Reverence and discord

I really, really wanted to like this one. Walking in, it has all the signs of a restaurant that ought to be good - it's a neatly (if frugallly) updated former office coffeeshop space, all the staff appear to be food pros (guessing from their high-end Chef's clogs,) the menu shows a certain kind of flair, interesting baked goods, sodas, and chips are set out on shelves. Sadly - at least for this one lunch - Reverence was pretty disappointing.

The lunch menu consists of two options: daily hot specials or cold sandwiches. Hot lunch is on display at the counter, where you can see it wilting under the heat lamps of the steam-table. I opted for chicken souvlaki, with lentils and broccoli on the side. Although we ate at around 12:30 (when one would assume the food was fresh) the food had clearly been sitting in the steam table for quite a long time. None of the small concessions it takes to steam-table-proof the food had been made (e.g. chicken breast was used instead of dark meat, broccoli had originally been roasted instead of steamed, things were sauced minimally - all good if it hadn't been sitting in a bain-marie) The broccoli was the oddest mixture of tough and overcooked that I've ever had in a vegetable - and lacked flavor, despite the chili flakes and whole garlic cloves. Lentils were pleasantly stewy but extremely plain. Chicken was seasoned well, but impossibly overcooked - think Loop steam-table post-lunch-rush souvlaki.

The 'spouse opted for a cold chicken tarragon salad on brioche. It came with a nice-enough side salad - with an excellent balsamic viniagrette that really walked the line between sweet and sour and salty (I think this was the only thing we wholeheartedly enjoyed) Chicken salad contained overcooked breast meat and too much of it; otherwise it would have been good as it had a light hand with the mayo and nice (but insufficient) counterpoints of apple and nuts. As it was, on the thick-cut brioche (which was very good on its own) it was also, incredibly dry. On the whole, it's as though the place is channeling the Sahara.

The breakfast menu looks spectacular, and is made to order - so you might fare better there, but it's only available until 10:30. Our dessert of bread pudding didn't leave me hopeful, though - it was fairly ordinary, no crusty top, just berries and cooked custard-wet bread. I'm hoping these are just opening hiccups, because clearly the people who are running the place are excited about food and want to present something extraordinary...but making a steam-table work with you and not against you is an uphill battle. I hope others of you can post better experiences.

Reverence Cafe
1840 Oak Ave.
Evanston, IL 60201 847-491-9080
8 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday

Was Donatella on hand, or is it still the old crew? I thought she was starting dinner service in August.

I asked after her - apparently she's not joining them at all. The young lady I spoke with (who appeared to be running the place) said she's moving to Naples, Florida to start a restaurant there.

Tell me about it...