death penalty is what my stomach endured after ordering the pork tenderloin medium rare:



self-reminder: Chicago isn't Paris. American pigs aren't European pigs. order pork tenderloins medium rare at your own risk. while this is completely my fault, i really have to do say the rest of the menu is seemingly uninspiring. from the often-touted, much ballyhooed duck nacho to the overly sweet tres leches cake...

it feels as if Dorado, one of the earlier successful producer of nouveau mexican(?) food stood still while fonda del mar, mundial cocina, sol de mexico sprouted all over the map.

eatchicago wrote:

Aaron C wrote:I believe that my parents used pre-Internet technology to voice their concerns directly to Dorado and were ignored.

I have a pretty strong feeling that this internet-based technology of voicing your concern is going to elicit a similar response. One thing LTHForum is not is a very effective complaint tool.

While LTHForum may not be effective in terms of forwarding complaints to owners so they can take remedial action, it is a very good consumer guide (in some cases giving pause to potential customers who are considering patronizing a place). This is the case with Dorado, which a friend who has been there has proposed as a possible destination. His suggestion caused me to search LTH for what I could find. After reading about Aaron C's parents' experience, and the echo of this by foo d, I can't say I'm champing at the bit to agree to that choice.

Since my friend wouldn't have proposed Dorado if he had ever had less than a good experience there, my reaction shows the power of LTH postings. They are making me reluctant even in the face of my friend's positive experiences. They are causing me to think that even if my friend has never had a bad experience there, that could just be luck of the draw, and a bad experience could be in the cards next time.

But those posts were from more than two and a half years ago. Can LTHers who have been there more recently attest to a more welcoming vibe than experienced by Aaron C's parents and foo d?

Riddlemay, while it was not recent, I visited Dorado on a Thursday evening in October 2008 with a party of three. There was no wait, so perhaps business is slow enough these days that one does not need to worry about the restaurant discouraging lingering or refusing to honor a reservation in favor of seating a larger party.

I do not recall too many specific details. We probably arrived around 6:30 pm and the restaurant was empty. We were there for about an hour, and by the time we left it was 3/4 full. Other tables brought wine, so it was still BYOB. Two people ordered entrees and one ordered only an appetizer. I enjoyed my entree of steak served with mole and chipotle mashed potatoes (thick, smokey and more than hot enough for me--which means others might want more heat ). I think the other entree that we ordered was fish (maybe salmon). I don't recall the appetizer anymore.

I also don't recall anything unusual about the service. In my experience (maybe 3 visits total), the service has always been polite and professional, but more aloof than friendly.

One thing that I do recall is that the lighting was too dim (we were seated along the wall furthest from the entrance). I don't recall that from previous visits when we sat near the windows. Next time, I'd ask to be seated at a window table.

Thanks, mrsm. For the one person in our party who is spice-averse, is Dorado a place she can find something to eat? (Many Mexican places present no problem in this department, but some, for instance Salpicon, are not good places for the spice-averse.)

Riddlemay, I'm sorry but I don't recall much about the other menu choices to be able to tell you whether to avoid Dorado if a member of your party is spice adverse. I am probably not the best guide because I don't consider myself spice adverse (although you won't find me adding El Yucateco green to my meal ). Dorado no longer seems to have a website, but maybe their listing on menu pages would help to give you an idea. http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurants/dorado/

Regards, mrsm

mrsm wrote:Riddlemay, I'm sorry but I don't recall much about the other menu choices to be able to tell you whether to avoid Dorado if a member of your party is spice adverse. I am probably not the best guide because I don't consider myself spice adverse (although you won't find me adding El Yucateco green to my meal ). Dorado no longer seems to have a website, but maybe their listing on menu pages would help to give you an idea. http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurants/dorado/

Thanks again, mrsm. I did check out their menupage yesterday, and came to the conclusion that there would be precious little for the spice-averse missus. This is certainly no knock on Dorado.

riddlemay wrote:Thanks again, msrm. I did check out their menupage yesterday, and came to the conclusion that there would be precious little for the spice-averse missus. This is certainly no knock on Dorado.

Dorado does not prespice, I see no problem ordering plain or lightly spiced fish/beef/lamb etc. Have not been in a while, but I've always got the feeling they are extremely accommodating.

Enjoy,
Gary

Dorado Restaurant
2301 W. Foster
Chicago
773-561-3780

This is good to know. I think I will check the place out sometime with my moviegoing friend sans missus, as sort of a scouting expedition.

I was there late winter/early spring, and while I don't remember details, it was as good as I'd remembered from previous visits. It may not quite be at Mixteco's level, but it's close, and the vague French influences add interest. And I like that it's BYOB.

riddlemay wrote: I did check out their menupage yesterday, and came to the conclusion that there would be precious little for the spice-averse missus. This is certainly no knock on Dorado.

I don't think your wife would have an issue finding something on Dorado's menu that isn't spicy. In fact, I ate there last night and had a grouper special that was not spicy at all. Our server was very helpful and willing to answer all questions we had about the menu. I think they would be able to steer her towards something non-spicy or accommodate a request to tone down spice if asked.

With so many wonderful Mexican restaurants in Chicago, I suppose it's easy to forget about Dorado. But I found out tonight that Dorado is still performing quite well.

Not surprisingly, the smoked duck nachos were as good as usual and are perhaps a must order at Dorado. Guac was also very good. I tried the Chiles Rellenos De Mariscos tonight for the first time - two roasted poblano peppers with perfectly cooked shrimp, crab and bay scallops and served with lobster shrimp sauce which I wanted to drink up. This was an excellent dish. Flan and tres leches were as good as always, but I tried the pecan bread pudding for the first time tonight. It was fine, but flan and tres leches are the desserts to order at Dorado.

So next time you're looking for very good Mexican food, great service and byo, don't forget about Dorado.

mrsm wrote:...but maybe their listing on menu pages would help to give you an idea. http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurants/dorado/

Regards, mrsm

I had a great meal at Dorado last night. I thought it was worth a mention that the menupages menu must be extremely out of date, or the prices at Dorado have recently skyrocketed. The prices of entrees went from around $16 to around $22. I'm not trying to imply that the food wasn't worth the price! It was delicious. However, at that price range I'll definitely be back just not as often as I'd like to.

My wife Jan and I had a great dinner at Dorado last night. We had never heard of them until a Groupon offer showed up earlier in the week. I took a shot at the Groupon because they're BYOB and there were some good (although older) comments in this thread. I'm really glad we took the shot.

They bill themselves as a fusion of mexican and french cuisine. I think I would say that the menu is more mexican using french techniques and plate stylings. I believe an earlier post equated them to Mixteco, which would be a good analogy. However, I like this space more as it's a bit more inviting, IMHO.

Our reservation was for 7pm and the place was about 2/3 full. The wait staff was extremely friendly and accomodating (as you'll see below in my description of my main course). Sorry, no photos of the food, as I forgot my camera and the blackberry camera is really lousy.

For starters, we ordered two to share. The first was the crab cakes over fresh guacamole and smoked chipotle tomato sauce. The crab cakes were excellent, using nice chunks of crab meat and only a hint of spice (I'm a bit spice-averse). The guacamole was definitely fresh, but probably could have used a wee bit of salt. The smoked chipotle tomato sauce was fantastic, and really tied the dish together. The creaminess of the guacamole balanced out the natural acid of the tomato sauce. Overall an excellent starter.

The second starter was a special. It was a salmon quesadilla with mango salsa and lime cream. Again, a really good dish with some unusual flavors. The salmon was somewhat intense, mostly because when I bite into a quesadilla my mind expects somewhat muted flavors. The addition of the mango salsa on top (it's served on the side) and a little of the lime cream really balanced it all together.

For my main course, I ordered the rack of lamb. Here's where the restaurant's accomodation came in. As I mentioned, I'm somewhat spice-averse because of acid reflux. I never know what will set it off. The rack of lamb comes with mint new potatoes (more on that in a moment) and some asparagus. The sauce is a brandy guajillo pepper sauce. The waitress said that it was slightly spicy, but not much. Since mexican folks tend to be more spice tolerant, I asked about the poblano mole sauce that comes with the blackened NY strip, thinking it would be less spicy. The waitress immediately said "I'll bring them both to you on the side and you can decide". When the dish arrived, so did two bowls of sauce. Great customer service!

The rack of lamb was a very good portion, being two large chops each consisting of three ribs. They were cooked perfectly medium rare with a nice little crust on it. The brandy guajillo pepper sauce turned out to be no spicy at all and had a terrific flavor that was perfect with the lamb. The poblano mole actually had a little spice to it and was really tasty, but would have been better for the NY strip than the lamb. Lastly, the mint new potatoes were interesting, but for my taste didn't work because I'm not really a mint fan. Overall however, I would order the dish again and ask them to substitute one of the several mash potatoe side dishes they have on other main courses.

Jan ordered the carne asada. The skirt steak was served with spicy green rice and chipotle tomato sauce. The skirt steak was prepared medium rare and had a great flavor. The spicy green rice was really not very spicy, which worked for both of us, and had an really good flavor. Definitely a do-again.

We didn't order dessert, so I can't comment on them. Whenever we do dinner in the city, dessert is most likely Windy City Sweets and last night was no exception!

Overall, a great experience. We will definitely go back to Dorado.

Dorado Restaurant
2301 W. Foster Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773-561-3780
http://www.doradorestaurant.net/
Chef/owner: Luis Perez

We ended up at Dorado again last night with at the last minute with another couple because we couldn't get into Ruxbin Kitchen (they open at 5:30, we got there at 5:40 and it was already full. Holy crap!). The meal was excellent again, as was the service. I ordered the lamb again but substituted the chipotle mashed potatoes, which was a real winner. The lamb came out underdone (raw in the middle), but they fired another set of chops no questioned asked, which came out perfectly. Excellent service.

Oh, I ordered the duck nachos for one of the starters for the table. These had a great flavor.

I must be the only one on LTH still going to Dorado, but I'll keep posting. We went yesterday, taking Jan's folks for dinner. All the food was excellent. I had the lamb again, and Jan had the carne asada again. Her mom had the sole with garlic mashed potatoes, which was reported to be really good. It certainly completely disappeared.

We ordered dessert for the first time. The chocolate chimis were really nice, with vanilla ice cream. The flan was tremendous, possibly better than the flan at Tango Sur, which is saying a lot.

Anyone else going to this place?

We have been going for years and still go a fair amount; got a couple of groupons a while back and have been twice recently. For us, the two standout dishes are the trout with almonds over couscous with apricots and carmelized plantains in an incredible coconut cream sauce and the crab-crusted salmon over chipotle mashed potatoes. Had the queso fundido and guac appetizers for the first time last visit and they were very good as well.

BYOB makes this place really affordable. I highly recommend it!

Had another great dinner at Dorado on Saturday evening. The place was packed, which is always good to see.

The couple we were with ordered some stuff that we hadn't ordered previously. The Chile Rellenos de Mariscos got high ratings, with a lot of nice seafood and a great lobster/shrimp emulsion. They had soft shell crabs on the menu still, as these things are overall a month or so behind schedule due to the weird spring. The crabs were excellent, but it's definitely the end of the season on them.

We ordered dessert, which we typically don't. The flan was excellent, second only to Tango Sur in the opinion of my wife, who's a flan fan. The chocolate chimichanga was great as well.

Overall, another excellent outing at Dorado.