Frankie's Scaloppine. Has anybody eaten here????

Has anybody had a dining experience at Frankie's Scaloppine at 900 N. Michigan Ave?
We are planning to go to the Holiday Lights Festival on Michigan Ave and was wondering about this place.
Thank You

(Moderator edit-in of address)
Frankie's Scaloppine
900 North Michigan building, 5th floor
Chicago, IL 60611
312-266-2500

a gentle word of advice, you should try to post the name of the place you are interested in -in the heading of your topic. Anyone reading doesn't know where HERE is....
You will get more replies with this approach.
Best of luck.
If you're off Michigan, I like Coco Pazzo cafe on St. Clair for an excellent Italian meal.

irisarbor wrote:a gentle word of advice, you should try to post the name of the place you are interested in -in the heading of your topic. Anyone reading doesn't know where HERE is....
You will get more replies with this approach.
Best of luck.
If you're off Michigan, I like Coco Pazzo cafe on St. Clair for an excellent Italian meal.

Irisarbor, you make an excellent point. I included the name of the place in the subject line.

Thank You Thank You. I'm new here and trying to figure this whole thing out.

Yes, I've been there twice and both experiences were moderately disappointing for me. My wife has a worse opinion than that.

It's been nearly a month since my last visit and I didn't bother to take notes, so I apologize if my recollections lack precision.

I belong to a group which meets monthly in the area and our go-to place for was Tucchi Benucch (predecessor of Frankie's on the same site). Tucchi, though not great, was always a decent reliable restaurant. (Both Tucchi and Frankie's were/are part of the Lettuce Entertain You Group.)

Frankie's has a pizzeria outside the restaurant area which produces thin crust pizza. My friends who go more often say that they like it. I had one small pizza as an appetizer on my first visit and was satisfied. However, on the last visit I didn't see any pizza on the main menu.

As you can guess from the name, there are many scaloppine dishes on the menu -- looks like they have bulk orders with the scaloppine factory. It's not my favorite type of dish so on the first visit I had the brick oven chicken which was a little dry.

On the second visit on had a different chicken presentation - sorry but I can't for the life of me remember what it was - but it was also a mild disappointment. The fellow next to me tried the brick oven chicken despite my warning. Afterwards he didn't have much to say, but was not looking happy.

What was most notable on last month's visit was they had added butternut squash ravioli to the menu. This was a favorite of many at Tucchi Benucch so three people tried it, including Wife Number One. All three disliked the dish. Instead of the sweetness of the previous version it was now savory with some prosciutto added. It just didn't work.

The Wife didn't finish hers and wouldn't take the leftovers home. This is very unlike her.

Afterward, several of our group talked to the manager because we really want this place to work. He was polite, but clearly had a case of MEGO while my friends spoke to him.

We'll probably wind up there next week, unless the group decides on a new place, and I'll report further.

Finally, if you're looking for a nice place in the North Michigan Ave area, I recommend Sayat Nova, 157 E Ohio Street. It's a quiet Armenian restaurant in the block just east of Michigan. We've been going there for 20+ years and never had a bad meal. Prices are reasonable for the area, as the family running the restaurant owns the building. Nearly all main dishes are in the $15-20 range.

I particularly recommend the red lentil soup and the trout, but we've liked everything we've had over the years.

We'll probably be at Sayat this evening, and I'll report further if we do so.

I have eaten there numerous times because GF used to work in the 900 N Michigan building. I have to agree that it has always been disappointing to me. If you are looking for good Italian in that area allow me to suggest Cafe Spiaggia, the lower cost more casual version of Spiaggia. I have never had difficulty getting reservations there.

Cafe Spiaggia
980 North Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 280-2750
http://www.spiaggiarestaurant.com

Remember Mike G's Subrule #7: Lettuce Entertain You can only run one good Italian restaurant at a time. (Currently Osteria via Stato, presumably.)

This means that some places, like Tucci Benucch, were never that one at any time...

George R wrote:Afterward, several of our group talked to the manager because we really want this place to work. He was polite, but clearly had a case of MEGO while my friends spoke to him.

Just trying to stay current with the lingo the kids are speaking today...what's a case of MEGO?

I ate at Frankie's Pizzeria once, when it first opened, and thought it surprisingly good. If it is still that good, it must be better than Frankie's Scaloppine.

HI,

I had to look it up myself: MEGO = My Eyes Glaze Over.

Regards,

Thanks!

riddlemay wrote:

George R wrote:Afterward, several of our group talked to the manager because we really want this place to work. He was polite, but clearly had a case of MEGO while my friends spoke to him.

Just trying to stay current with the lingo the kids are speaking today...what's a case of MEGO?

Knowing both of you, this exchange tickles me..and I had to look it up, too.

MEGO ... what will George R and all the other young kids come up with next these days?

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I had to look it up myself: MEGO = My Eyes Glaze Over.

Regards,

Glazeth (according to my philosophy-major skateboarding cousin at UCLA)

i only ordered delivery from Frankie's pizzeria, had the Rita D pizza and the artichoke appetizer, i found the pizza pretty good but the artichoke appetizer mediocre. not sure how scalloppine's food is though

I can tell you that an angel hair pasta dish with marinara smelled really good, but I did not try the dish. My receptionist, who was eating it for lunch, attested that it was tasty -- and made with whole-wheat pasta to boot!

nr706 wrote:MEGO ... what will George R and all the other young kids come up with next these days?

LOL. As nr706 knows well I'm a graybeard. I'll think of this when my next Social Security check comes in.

I agree with comments that Frankie's pizzeria seems to be better than the restaurant.

The Cafe Spiaggia rec is a good idea. I've only been a few times for lunch, but it was excellent.

Glad to hear about the angel hair marinara. One of the problems we have is with Frankie's is menu selections. Not enough pasta dishes, and little seafood.

By the way, dinner last night at Sayat Nova was enjoyable as always. Good (not great) food, good service and reasonable. The wife was happy with her kufta dinner - lamb meatballs in a hot yogurt mint soup. Entrees include soup or salad. Three dinners + 1 wine, 1 beer & 1 ice tea was a little over $60 + tax/tip.

They'll let you order pizza in the restaurant although it is not on the menu. I've had a few dinners there just cause it is in the mall and we want sit down service with wine. Unfortunatley, the entrees often disappoint, but I do enjoy their italian salad and some of their luncheon salads (there's one with chicken, pears and frisee, great!) Also, the gelato is quite delicious, particularly the mocha flavor. Shopping, pizza, salad, gelato: makes one happy girl.

In my Nov. 12 post I said that I'd report back if our group returned to Frankie's later in the month, which they did.

I didn't get around to it because it was pretty much a rerun of earlier experiences. What inspired me to write now is that today I received an email announcement from LEYE that Frankie's is offering 50% off on New Year's eve. This does not sound like business is booming.

I understand LEYE wanting to change things after nearly 20 years with Tucchi, but Frankie's is a step down in execution and the cost cutting shows. Worse yet, they apparently aren't interested in listening to customers. (See my comments about MEGO above.) Another small irritation is that they used to have coat hooks on the wooden posts all around the room. The hooks have been removed. When we mentioned that to the waiter he said other customers had complained also.

As for our last meal there, here's a quick report. One of our group was ready to try the butternut squash ravioli until warned away by others. (As mentioned before, this savory version just doesn't work, whereas the previous sweet version was one of the best items on Tucchi's menu.) Wife #1 had the cheese ravioli which she noted was no longer the four-cheese ravioli that Tucchi had. Thus, while it was tolerable, there was less depth of flavor. Those who had other pasta dishes had similar comments.

I had a chicken dish, but can't really remember which one. The chicken dishes tend toward the dry side. I know timing is tricky with a thin scaloppine cut, but getting it right is why professional chefs are called professionals. Based on our experience, the kitchen at Frankie's has decided to err on the side of doneness.

As before it was a serviceable meal, but hardly memorable. The only reason our group now goes there is convenience and price point.

It looks as if LEYE's makeover efforts have not worked they way they hoped. Frankie's is not up to their usual standard. If they did start paying attention to customers they might be able to turn this around.

In the meantime, I'd say look for other options in the area. If you do go to Frankie's concentrate on the pizza and pasta.

Just a quick follow-up to report there have been some menu changes, but I still don't think much of the place. (The only reason I go is to to join my friends who like it more than I do.)

Frankie's does have a decent moderately-priced house red. Bottles are discounted some days during the week.

The food is still not what it should be, and not a patch on the old Tucci Benuch. At last week's dinner I ordered the salmon piccata which is a simple dish and should be straightforward to prepare. I asked for the sauce on the side. The fish was cooked properly, but over-salted. Others who had the same dish didn't notice the excess salt: either mine was done differently or the sauce covered it up.

I should have complained, but knew the waiter wouldn't be returning to check up and I'd have to search him out. Also, it was late and I was hungry so I ate it.

Finally, to add insult to injury, the frequent diner points were less than they should have been. The food and beverage bill was just over $300 before tax and the mandatory 18% gratuity. Three of us have cards and split the points. We each received 79 base points.

We've complained to management about this before and they say it's what the computer comes up with when they enter the data. I've never had this happen at any other Lettuce restaurant.

George R wrote:At last week's dinner I ordered the salmon piccata which is a simple dish and should be straightforward to prepare. I asked for the sauce on the side. The fish was cooked properly, but over-salted. Others who had the same dish didn't notice the excess salt: either mine was done differently or the sauce covered it up.

Not to challenge at all, but why get sauce on the side (unless the place is notorious for over-doing it -- even then, I'd ask for sauce to be moderately applied, but not on the side)? When you get sauce (or salad dressing) on the side, you end up dipping food into it, which just about ensures insufficient, uneven coverage. Additionally, it seems possible that the chef designed the sauce to balance the saltiness of the fish, which you noticed but which other, sauced diners did not.

Forgive me if it sounds like I'm telling you how you should eat, George R. I'm really not. I'm just curious why anyone would want to have sauce on the side when the kitchen intended it to be on top.

David Hammond wrote:

George R wrote:At last week's dinner I ordered the salmon piccata which is a simple dish and should be straightforward to prepare. I asked for the sauce on the side. The fish was cooked properly, but over-salted. Others who had the same dish didn't notice the excess salt: either mine was done differently or the sauce covered it up.

Not to challenge at all, but why get sauce on the side (unless the place is notorious for over-doing it -- even then, I'd ask for sauce to be moderately applied, but not on the side)? When you get sauce (or salad dressing) on the side, you end up dipping food into it, which just about ensures insufficient, uneven coverage. Additionally, it seems possible that the chef designed the sauce to balance the saltiness of the fish, which you noticed but which other, sauced diners did not.

Forgive me if it sounds like I'm telling you how you should eat, George R. I'm really not. I'm just curious why anyone would want to have sauce on the side when the kitchen intended it to be on top.

My wife's "on the side" orders (mostly for salads) tend to be "skip the dressing" orders. She sticks with the greens and proteins but tries to avoid the carbs in the dressing. She'll dip a little bit in just to see what it tastes like but usually just goes without in the end.

David Hammond wrote:

When you get sauce (or salad dressing) on the side, you end up dipping food into it, which just about ensures insufficient, uneven coverage. Additionally, it seems possible that the chef designed the sauce to balance the saltiness of the fish, which you noticed but which other, sauced diners did not.

My reasons are 1) I've never been a big fan of sauces regardless of what the chef intended. I feel the food should stand up on its own. 2) Many places do over-sauce as far as I'm concerned; I'd rather do it myself. 3) Many, though not all sauces, have cream or butter which I try to avoid for both health reasons and because I'm at the stage in life when I have trouble digesting more than a small amount

I disagree about the uneven insufficient coverage. When I apply the sauce (or salad dressing) myself it comes out just fine. I don't like sauce that hides the food.

Finally, it is theoretically possible "that the chef designed the sauce to balance the saltiness of the fish" but I doubt it. It wasn't a little bit salty - it was very salty. Either the kitchen made a mistake or the sauce was designed to hide the saltiness rather than balance it.

I've been twice, on occasions widely spaced apart. The first time I had their pizza, the second time I had a pasta dish. I guess I have to say I like the place more than anybody else here, and definitely more than George.

It's been too long since the second visit for me to remember much more than I just wrote; the only additional detail about the pasta dish that I can remember now is that I thought, "Hey, this is really flavorful." Helpful, I know.