My wife & I checked out The Publican this past Saturday, and were quite pleased...we had a few "next time we'll try..." discussions while we ate, and definitely plan on going back sometime soon.

Our reservation was for 9pm, but we got there around 8:40 so we could have a pre-dinner beer. It was pretty loud & crowded when we got there - not so crowded you couldn't move, but all the booths, seats & highboys were occupied, and there was a layer of people behind the folks sitting at the bar.

The host immediately led us to a highboy that had just opened up, left us with a beer list, and told us someone would be right with us...but it was a solid 15 minutes before the server came. However, he apologized right away for making us wait, and asked if he could help us with our beer picks. I told him I was in the mood for "something Newcastle-ish", and he pointed me to a fantastic trappist ale ("Trappistes Rochefort 10") that was very pricey ($15 per 11.2oz bottle), but was the unanimous favorite of the night. My wife told him she likes Goose Island's 312, so he recommended a nice wheat beer for her (don't remember which one, and can't recognize it on the drinks menu...not a big loss, it was alright but by no means spectacular). A hostess came by promptly at 9 to seat us.

Our server, Rebekah, was there within 5 minutes to take our order. She was friendly (but not annoying, Brian-from-Chotchkie's friendly), and helped us get a sense of how much we should order (and showed us the menu shelves under our seats, to get those giant sheets off our tiny two-top).

We started with a half dozen oysters to share, 2 each of the Rappahannock, Kumamoto, and one other one whose name I can't remember...all their descriptions involved the word "clean", because my wife had never had raw oysters before, and I wanted to get her hooked on them by avoiding the brinier ones

Rebekah came over a few minutes after we ordered to let us know that they were out of the Rappahannocks, but that she'd substituted them with Olympias, which she was confident we'd like. It was a great call on her part, the Olympias were the best of the bunch. All of them were excellent...tons of liquor, clean/fresh taste, very little lemon juice or mignonette required. The oysters came with a plate of what looked like a cross between oyster crackers & flatbread crackers, and tasted surprisingly like an Indian snack my mom used to make when I was growing up.

After that we had the Yellowtail Crudo, which was, in my opinion, up there with some of the better sashimi I've ever had.

Next came the Veal Brains, batter-fried and served with some microgreens & (if I recall correctly) a bit of carrot/cabbage slaw, drizzled with a vinaigrette. I wasn't a huge fan of these, only because I feel like the batter was applied with way too heavy a hand. The batter completely overpowered everything else. Not only that, but it tasted exactly like the coating on McDonald's premium chicken strips. I'd never tried any kind of brains before, and I feel like I still haven't - what I had here were big, creamy McNuggets.

At this point a gentlemen who I assumed was a beer sommelier (or something along those lines) stopped to ask if we'd like some beers, and recommended two based on the dishes we had coming. However, 5 minutes later Rebekah came by with one of the beers, and let us know that they were out of the other one, but not to worry, she had ordered a substitute for us. 10 minutes after that she came back with an entirely different beer - ends up they were out of the substitute too. She apologized profusely for the mixup, said she thought we'd like this third beer (we really did...it was some abbey-style something or other in an 11.2oz bottle, brewed with "honey and raisons"), and let us know that it was on the house.

After this we had the Pork Belly, with what tasted like a maple syrup glaze, served with black-eyed peas. I thought this dish was fantastic. The pork belly was fork-tender and nice & fatty, the maple syrup glaze gave it a perfect sweetness (like when pancake syrup gets on your bacon & you're inwardly pleased), and the black-eyed peas were nicely cooked.

With the pork belly came the Frites (we opted not to get the egg on top). The aioli was nice, and the frites were delicious...crispy, not too thin/not too thick, well salted, and piping hot.

All in all, our total bill w/ tax came to $91, which I think is pretty good for the quality of the food we had, plus the 1 beer (we paid for the first 2 before being seated, and 1 was comped) & 2 grappa shots for dessert.

I felt like the service really shined for us - the bus staff was quick & attentive, and the food runners explained what was what with a smile. The star of the show was our server, Rebekah. I loved that she was so bold as to swap out-of-stock items with ones that she thought we'd like (and she was right both times), instead of coming back to the table every time to make us go over the menu again & again.

I look forward to our next trip...I hope they have sweetbreads on the menu this time!

I returned to the Publican for another of their Sunday night family-style dinners, this one featuring beer from Three Floyds. At $65 for 4 courses and 5 pours, this is a great, great way to enjoy the Publican for anyone who feels their regular menu is on the pricey side. The restaurant was also much less crowded than on a Friday/Saturday night and we were able to really relax and enjoy our 2.5 hour meal.

Most of the beer featured is available in bottles or on draft throughout the city (Gumballhead, Pride & Joy and Behemoth Barley Wine). The exceptions include Dwarven Hammer, a coffee-flavored altbier to get us warmed up before the first course as well as the Banana Split 7", a brand-new collaboration ale from the minds of the Publican and FFF. I'm not sure if the plan is keep the Banana Split at the Publican indefinately or if it will be there only until the keg runs dry. Despite the name, the banana mostly factors into the nose. The beer itself is a dense, cloudy, yeasty brew that was very good (and that paired really well with its course).

The food was all top-notch, soulful, hearty and good (no leftovers from the weekend). Yellowtail sashimi may have suffered from too much olive oil, but the celery and candied orange peel garnishes added some great texture. The second course featured duck hearts, wild mushrooms and polenta tossed with some greens. I was a little nervous about the hearts, not being one to seek out offal but man... I think it was in the Bristol thread, someone mentioned how chicken-y the chicken hearts were and I would say something similar about the duck hearts. They tasted of duck but only moreso. Deliciously moreso. Sliced pretty thinly, they had a similar texture of wild mushrooms, a little chewy, still meaty, etc. (and they kind of looked like them, too). A wonderful surprise. The last savory course was a pot au feu with root vegetables, roasted baby chicken, braised short ribs and housemade pork sausage and warm peasant bread. This was incredible. A ton of food for our table and all of it great. The pork sausage, in particular, was a winner with a strong garlic flavor and the texture was really something else. Dessert was a panna cotta with passionfruit sauce and granola. I was expecting something sweet but got something as sour and tart as Pinkberry (or one of its clones). Rich and luscious (and tart! can't say it enough...), this dish had the best synergy with its pairing (FFF's Behemoth Barley Wine) and was a nice way to wrap things up.

There was a moment towards the end of the pot au feu where we gave up on restraint and just started using the bread to mop up the broth directly from the serving plates, giving up completely on acting too proper despite, you know, eating out in public. The wood tables, french-country serving dishes, soulful, hearty rustic fare, fresh beer and friends really came together and poof! -- We might as well have been in one of our own homes (should any of us, you know, be lucky enough to have a home in the French country). It was just really, really great and unexpected.

Went there last night with my wife, and really enjoyed it. Enjoyed it a lot more than Blackbird, actually. The space is cool. The lights weren't too bright but they had that "on a dimmer" vibe so they may have recently toned them down. A good level of lighting though. This makes me want to try avec, blackbird made me not want to (it was more the atsmosphere/scene at blackbird, not the food, but the food didn't blow me away like I'd hoped).

What we had:

chef's selection of oysters (one or two were among the best I've had, although still not as good as the oysters at Bouchon in Napa, those still set the standard. The champagne mignonette was very good although a bit overpowering)
pickles (good)
scallops (good quality, but a little small so they were a touch more well done than I like. Nice and sweet though. but I'd skip these in favor of maybe octopus, or maybe the ham or pork rinds... The seafood was good but the meat/charcuterie side of the menu is in their weelhouse)
Charcuterie plate (awesome... The pork pie and the terrine were both excellent. The terrine is amazingly deep and rich, but it's a buttload of food, it's probably more of a 3-4 person serving with a sampling for each, instead of 2 people eating their fill of it)
grilled ramps with walnuts (tasty, nice to have something green after a chicago winter, this was a recommendation by the server, Paul, I guess this was the first day they came in)
Sweetbreads (again, awesome, possibly the best sweetbreads I've had. Very rich and creamy/tender, but had a deep flavor. Some people have complained that it didn't taste very organy... I disagree.).

Overall, everything was a big hit. That plus two 11.2 oz bottles of beer each and tip was about $160. Not cheap, but not ridiculous, either. If one went easy on it, you could get out for under $50 a person, probably, but we ordered a lot of different things. I'd like to go back sometime, sit at the bar and just have a 750 of something and the mussels, or maybe just oysters.

The service was good and all the beers recommended were on, although we had to wait a little to order beer #2. I had a trappiste and a saison, my wife had a swiss stout and a flemish. If I saw the list I could tell you which ones... The swiss stout was a revelation, it was very good and I'll have to look for it. It was the Nils Oscar (I took a picture of the label

Overall, a solid A. I really can't think of anything to complain about unless it'd be the bread wasn't made in-house and the water was kind of chlorine-ey.

barooo wrote:Sweetbreads (again, awesome, possibly the best sweetbreads I've had. Very rich and creamy/tender, but had a deep flavor. Some people have complained that it didn't taste very organy... I disagree.).

Are you referring to the schnitzel prep, or is there a new sweetbreads dish? Do tell.

Has anyone come up with a platonic ideal of a meal here? Structure is everything, methinks.

chezbrad wrote:Are you referring to the schnitzel prep, or is there a new sweetbreads dish? Do tell.

At least as of a few weeks ago when I was there, the sweetbread prep on the menu was not schnitzel (but I unfortunately don't recall what it was, as I did not order the dish).

My wife took me to The Publican for my birthday this Saturday and we had a really great dinner. We arrived a little bit early for our reservation and were greeted warmly up front. We were told it would be just a few minutes for our table and after giving the hostess my coat we were seated in quick order at one of the two person tables along the front window of the room. I remember others commenting on the room being very bright, perhaps they have considered this as the lighting was pleasant as the evening wore on and just right as night set in. After a few minutes wait for our waiter during which we were served our water and some very tasty bread and butter we were greated by our server. He was incredibely friendly and helpful throughout the evening proving knowledgeable on all of the beers I inquired about and steering me away from the Surly Three which he informed me was very malty and may be better saved for dessert. He walked us through the menu, making some inobtrusive suggestions and as we had never been to the restaurant before he explained the style of service and sizing of the portions which we thought was very helpful.

I started with two Oysters, the Kumamoto and I believe St. Clair. I did not have much experience with Oysters but I really enjoyed both of these. The Kumamoto was the more flavorful of the two, rich and creamy with a nice mildly briney finish. These were followed by an order of frites and an order of ramps. The frites were very nicely seasoned and accompanied by a very flavorful creamy aioli. There frites were almost perfect the only negative being that some were slightly less crispy. The ramps were also quite tasty but that is about all I can remember aside from a nice mild spiciness to them.

Dinner was closed with the potee and country ribs. The country ribs were very tasty and expertly cooked with just a hint of char from the grill. My wife and I both though thougth the ribs paled in comparison to the tender, juicy offerings of the potee served with delicious assortment of turnips, carrots and other vegetables. The crepinette was potently flavorful with a course meaty texture. I almost found the flavor of this a bit overpowering compared to the tenderloin and veal breast. We ended up taking half of the ribs and most of the crepinette home to save room for desert which consisted of one of their amazingly light and fluffy waffles and one of the most creamy buttery gouda's I've ever enjoyed. Dinner and desert were accompanied for me with a DeRanke XX Bitter which was a very nice incredibely hoppy belgian that did an admirable job of lifting the fats and flavors off of the palate and allowing me to really savor each bite.

We will definitely be back to the Publican to sample more of the menu. The pork belly which we neglected to try this visit is calling my name.

I had dinner at The Publican with a largish party earlier this week. It was my first visit. In the interest of full disclosure I know the chef de cuisine. Due to the size of our party we were able to cut a pretty wide swath through the menu and found everything to be excellent, some dishes mind blowing.

As it was my first visit I took a look around the place and spoke to the chef about his favorites. He specifcially recommended the ham chop in hay and sent us out a plate of the country ribs. Both dishes were magnificent. We also enjoyed their new preparation of sweetbread which have only been on the menu for a couple of weeks and contains a fig counterpoint. Rounding out the meal were the frites with egg, pork rinds, charcuterie plate, trio of ham, pork belly and duck heart. I agree with the poster upthread's thought about the pork belly as dessert. It was sweetly delicious in a not overly cloying way. Just perfect.

We found the room to be warm and inviting and the service knowledgeable and not overbearingly friendly. As it has been several months since they opened it seems like a lot of the service kinks are working themselves out. We didnt sit at a communal table but it looked like those who did were having fun.

It was great to see a new restaurant absolutely hoping on a tuesday night at 6pm. I expected great thing from the follks who run The Publican and was not dissapointed. Cant wait to return to try the oysters and fish.

My wife and I had our first meal at The Publican on Friday. The food was quite good, as was the service, but my question is about the noise level. We sat, just two of us, at one of the non-booth tables (not the communal tables), and had to elevate our voices to be heard. Why do restaurants do this? Are there people who like this because it gives them a sense of a happening place? I will not likely return here, and have the same feeling about the Gage (mostly the front room). If I'm going to have dinner, as opposed to a drink, I do not want to have to raise my voice above its normal level for my dining partner to hear me. It ends up actually affecting what you say, and the nuances of how you say it. I'm sure restaurants can be designed with whatever noise level the owners want, so this was a conscious choice. Maybe I've turned into a grumpy old man in my early 50s, but this just isn't my idea of how a meal should be. Conversation is just as important as the food.

Rant over.

Jonah

Jonah wrote:My wife and I had our first meal at The Publican on Friday. The food was quite good, as was the service, but my question is about the noise level. We sat, just two of us, at one of the non-booth tables (not the communal tables), and had to elevate our voices to be heard. Why do restaurants do this? Are there people who like this because it gives them a sense of a happening place? I will not likely return here, and have the same feeling about the Gage (mostly the front room). If I'm going to have dinner, as opposed to a drink, I do not want to have to raise my voice above its normal level for my dining partner to hear me. It ends up actually affecting what you say, and the nuances of how you say it. I'm sure restaurants can be designed with whatever noise level the owners want, so this was a conscious choice. Maybe I've turned into a grumpy old man in my early 50s, but this just isn't my idea of how a meal should be. Conversation is just as important as the food.

Rant over.

Jonah

What'd you think of the food?

Khaopaat wrote:What'd you think of the food?

The family and I partook in the family meal last night (less one daughter who made meal of ham and frites instead).

Food was all outstanding. Just outstanding. Stellar ingredients, I have not had shrimps this good since Bartollatta in Vegas, but all the cooking matched the basis. I can only make one complaint. On the course of chicken sausage with ramps, grits, morels and grits, I would have liked less chicken sausage and more of the other stuff, which is not to imply the chicken sausage was bad in any way. Just wanted more of the other.

And service, decor, thought highly of them too.

Khaopaat: As I stated at the outset, the food was very good. We had:
Sweetbreads: a simply but slightly sweet coating that was excellent. Served over ramps, which made an excellent counterpoint.
Oysters: We tried three types, all great.
Potee: A simple but tasty stew of several kinds of meats.
Pickles: The plate consists of three pickles, in this case cucumber, asparagus and string beans. Each was flavored differently. This was a highlight of the meal, but then I'm a pickle freak.

I had a phenomenal and very memorable meal at The Publican last weekend, which I recounted in this thread. Yes, it got loud (we arrived at 5:30 and finished up at around 8:30) but the food and the entire experience were so outstanding and so distinctive, the noise level didn't bother me. Honestly, I think that if it were any quieter, people would never leave.

I'd go back in a heartbeat -- and hope to do so very soon -- but admittedly, this is not a place to go with "low talkers."

=R=

As my gracious lady knows I like a good pig, she took me out to Publican
My first visit and a nice one if not a mind blowing one...

I do like the decor. Unusual, warm, with very subtle but intricate details (specfically the wall paper). Big fan of the bathroom set up too. Feels like your visiting some modern day castle. Pig paintings are fun, but the hairless one looks absolutely miserable and I think not a very appetizing image, but art is personal...

Food. Was expertly done, but no significant amazement except…

Oysters. Chef selection of 6. 3 east coast, 3 west coast. All different and I really do appreciate the care they took to deliver these with all of the delicious oyster liquor. I can’t remember if or when I had oysters that were so lovingly prepared.

Next up, fried smelt, fried artichoke hearts, no fried thinly sliced lemon (so sad, might have made all the difference in the world). Once again, expertly prepared, but no excitement here…

The lady had 6 oz of foie gras. Not on the menu, but asked and waddaya know. Traditional seared prep served with nice parsley salad w/ capers and toasted bread. Really thought that thiswould arrive with a full array of accoutrements, but that was it. Strange, wouldn’t you say?... Halfway through the dish had to ask for something sweet to enjoy other aspects of the rich dish. Was given a wonderful fruit compote jam(?). Very nice.

Unfortunately the only pig I had was the country rib per the rec of the server (who was knowledgable, friendly, and very helpful). Wonderful piece of pig and excellently prepared, but unfortunately too familiar to me. I am descended from Korea and the marinade was in the Korean Kalbi tradition. Yummy (not as good as mom’s), but Zero wow factor and kinda strange w/ fried polenta?

4 beers. Three for me, one for the lady. All selected by the server. I with there were additional details to their beer list.

Skipped dessert.

So very appreciate of my lady to take me there, but overall the experience was OK. Yes, perhaps more pig should have been consumed, but the lady doesn’t eat pork/beef. You know how that goes… ALL the food being served looked wonderful. VERY VERY loud. Be prepared to shout, which is OK.

In a Third Act, Pig is a Star -- Frank Bruni of the New York Times names the Publican an Outstanding Newcomer ("significant restaurants around the country that have opened since the start of 2008").

Matt wrote:In a Third Act, Pig is a Star -- Frank Bruni of the New York Times names the Publican an Outstanding Newcomer ("significant restaurants around the country that have opened since the start of 2008").

Great article. Thanks for posting the link!

Back some months and pages on this thread, I suggested that The Publican would probably need six months to find its groove. And, indeed, it has, just in time for some Bruni praise.

I was with a friend who had not yet been, so the familiar highlights were hit: oysters, mussels, potee. All were spot on. Again, however, the vegetables stole the show. Get this: grilled asparagus are set atop a pile of grits whipped with marscarpone, draped with hazelnuts and doused with olive oil. Frighteningly good.

We had some drama getting seated and a few service hassles along the way--but those are for the TAC Quick thread, right?

Went for the first time in celebration of a very special occasion. And it turned out to be a special occasion indeed!
We had incredibly selected oysters - lots of love for the PEI oyster ==== licorice notes in an oyster? Unbeleivable.
The beer list had me straight tripping though. Too much too many and I made some random selection at first. My beer dilemma was later remedied, but we will get to that.
I ordered sweetbreads, my vegetarian wife ordered the Lake Perch and french fries. Fries and perch were utterly perfected and rich. I love green tomatoes and they accented the fish well.
Then a familiar face in a Publican uniform happened by. It was an aquatance of mine from school whom had been working there for a while as a beer specialist.

He looked at my beers and then asked what I had ordered. I said the sweetbreads and he gave me a dissapointed look and said I should drink what I already had with dessert!!! I laughed and said find me a beer for the sweetbreads cause that list kills me!
He did, and boy did he pick the right beer. My friend fetched me a Flemmish red ale. Totally acidic and almost sour wine quality. Needless to say a perfect companion for sweetbreads. IF only my friend had happened on me sooner!

If you go to the publican find my friend --- he is the younger male waiter, pale-ish, skinny, dark hair and very friendly. He is a beer wizard and will take care of you no doubt.

On Sundays, does The Publican only have the family style dinners or is the regular menu also available? I went there once and absolutely loved it and would like to take some out-of-town friends later this month.

When I called 2 sundays ago for dinner, they only had options for pre-fix dinner(3 course fo $45, I believe). You could only order appetizers for a la cart. I'd call and ask

My wife and I hit Publican last night for our 10th anniversary dinner. Pretty much everything was perfect, especially the mussels and the selection of oysters (4-each) we picked, with the Potee the only so-so selection (though not bad at all). Neither of us is big enough to be a big drinker, so we only had a beer each, and with a waffle for dessert the tab came out at a very reasonable $98, which is comparable to, say, Marche, but with noticeably better food. Next time - and there will be a next time - I may stick with the seafood, as much as I love me some pork.

Service was great across the board, with the exception of one funny mishap. Because they knew it was our anniversary they stuck a little candle on the plate by the waffle, which is corny but cute. We blew it out, ate the dessert, sat around digesting and then settled the bill. Several minutes later, while the server was off with our credit card, I saw someone approaching with another waffle with a lit candle on it. Oh, how nice, I thought. Someone else is celebrating something. But then the guy pivots and brings the waffle to our table. "I hear tonight's a special one!" goes the gleeful server.

"It is," we answered, "but we already ate our waffle!" He gave a sheepish/surprised look, so I suggested he surprise some other unsuspected couple. Maybe if we were feeling more dishonest we would have gladly accepted the second waffle and scarfed it down before anyone noticed.

How far in advance does the Publican publish the menus for the Sunday dinners? I'd love to take my wife, but she's not as adventurous as I, so I'd rather not find us in a situation where she refuses to eat the entree.

The Sunday menus for August 1st, 8th and 15th are up on the website. And they sound GOOOOODDDDD! This Sunday you can pair with 3 Floyd's beers.

thepld wrote:The Sunday menus for August 1st, 8th and 15th are up on the website. And they sound GOOOOODDDDD! This Sunday you can pair with 3 Floyd's beers.

unless I am mistaken those Sunday menus on the site are from March 2009. they did look good though.

I was ever so slightly disappointed by my first visit to the Publican last night. Everything was good, but nothing approached the very high bar set by food I've eaten recently at the other Kahan-empire places. A pickle plate consisted of kohlrabi (spicy, crunchy, and terrific), bread and butter cucumber (fine), and green beans (tasteless, textureless mistake). Spicy pork rinds were an outstanding beer snack. Duck hearts and liver chopped up and smothered with blackberries were good, but the offal got a little too lost for my taste, and the hearts themselves were more rubbery than they had to be. Fried clams and squash blossoms were OK, but the thick, hearty breading worked much better for the clams than for the blossoms, which got completely lost. Suckling pig was suckling pig, but where was the crispy skin? The tasty dish was textural mush, and - much as I like butter - I see no good reason to serve fatty, suckling pork drowning a pool of melted butter. Presumably, the butter had actually been used to cook the greens and mushrooms on the plate, but it oozed all over the place. If ever there were greens that should have been cooked in pork fat (are there ever greens that should NOT be cooked in pork fat?) this was the time.

The Publican: good beer, decent food, relatively clueless service, pretty people, uncomfortable seating. Eh.

The Publican: good beer, decent food, relatively clueless service, pretty people, uncomfortable seating. Eh.

I second KennyZ and his recent post on Publican. I went this Saturday for my birthday, and left full but a little underwhelmed. The beer selection was very good, and the pork rinds were the best I have had (basically only compared to the commercial kind, so maybe not saying much), and they did go well with the beer. But the charcuterie plate was only decent: excellent homemade headcheese, fairly good chorizo, but the duck and fois gras terrine was overly cold and a little tasteless, as was the pork pie (although the large caper berries were a nice touch on the plate with 3 homemade mustards). For dinner, my wife had the Pork Country Ribs, which were very much like pork chops, and 2/3 slabs were overcooked and oversalted, although the one that was not overcooked combined with the grilled peaches quite nicely. I will say that my Pork Belly on top of fresh corn and greens was really, really well done: the perfect mix of fat, crunchy top layer, sweetness, earthiness and porky goodness - probably the best preparation of pork belly I have had.

So all in all, it was mixed bag. I would go again, but probably only for beers and to chomp on some appetizers.

Kennyz wrote:... textureless mistake...

For me, this seemed to be an unfortunately and recurring theme of the evening. The pickled green beans, the duck hearts and liver, the suckling pig - all lacked texture. I really liked the hearts, liver and black raspberries* - but unfortunately the grilled bread underneath - presumably intended as the crunch element - immediately got soggy from the offal/berry mix, making the whole thing kind of mushy. As Kenny mentioned, the soft suckling pig meat served over (heavily buttered) cooked greens and mushrooms had the same issue.

Kennyz wrote:The Publican: good beer, decent food, relatively clueless service, pretty people, uncomfortable seating. Eh.

We did our best to bring down the average!

-Dan

* KennyZ mentions them as blackberries, but I think they were black raspberries. Maybe not.

LTH,

I am a long time fan of Avec and Blackbird, but 0 for 2 at the Publican. Last outing was with a non food centric friend, yes I actually have one or two, we settled in at the bar ordered a beer and a plate of Col. Bill Newsome's ham. Modestly ringed with sweet clean fat the delectable piggy flesh coupled with the slight tang of goat butter and crusty bread has me smiling at the flavor combination a month later. Crisp fries with sunny side up organic egg, delicious, delectable, but what's not to love about the combo of egg yolk and crisp potato.

The Charcuterie plate was our stumbling block to overall enjoyment, flavorless Guinea Hen glantine, Pork Pie dense as a dark star, desert dry Chorizo and lackluster Headcheese. Part of the flavor, or should I say lack of flavor, problem was the surprisingly frigid serving temperature. Every item on the charcuterie plate missed the mark, with the exception of house-made zucchini pickle and bread and butter pickle.

We enjoyed the first two dishes yet felt the meal missed by a wide margin. Newsome's ham is sourced and sliced and fries with a sunny side up egg, while delicious, does not exactly strain the culinary talents of the Publican team. Our disappointment in the charcuterie plate, coupled with a total (inc tax/tip) of $90 for one shared beer and three items, had us feeling like rubes as we exited the restaurant.

Enjoy,
Gary

I'm glad I waited.
Waited for the "buzz" to die down- waited for the Money (in my "Hip National Bank" account ) to afford a nice meal,
and waited to be able to heartily enjoy a special Birthday with a party of 4.

From the minute I had made phone reservations, the same day- and had a great "vibe" conveyed by the woman that took my reservation, (and request for a Birthday something)- to our warm greeting by the hostess with "ink"- I knew we were in for a special meal.
Kim, our lovely effusive Vietnamese server has a passion for food- and her job- that shows remarkably. After a stint in LA & Spain she had returned to Chicago, making Chicago diners fatter and smarter- one Table at a Time.

My Belgium Style Ale was served on Tap- in an old fashioned Champagne style glass.Very hoppy- and richly amber colored.
We all enjoyed the multicolored Beet Salad with amazingly sweet Ricotta- reminiscent of a great Stacked salad at 160 blue (although this one was served as a ranch- not a multistory). The next salad was a house mixed salad- outstanding! Also, a smoked trout ,covered with capers, and onions, on toast points was brought to the table- that had us all "remembering" Sunday Morning lox and bagel experiences.

We had a Seafood Soup with all of the mussels and Clams perfectly cooked- and no "duds" in the lot. The broth was rich and savory- with hints of Orange zest (a favorite trick in my Bouillabaisse /Ciopinno!!). The whole fish - perfectly butterflied and left with head and fins- was moist and full of aromatics.
A Boudin Blanc was also served- that had an amazingly smooth texture- and had a rich savory flavor- (that had one diner compare to gefilte fish!)

Since it was a Birthday- and Donny (one of the owners) Medea is an old friend- we were served a trio of desserts- from an amazingly tart,yet not too tart Concord Grape Sorbet with a "crumble" of sorts down below- to a chocolate cake with a small scoop of Chocolate (and cumin?) ice cream that blew us all away.

Being one to notice many details in any restaurant- I had to check out the bathroom. Kind of an unusual set up- with 3 doors to the left for the ladies (only 2 for the Hombres)- and a centrally located Circular Sink- with one temperature pre adjusted for the water flow.
To me, one of the greatest details-
an amazing scented British Style Hand Soap- next to- a scented hand lotion.
Now- I'm as Manly a Man as any-
bending steel with my hands for a trade-
but I couldn't help
but to enjoy the smell of my hands after leaving the restaurant-
and subsequently,
asking my girl to "smell my hands"-
A way to remember the meal /dining experience?- possibly-
but certainly one of many small touches that are well considered, and thought about!

All in all - from beginning to end - a class affair.
Now - I can see how- if you're standing at a small table-
or- sitting outside on Fulton Street- it may not be as much focused on the food-
more about the "scene"-
but from my perspective in the "boxed in booth"-
Donny and Edwourd (and Paul Kahan!)
have created a place that deserves the attention and praise its been receiving--
both nationally and locally.

I highly recommend this place.

yeah, me too.

I ate there last night and everything we had was pretty damn good. Started with the pork rinds, which, despite mucho hype, surpassed my expectations. Warm, melting, tender, with great spice and flavor from the dusting of cheesy, spicy powder they get. We had a big portion of La Quercia prosciutto, which was so fabulous that we mostly ate it just plain, then a smoked trout dish that was kind of a loose bruschetta type arrangement with fromage blanc, chunky lardons that were just the right chewy-crisp texture, big pieces of the smoked trout, a couple slices of some really wonderful tomato, and what I think was probably watercress. This dish was really excellent.

We also had the "little jewels" salad with crispy pig's ear shreds and some delicious thinly sliced radishes, and the lauded roast chicken with frites and summer sausage.

All of it was really great. Nice beers, a loose, laid back vibe, and great food. Made for a really excellent anniversary dinner.

It's been several months since my last visit to the Publican and I'm feeling a very strong desire to return -- hopefully soon.

=R=