Mussels and Frites

I am looking for a great place to order mussels and frits. Brassire Ruhlman use to fulfill this desire for me but now that they have closed I haven't been to another place.

Hopleaf.

5148 N Clark St
(773) 334-9851

typing mussels frites into the Seearch feature will provide a bounty of answers to your query.

Thanks

Second Hopleaf.

The Publican does very good mussels and very good frites, although of three different orders I've had (in three different visits), one was off and was sent back.

Havent been in years-
so don't hold me to it
but Bistro Zinc usta serve some bread soppin-lip-smackin good Steamed Mussels.

I second the HopLeaf recommendation- they do a LemonGrass inspired one as well that's quite good.
The new place (?) across from Millennium Park/in the Prudential Building Lobby serves a nice Oven Roasted Mussel w/ a more
tomatoey flavored broth.

I had a very nice mussels and frites at Marché recently.

No frites, but the 'spouse and I went to Chef's Station recently and had a very nice dinner preceded by mussels in a broth that included spanish chorizo. I enjoyed it very much, the mussels were perfectly cooked - my only (minor) quibble was that the chorizo made the broth a bit salty for sopping up with bread (but it seasoned the mussels perfectly)

Branch 27

1371 W Chicago Ave
312.850.2700

Has a great mussels and frites.

Mon Ami Gabi is another one of my favorites for mussels and frites.

If you're in the loop, I highly recommend both the mussels and the frites at the South Water Kitchen in the Hotel Monaco on Wabash at South Water St.

South Water Kitchen

Hopleaf is great when they're "on", but in my opinion, they're one of the more inconsistent restaurants in the city. A lot of the time I'll get stellar mussels, but a few times I've had some downright foul pots. In their defense, everything else on the menu seems to be fairly consistent.

Matt wrote:The Publican does very good mussels and very good frites, although of three different orders I've had (in three different visits), one was off and was sent back.

One out of three sent back does not seem that solid of a recommendation.

G Wiv wrote:

Matt wrote:The Publican does very good mussels and very good frites, although of three different orders I've had (in three different visits), one was off and was sent back.

One out of three sent back does not seem that solid of a recommendation.

I would think that sample size limitations must apply. A one-third fail rate is obviously not great, but I would want to know if we got the one bad batch out of 100 in order to say whether they should not be recommended. It seems most who have had the mussels in the Publican thread have very much enjoyed them (some, rhapsodically so). I have not seen anything to suggest that a bad batch is fairly common, as a number of folks have noted about the Hopleaf. Plus, everything else I have had from the seafood end of the spectrum at Publican has been pristine and excellent; and the one time the mussels were off, it was a textural thing (I assume from overcooking), not a past-their-prime thing (there certainly were no off tastes). Until I hear reports that this is a more regular occurrence as opposed to an isolated incident, I would and will order the mussels again, the one bad experience notwithstanding.

Mexique. They have good mussels and they also have good frites, though you may have to order them separately.

Try the "moules marinieres" at Kiki's Bistro 900 N. Franklin and order a plate of their pretty good very thin frites that are in fact closer to " pommes pailles" than to frites, but very good nevertheless.

I had some mussels over the weekend at Bistro Campagne in Lincoln Square. They were steamed in Belgian Ale, and quite delicious! Make sure you save some bread to sop up the Ale-y goodness

Completely unrelated to mussels and frites, their fig and brown butter bread pudding was awesome. I was almost upset that we shared one order, but in hindsight, probably a good idea!

Bistro Campagne
4518 N. Lincoln Ave
773-271-6100

Le Bouchon does really wonderful mussels. They are not served with frites, but I'm sure you could ask for them.

Le Bouchon
1958 N. Damen
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 862-6600

Matt wrote:I would think that sample size limitations must apply.

My point.......

I was surprised at such a strong recommendation with one out of three going back to the kitchen.

G Wiv wrote:

Matt wrote:I would think that sample size limitations must apply.

My point.......

I was surprised at such a strong recommendation with one out of three going back to the kitchen.

Perhaps I should further qualify. In my experience, when the Publican's mussels are good, they are very good. From what I've read here and heard from others, the mussels there have been more or less uniformly very good. I had one experience where the mussels were not great. However, based on anecdotal evidence and my experience with other menu items, that seems to be the very minority exception rather than the rule. They are good enough when they are good that I am willing to order them again, and chalk the bad batch up to "the chef lost track of them and left them covered too long" or somesuch. I do appreciate the point, though, that a recommendation in which one gives a "there's a one-third chance they might not be good" impression probably does not seem to comport with the general statement that they are "very good."