very good.

Welcome to neighborhood.

Could you be more descriptive with your review? I liked Soul, prior to my previous visit to there, and I'd be glad to try the place again, if Soul resolves the issues. However, I am not tempted to go back to there, without some sort of proof in reviews about the place. Your review was not at all descriptive. It reads like "This road is wider compared to other roads. This road is good." Instead, tell me more about the road. Tell me about how wide, how many lanes, how it managed traffic, were the traffic lights well responsive, how the scenery is off to the sides of the road, etc. That'll be very helpful to know more about your experience at Soul.

Hins Res wrote:We are glad to have this restaurant in this area. They have gone outside of the usual box compared to others in area. They did a great job with the design and the food was very good.

Welcome to neighborhood.

Yes it is nice to have a restaurant of this caliber in my town as it provides publicity and tax revenue. The problem is that Clarendon Hills is basically a community of families and of the three restaurants in our town, two are too upscale (read expensive) to take your family to on a consistent basis. Not all of us come from old money or have blue hair as one restaurant reviewer implied.

Is it too much do have a decent restaurant that can serve quality comfort food at a reasonable price point?

Muttster wrote: Is it too much do have a decent restaurant that can serve quality comfort food at a reasonable price point?

It depends on your definition of comfort food. I love The Country House. They have good burgers and everything else I have tried on their menu is at least above average. If you're willing to bump over to Westmont there's Uncle Bub's for bbq, Katy's Dumpling House for Chinese, or the Taco Grill/Salsa Bar for Mexican. All serve variations of comfort food, IMHO, and you can get some great meals without breaking the bank.

Big Willi wrote:

Muttster wrote: Is it too much do have a decent restaurant that can serve quality comfort food at a reasonable price point?

It depends on your definition of comfort food. I love The Country House. They have good burgers and everything else I have tried on their menu is at least above average. If you're willing to bump over to Westmont there's Uncle Bub's for bbq, Katy's Dumpling House for Chinese, or the Taco Grill/Salsa Bar for Mexican. All serve variations of comfort food, IMHO, and you can get some great meals without breaking the bank.

I have been to all of those places and with the exception of Uncle Bub's, they are all on my favorites list. I was thinking about a restaurant where you didn't order from the counter, you could take your traditional parents to and a small step above restaurants like Omega.

BTW, why more people don't check out Taco Grill is beyond me.

As part of a recent media event, I was taken to dinner at Soul, which despite the name is not generally a place of soul food, like fried catfish and greens, though they do serve catfish (braised, interestingly) and greens (in the case of our dinner, rapini).

I dug the entrée quite a lot: the rolled capon was very tender, with a texture comparable to the accompanying scallops, which were about as perfectly prepared as any I’ve had, almost (but not quite) raw at the center, warm, lush, and with a tooth-feel almost identical to that of the castrated rooster, a mild brown sauce uniting the two in a sweetness balanced by the bitterness of the rapini.



Between courses I wandered about, and found this quite strange Captain America mural (dickson, was this a different painting when you were there?). I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere, but I don’t know what it is.



Dessert was another sensitive balancing. Huckleberry cream pie was sweet and sour, as were both the lemon confit and frozen yogurt. The splash of basil sauce was inspired, adding a slightly minty freshness that played against the richness. The pastry chef here makes lots of cookies, which is a trend worthy of support.



Soul is a good reason – and one of the only reasons I can think of – for going to Clarendon Hills, though I’m sure it’s a very nice place, with nearby rail service, so you can train in, chow down and liquor up, then train home safely.

Hammond

My wife and I went to Soul last week and I was blown away by part of one of my dishes. I wasn't too hungry so I ordered the 3 "slider" appetizer and a side of grits. The slider appetizer contained a sesame buffalo breaded shrimp one, a pot roast one, and a pulled pork one. The sesame breaded shrimp was the best tasting shrimp I have ever had in my life.

My wife is vegetarian so the chef made her a mushroom risotto, and put braised veggies and an asparagas dish on the side for her.

We finished up with a chocolate souffle which was excellent as well. Overwall a great meal.

My wife and I went to Soul on Sunday night for an early (6:00 PM) dinner. We found the place very pleasant and welcoming right from the start. Everything was executed at an appropriate pace. We enjoyed:

Crab Cake Appetizer in some type of butter sauce, very good.
Squash soup, excellent.
The "Soul Salad," very good.
Barbecued Salmon, excellent.
Chicken Fettucine Alfredo, excellent (save the pasta being slightly overcooked). The chicken had remarkable flavor.

We did not have dessert. We really liked the place, and would not hesitate to return. There weren't many patrons in the dining room (even upon leaving), which I hope was reflective of it being a Sunday night in January. I'd like this restaurant to survive.

According to our local paper, "Soul" in Clarendon Hills went out of business last week.

Bad puns aside, this is a tough time to open or keep a young restaurant going.