Mr. X was still recovering from his Mardi Gras celebration and work got me home late last night, so dinner out was in the cards. Literally. We were given a bunch of the "A La Cards" and dealt out Chalkboard last night. It was our first visit. We thought the room was very nice in a Restoration Hardware/Pottery Barn sort of way. There were a handful of other tables for a Wednesday night. The server was pleasant, but sometimes a little slow because he was the only server. I was starved, which made the wait to order seem longer than it probably was. We started with the risotto with black truffles, fried duck egg and asiago cheese. Mr. X was in a comfort food sort of place, so he ordered the fried chicken with a shared side of mac and cheese. I went for the bouilabaisse. We made short work of the risotto (see "I was starved" comment above.) It was quite delicious, especially the bites where the yolk mixed in. The truffles seemed dry and not overfully flavorful, but I'm an admitted truffle novice. The bouilabaisse was good and very aromatic. It had lots of seafoody goodness in it. Mr. X seemed very happy with his fried chicken, mashed potatoes and collard greens. We also understood the praise for the mac and cheese. It was delicious -- the pasta was perfectly cooked and I had no problems with the smokiness of the gouda. The mac and cheese is so good that the busser commented on it when he brought it to our table. No dessert for us last night.

Some of the conversation above revolved around the fried chicken price. IIRC, it is running $22 these days and was plenty of food for at least two meals. Although we enjoyed our meal, I wouldn't necessarily rush back. There are just too many restaurants at or below that price point that we want to try. I'm glad we tried it though.

My wife and I had an enjoyable meal at Chalkboard last night. We realized that we need to start using our $10 "A La Cards" a little quicker, and Chalkboard is a neighborhood restaurant that we hadn't been to in a while.

We had three appetizers and one entree. The appetizers were the buffalo oysters, the liver pate, and the kobe burger. We also had the fried chicken. The oysters were fried and tossed in a buffalo sauce. The concept is good, but I think the dish would have been better if the oysters had a lot less sauce. The sauce is spicy and we both felt that the taste of the oyster was almost completely lost. The kobe burger was an appetizer size - about half the size of a standard burger (and bigger than a slider). It had a nice thick piece of bacon on it and had a really nice cheese sauce (perhaps the same cheese used in the mac and cheese?). We loved it.

The fried chicken was $20 and was an "airline" piece, as Gary described on the previous page. That is, it was a breast and little drumette. The first time I went to chalkboard, I seem to recall getting a full half chicken. You'll see the discussion on the previous page over what pieces of chicken are actually served, and you'll see that at one point I called the restaurant and was told it was a half chicken. So, apparently they change up the chicken in this dish. The fried chicken itself was incredibly good. The crust was nice and crispy. The meat was very tender. The potato and greens that it was served on were really flavorful. But I can help but be disappointed with paying $20 for the plate. As Stevez also noted, I was disappointed not to have any dark meat.

Finally, I'm blown away by the choice of wines at Chalkboard. There is a fairly large wine list, but nearly all of them are over $60. We had a really nice California Syrah that was in the mid-$40s, but there were only a handful of wine in this price range. Given the causal nature and price level of the food, this isn't the place to buy a $90 bottle of wine. They really should have more selection that match their food.

Some friends of mine and I had an odd and disturbing experience at Chalkboard, the comfortable, casual New American restaurant in Lincoln Square. It is a restaurant that I have been meaning to try for a year.

We began with an excellent Tomato Bisque with Blue Cheese Brioche. Very tasty and nicely plated. So far so good. With wine being sold at a 50% discount on this Wednesday, we expected a smooth evening.

Then four of us ordered lake trout with Swiss chard, sweet and sour shallot puree with roasted cauliflower. Two of the dishes were swimming in the puree, and two of them had none. Huh? When we asked about this, our server seemed a bit non-plussed, but said that he would check on it. How hard would it have been to spoon on a dollop of the savory sauce. I was sauced, otherwise I would have thrown a Plotnicki-sized fit. My companions dutifully ate the food (which was good, not startling), and they never did receive the sauce. Huh?

Remember that I described the dish as "lake trout." Now I know lake trout, lake trout is a friend of mine, and this was no lake trout. It was a much meatier fish - more like a snapper, perhaps. When I asked our server to check with the chef, he said that he would ask the chef to come to our table. (He assured me that it was lake trout - but he might also have assured me that a blueberry was a raspberry). The chef never showed up. When I later inquired of what seemed like a pretty reasonable request, our server explained that he didn't ask the chef because "I don't want to be fired." Huh?

Chef Langlois, Gordo might get away with such fraught labor relations, but Chalkboard isn't on Royal Hospital Road and this food is not the work of a perfectionist.

Perhaps there is a chance that we were served trout (none of us thought that this was what it was), but there is no excuse that my companions did not receive their sauce. Someone should be checking the plates before they are served and someone should make sure that customers are happy. At a middle-level, comfort food restaurant like Chalkboard, this is the game.

For our party of five Chalkboard added a mandatory 18% service charge. Perhaps that says something about their view that the customer is always right.

After reading GAF's post and thinking about my recent visit, I can't help but feel so disappointed about Chalkboard. The concept is not unique, but it's exactly what I like. The restaurant is close to my house. But the execution is never good enough. It is hard to justify going back.

GAF wrote:For our party of five Chalkboard added a mandatory 18% service charge. Perhaps that says something about their view that the customer is always right.

I always take a modicum of pleasure when being hit with the mandatory 18 percent service charge for relatively small groups because my standard tip is 20 percent on the post-tax bill. The 18 percent charge is assessed on the pre-tax bill.

GAF's post reawakens ambivalencies I had about Chalkboard before they even opened. Way back three years ago, at the beginning of this thread, I found it odd that Chef Langlois would be putting responsibility for a premature opening announcement on "overzealous publications," rather than an overzealous release of the information by himself or his PR firm. Several posters thought I was making too big a deal of this nuance, and indeed, maybe I was hypersensitive to it. Two fun and fully satisfactory visits to Chalkboard, once they opened, put me in a much better frame of mind about the place. And I have stayed in that positive frame of mind about Chalkboard ever since. But there's something about GAF's experience there, detailing a refusal on the kitchen's part to take responsibility for a mistake (he describes, in fact, a terror on the waiter's part even to ask the kitchen to take responsibility for a mistake) that feels not altogether inconsistent with my original misgiving.

My question after reading GAF's report is why wasn't a manager brought into the conversation? I thought it was pretty standard for a server, when confronted with issues of this sort, to involve a manager. Seems like a pretty big fail on the part of Chalkboard's staff.

Given that chalkboard is so small and this is a weekend night, I'm not sure that there was a manager, separate from the chef-owner. This isn't, ahem, L20.

Who'd've thunk it that, with all the back and forth this little restaurant as merited on this site, I would wander along Lincoln this morning (dressed like a vagabond while walk-of-shaming and somehow toting a 2 pound canister of Quaker Oats [long story]), get a peek at Chalkboard's brunch menu, and finally head inside.
The place was empty, which mollified my fears about my tattered attire, but also elevated those that no place that had been around this long could still be undiscovered. The waiter came by—friendly, attentive. I asked him to pick something for me, as I was a little foggy still. He returned shortly with their breakfast cassoulet, served, of course, in a large, piping hot cassole.
Friends, foodies, epicures, honestly, I haven't enjoyed a cassoulet like this since those who would surely be our LTH contributor peers in France led me around Paris for a few days (please excuse the “my time in Paris” cliché), to those little places we all fantasize about finding—you know, down a hidden alley, with a secret knock, and a little Indiana Jones pulling-of-the-severed-finger to finally open the vault. I'm not saying that this dish was as profound, but it was close, especially for the area, and the PRICE (12 bucks, large portion). It was a welcome beginning to what I thought was going to be another long day. Also, among the other interesting and reasonably priced dishes I saw on the menu were a waffle and fried chicken dish and a pound cake french toast with lavender yogurt and mixed berries. Yes, please!
So if, like myself, you're one of those people who say they love brunch, but nonetheless feel they've had it all before (with the exception of a few items at Jam) give this a go. Definitely worth an hour on a cold Advent Sunday.

Welcome, T, Jefferson. I like this post. Also-chalkboard is near me and I never would have thought of brunch there without your suggestion. Cassoulet-mmmmm. How garlicky was it, though?

T, thank you for putting visions of Chalkboard cassoulet dancing in my head, because that caused me to order the duck breast cassoulet on our last visit there for dinner, and it was truly excellent. A very generous portion of sliced duck breast sitting atop a very generous portion of white beans, sausage and duck confit, all garlicky (but not too) and delicious--and priced better than fairly for the quality and quantity. (Can't remember the figure now, but $22 is appearing before me, so that might have been it.)

has anyone tried the afternoon tea? nice to have an option outside of downtown but afraid what the offerings would be if there is low attendance.

I'd recommend the tea very highly - I don't get there half as often as I should. I last went with a very chatty friend on a rainy Saturday afternoon, and spent a couple of blissful hours eating and drinking ourselves insensible while gossiping both between ourselves and with Chef Langlois, as well - he's a very friendly and funny guy. Lovely miniature pastries, cookies, and out-of-the-ordinary tea sandwiches; a carefully done lavender shortbread and tiny, succulent rare grilled duck breast sandwiches stand out in my mind. Very nice selection of teas, too. The knowledgable and attentive staff are a big strength at this place, and that level of service is maintained at tea, and the shabby-chic decor during the day really lends itself to the tearoom theme.

You should go.

thanks sdp for the scoop -- I will be sure to post if that's our final decision but sounds like a great deal and we don't have to pay to park downtown.

I've heard from people who know people, that Chalkboard has been having a rough couple of months. If you wanted to try it, or have been there and liked it, it would be a good time for a visit. Just a heads up.

mrbarolo wrote:I've heard from people who know people, that Chalkboard has been having a rough couple of months. If you wanted to try it, or have been there and liked it, it would be a good time for a visit. Just a heads up.

I'm sorry to hear this. I've had nothing but happy, delicious experiences at Chalkboard. We will try to express our support with patronage again soon.

I'll be going tonight. Over time Gil has become a friend and I'd hate to see this place go down.

Thanks for the heads up. We love Chalkboard and are going tomorrow!

mrbarolo wrote:I've heard from people who know people, that Chalkboard has been having a rough couple of months. If you wanted to try it, or have been there and liked it, it would be a good time for a visit. Just a heads up.

They are still open, going this Sunday evening.

Any recent experiences?

Sweet Willie wrote:They are still open, going this Sunday evening.

Any recent experiences?

I've been recently as it's a regular spot in my rotation. It's as solid as always although it doesn't get the love here. Honest food done without pretense.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do

Four of us had a nice dinner at Chalkboard.

warm Biscuits were served to start w/o an butter, there were salty to boot.

Starters:
Chalkboard Salad: A fresh argula salad tossed in a lime vinaigrette then finished with asiago cheese, brioche toast and poached cherry tomatoes. This was fine but very singular in taste, not a lot going on.

Scallops: 2-3 large dry pack scallops pan seared then served over vanilla bean aioli with fried sage, candied kalamata olives and walnuts. The scallops were not very large so servings were 3 med sized. They were cooked perfectly, just terrific. Personally I would have liked to have something different than the vanilla bean aioli as the scallops were so sweet, that pairing them with a sweet sauce seemed overkill.

Pate: Made in house with both chicken & duck liver. Served with traditional accoutrement and toast for spreading. We really liked this Pate, VERY creamy with a hearty iron/liver flavor.

Cheese Fritter: Goat cheese dusted with panko and fried. Served over a an avocado and buck wheat salad. nothing more than a large clump (~3") of breaded fried goat cheese, this was a downer.

Mains:
Duck breast: Our duck breast is fresh from a local Indiana farm straight to your plate.Broiled and served it over fresh avocado, cherry tomotoes, with a little blue cheese then finished with a red-wine-poached egg and chorizo creme fraiche. The chorizo creme fraiche was lacking an appearance, just didn't taste this. Comments from the other diners was that the salad below was soaked in a blue cheese/thousand island like dressing. (we overheard another table saying they LOVED this dish but our table not so much). The duck breast had too much of a fat cap on it still, we all felt it should have been renedered more during cooking. The breast meat was however done excellent. 3 of our 4 party ordered this main.

Goat Gnocchi: Fresh goat straight from Slagel Family Farms. We then braise the goat for several hours and toss it in a housemade, heirloom tomato cream sauce with pillowy gnocchi, fresh herbs and chevre. This was an excellent dish our table thought, thankfully for me I was pretty full from all the starters so I was more than happy to share with the others.

Our bill was ~$325 for the four of us (two bottles of wine). With that price, the cooking should have been better executed. Chalkboard has the right idea but just isn't there yet, I'm hoping they get it right.

Every few years we try Chalkboard again. A Friday or so ago we made our tri-annual visit, drawn in by the fact that it's a small independent restaurant, they have an interesting menu, and we were able to get seated at the last table, when everywhere else in Lincoln Square was packed to the gills. This, propped up by our failing memories of past dinners, was enough to get us in the door, but the experience may save us from future visits.

The evening started off well enough with some warm baked biscuits. Then we had arugula salads, which we disagreed on. My wife liked it, but I thought it was just ok. The dressing was a little on the tart side, with little to balance the citrus, and the "brioche croutons" seemed like small squares of toasted white bread. Nothing bad, just not special.

The problems arrived with the main course. I had a fish, which was supposed to be seared, but seemed steamed (the skin was flaccid and there were no sear marks), served on black lentils, which were not quite al dente. I like a little bit of firmness to beans and lentils, but these bordered on crunchy. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very good either.

My wife got something called the pork "hot pocket." Really, with a name like that she probably should have known better, but the description -- house made pulled pork with puff pastry -- sounded appealing. The dish turned out even worse than the name implied. There were two layers of undercooked, pale puff pastry, the bottom one wet from the meat, with about three quarters of a cup of pulled pork in a sauce. I didn't try it, but could see the 3 inch square piece of unrendered fat which comprised a quarter of the portion of meat. She couldn't handle more than a bite of the dish.

We also got a side of mac and cheese, which was pretty good. I wouldn't go back just to order it (I prefer backed mac and cheese and this was in a loose sauce), but it more than filled us up. We were lucky it did because after receiving our entrees we didn't see our server for more than a half hour, despite some somewhat aggressive attempts at getting his attention. Really, it wasn't his fault, because with only two waiters serving the entire room, it was really short staffed. When he did arrive, he was kind enough not to charge for the pork, but didn't apologize (which goes a long way), or ask how my meal was.

Given that it isn't a cheap dinner, I just expect more in terms of service and food. Overall, it resulted in a frustrating evening. We live near Chalkboard so I really wish I liked it more, but have consistently left disappointed.

From Facebook today:


Chalkboard - we announced on Monday. Chalkboard will close its doors for good on Sunday, June 21. We will renovate for a couple of weeks, and re-open as Homegrown Cafe, Chef Gilbert's breakfast/brunch/lunch hotspot. More details soon!

We have always good meals at Chalkboard but didn't get there as much as we should have.

. . . and now, Homegrown Cafe (formerly Chalkboard) is closing on Sunday. RIP. I had some lovely meals here.

Chalkboard's fried chicken was the best that I've had in Chicagoland. Sorry to see it (and its successor) close.