Yep, they did indeed drop all liquor, wine and beer service abruptly. A Tribune article this summer implied that they did this by choice in response to what customers prefer, rather than because they lost their license. That sounds suspect, but who knows.

Kennyz wrote:Yep, they did indeed drop all liquor, wine and beer service abruptly. A Tribune article this summer implied that they did this by choice in response to what customers prefer, rather than because they lost their license. .

sounds to me like a story their p.r. firm cooked up.

Kennyz wrote:Yep, they did indeed drop all liquor, wine and beer service abruptly. A Tribune article this summer implied that they did this by choice in response to what customers prefer, rather than because they lost their license. That sounds suspect, but who knows.

Wow - I thought they were always BYO. I prefer BYO anyway, so it works for me, whatever the reason.

As I recall, we had a 2008 VD reservation(oh grow up!) at S & S and we were notified the day before that no booze would be available . No reason given. They simply could have chosen not to renew their license.

Who knows...but at $29 for three courses (with food at this level), who cares?

I'm glad to hear that they're BYOB all the time. Their website doesn't say anything about it.

John Danza wrote:I'm glad to hear that they're BYOB all the time. Their website doesn't say anything about it.

Probably they inform people who call for a reservation. At least I hope they do! I am very happy with the policy change for the people who like BYOB, but as one who has been to S&S twice and ordered drinks and wine, I wouldn't like to go there empty-handed only to discover at that point that the bar was bare.

Out of a desire to shift the focus from service, I didn't add in my post that, before going, I noticed on the web site something about "no corkage fee" and had called and left a message asking if they still served booze. They never called back. But it wasn't that big a deal to go a few doors down and get a bottle--although I would have preferred to have put more thought into the wine than deciding among the slim pickings of a convenience store. Let's reiterate it like a mantra though: $29 for three courses of amazing food.

I agree that it would be nice if they advertised it. I've been in a few BYOB restaurants when folks who didn't know were seated and wanted to order some wine and were told that it wasn't available. In one case, we had more wine than we needed for the evening, so we gave the couple next to us a couple of glasses.

I also like to know if a place is BYOB because I've started bringing my own glassware as well. Many places don't have suitable glassware, and I don't expect them to invest a lot of money in glasses if they're going to charge little or no corkage.

A blurb on their website would be nice. I'll definitely find some time to get back there.

riddlemay wrote:

John Danza wrote:I'm glad to hear that they're BYOB all the time. Their website doesn't say anything about it.

Probably they inform people who call for a reservation. At least I hope they do!

They certainly did inform us when we made a reservation a couple of weeks ago.

Fraggle wrote:We started with a complementary vegetarian tart....

We ordered the $29 prix fixe, starting with an arugula salad and a butternut squash risotto. The arugula salad was excellent, with a nice truffle oil, citrus dressing and hard cheese. Very simple and very delicious. My spouse liked her risotto. My entree was the lobster risotto. Wow. There were generous portions of lobster--a lobster to risotto ratio I associate more with Boston than Chicago. I want to go back and order it again, like this week.

The chocolate pie with peanut butter ice cream was the hit dessert. The texture and flavor resembled and improved upon a Reese's peanut butter cup. And I love peanut butter cups....

A few of us met at Sweets & Savories for dinner tonight, and didn't score any complementary appetizers. What we did get, however, was a friendly, helpful, personable server, some great food, and a seriously excellent value (not to mention a lot of good wine and great company, but that goes without saying ).

Fraggle's report & recommendations were right on, in my opinion...the butternut squash risotto was nice, slightly sweet, rich, creamy. The roasted vegetable tart had a great buttery crust and came with a side of mild, creamy goat cheese and balsamic reduction that gave it some nice richness and acidity. We didn't try the arugula salad, but the Salad Lyonnaise really hit the spot. The mussels appetizer, on the other hand, was good, but nothing to write home about.

The lobster risotto, which featured grana cheese, white truffle oil, arugula, and a heaping helping of big, sweet, succulent chunks of lobster meat, was fantastic. Buttery, perfectly-cooked scallops came with a side of killer foie gras risotto. The pork chop, cooked to medium, was tender and juicy, and was perched on top of what I initially thought were too-sweet mashed sweet potatoes...but eating the two together made perfect sense. Short ribs were cooked to a nice tenderness but still had a bit of chew to them and sat atop a pile of delicious gorgonzola polenta that soaked up the ribs' juices...I wasn't a huge fan of the accompanying apricot ketchup, but I can definitely see how it works with the dish.

On the side, we shared "Beef Tallow Pommes Frites Parisianne", which were like hot, fresh shoestring potatoes, and truffle mac & cheese, which was just ridiculously good...even after I was so stuffed I was worried I wouldn't have room for dessert, I couldn't help but grab a forkful or two of that mac & cheese.

Desserts were delicious and a memorable way to end the meal...apple tarte with bacon ice cream hit that nice balance of a-little-salty and not-too-sweet, plus had a buttery crust and apples with some really intriguing spice action going on. Bread pudding's crème Anglaise and caramel sauce combined to give it more of the salty and sweet balance, plus, hey, caramel sauce...what's not to love? Pumpkin cake with "soft cream" (unsweetened, whipped cream) was cool, refreshing and did a great job of cleansing the palate.

But the chocolate cornmeal pie with peanut butter ice cream...holy crap. When Fraggle said it "improved upon a Reese's peanut butter cup", he wasn't kidding. The pie was like a large, less-dense dark chocolate brownie in a pie crust, but wasn't painfully sweet like so many "death by chocolate"-type desserts. The peanut butter ice cream tasted exactly like freshly-ground, sweetened peanut butter but had the texture of gourmet ice cream. This was throw-on-a-Snuggie, curl-up-on-the-couch, eat-it-by-the-quart ice cream.

Overall, the food and service far exceeded expectations. The $29 prix fixe has got to be one of the better dining deals in town...I look forward to taking advantage of it again soon (but not too soon...I left seriously stuffed tonight, which made running for buses & trains a bit uncomfortable).

Oh, FYI, their provided wine glasses worked just fine...they were standard 5oz stemmed glasses. Nothing fancy, but definitely not crappy tumblers or anything.

Khaopaat wrote:Oh, FYI, their provided wine glasses worked just fine...they were standard 5oz stemmed glasses. Nothing fancy, but definitely not crappy tumblers or anything.

Excellent news. This was my only fear about them switching to BYO.

Khaopaat wrote:Oh, FYI, their provided wine glasses worked just fine...they were standard 5oz stemmed glasses. Nothing fancy, but definitely not crappy tumblers or anything.

Thanks, this is good info to know. Sounds like they're great for whites and medium reds, but if you bring a heavy red (Bordeaux, Cali Cab, Rhone) then you may want to bring glasses with larger bowls.

I can't wait to get back to S&S.

I don't have too much to add to Khaopaat's excellent summary above except to comment again on the excellence of the three different risotto's we tried - foie gras, lobster, and butternut squash with blue cheese. Someone mentioned that S&S really excels at risotto and they were right. The only negative is that the butternut squash wasn't a prominent flavor in the risotto, but it was still a quite tasty dish.

I also wanted to acknowledge the very warm and very friendly service. From the phone call to reserve a table to the greeting at the door to the service, everyone was very friendly. From what I noticed during dinner, the servers are doing everything in the front of house - serving, clearing, filling water, answering the phone, greeting customers at the door, seating tables, etc. I can see where if they had to take a call during a busy dinner service, they might sound a bit short or hurried to a caller. But again, that wasn't my experience at all, and the service was quite warm and gracious. I'll be back soon for a meal that is such a terrific value.

I was very happy to see these recent posts as we are dining at Sweets & Savories tomorrow night and really looking forward to it. We haven't been since they went only BYO. I have kind of a weird question and I'd appreciate opinions from this community. My FIL makes wine as a hobby and he's gotten pretty darn good over the last few years. Would it be strange to bring "homemade" wine to S&S? It's labled and corked and I think what I currently have in house would be nice with the menu, but I also don't want to be seen as a freak and laughed at in the kitchen. Maybe they'd break out plastic cups instead of the stemware... Opinions - faux pas or no big deal? Has anyone else here done this at a BYO?

Here's the wine I may bring, minus the chocolate-orange port. Sorry for the glare. Their label is "Three Wegies" after their 3 Norwegian Forrest Cats (well, now there are two as Gordon has passed from this world...)

LynnB wrote:I was very happy to see these recent posts as we are dining at Sweets & Savories tomorrow night and really looking forward to it. We haven't been since they went only BYO. I have kind of a weird question and I'd appreciate opinions from this community. My FIL makes wine as a hobby and he's gotten pretty darn good over the last few years. Would it be strange to bring "homemade" wine to S&S? It's labled and corked and I think what I currently have in house would be nice with the menu, but I also don't want to be seen as a freak and laughed at in the kitchen. Maybe they'd break out plastic cups instead of the stemware... Opinions - faux pas or no big deal? Has anyone else here done this at a BYO?

Here's the wine I may bring, minus the chocolate-orange port. Sorry for the glare. Their label is "Three Wegies" after their 3 Norwegian Forrest Cats (well, now there are two as Gordon has passed from this world...)

Hi Lynn,

My wife and I will be there tomorrow as well, with a 7:30 reservation. Look for a big bald guy and that will be me.

I'm probably the first person people would expect to dissuade you from bringing your wine, since I'm a Governor in the International Wine & Food Society. But au contraire! I think that if you like the wine, then you should drink it. A BYBO restaurant is the perfect opportunity to drink a wine like yours. Manyefs aren't that plugged in on the nuances of wine and food pairings, so you may be able to teach them something tomorrow. You should pour your wine tomorrow with pride.

Well, thanks John. I guess we'll be the average looking couple with the weird wine. Our reservations are for 8:00.

Based on our experience with the two servers we had last night, I have no reason to think anyone would look askance at your homemade wine. My sense was that they really wanted to help you have a good meal and a good time. Enjoy your meal and your FIL's wine!

just a reminder that sweets and savories has a wonderful, reasonably priced brunch ($14) on the weekends.

sweetsandsavoriesrestaurant.com

I'm not sure even how they would know it was home-made unless you told them.

My wife and I had a very nice evening at S&S last night. We also met LynnB and her husband Jonathan as well and had a great conversation. The wine made by LynnB's father-in-law had great flavor BTW, and the labels are certainly distrinctive.

For starters Jan had the roasted vegetable tart while I had the gnocchi with chanterelles. For our mains Jan had the steak frites while I had the beef short ribs. Dessert was the chocolate cornmeal pie with peanut butter ice cream along with the milk chocolate pecan pie with burnt butter (I think that was it) ice cream. The chef sent out a third dessert to us, his apple pie with bacon cheddar ice cream.

The starters and the mains were all executed very wll and all had excellent flavor. The desserts were up and down for me. The chocolate cornmeal pie didn't have much chocolate flavor for me and the texture was a bit grainy. The peanut butter ice creat was a killer though! The pecan pie was fabulous, but the ice cream on it was a bit bland. Next time I'll request the PB ice cream on the pecan pie. The apple pie was very good (We're not much for apple pie) and the bacon cheddar ice cream had good flavor but was a dry consistency.

Service couldn't have been better or more friendly. They were training a new server who was trailing our server all night. Everyone was attentive and pleasant.

Oh, I completely forgot that I also ordered the truffle mac and cheese! I liked it a lot. It had a great consistency and the truffle flavor was just right, not too overpowering.

I'll definitely be going back soon to S&S. The $29 3-course meal is a steal, and then being able to drink your own wine on top of it makes for an inexpensive night out to dinner.

I concur with John that food and service were excellent last night! Great talking with John and Jan too. I now definately know where to turn to with wine questions/advice.

I started with the mussels. They were done nicely and were fresh, but it wasn't a particuarly interesting preparation. The garlic toast that came with had great flavor, but I thought it was cut too thick making it challenging to eat gracefully. I wound up soaking it in the broth a bit longer than I normally would before eating. Jonathan had the butternut squash risotto appetizer which he loved so much it was gone before I could get a taste. I had to have the lobster risotto as my entree after reading posts above. I was not disappointed. The pork chop was Jonathan's choice. It looked really juicy inside with nice caramelization on the outside. He was quite happy with it.

Our server informed us that you can sub a side dish for a dessert and get the prix fix price, so Jonathan did that and had a side of the wonderful truffle mac and cheese. I couldn't resist and sneaked a few bites. Just what I needed with my entree of starch - a side of starch.

We were stuffed, so neither of us ordered dessert, just coffee. The kitchen graciously sent out a panna cotta gratis. This place is an incredible value (especially when you can bring your FIL's free-to-you wine!) We have to get here more often.

My wife and I had an incredibly good meal at Sweets and Savories last Friday night. We started with the butternut squash bisque and the mussels and sausage. The butternut squash bisque was incredibly flavorful; a perfect fall dish. It is quite sweet though, and we both thought it would be even better with a little savory or spiciness added. The mussels and sausage were served with a simple, but flavorful tomato sauce. A very nice dish also.

For main courses we had the beef short ribs over polenta and the seared scallops with a foie gras risotto. The short ribs were nice but the polenta was a bit under-seasoned. The scallops may have been the most perfectly cooked scallops I've ever had.

For dessert we had the chocolate cornmeal cake with peanut butter ice cream; and the apple tart with bacon ice cream. The ice creams were both fantastic - really unbelievable. I loved the chocolate cornmeal tart because it wasn't in-your-face sweet. The apple tart was also very good.

Wish we knew you could sub a side for a dessert!

Overall, a great meal at a great value. The only problem was the nosey people sitting next to us: note that just because we're sitting a foot from you doesn't mean we are actually eating together. If you want to see what wine we brought, give us a minute to settle in and then ask us. Don't sit and stare at our bottle, twisting your head to read the label. Finally, we know you are talking about what food we ordered. You aren't being subtle. But we're trying to eat here so if you could finish up the discussion of our food so we don't feel like fish in fishbowl, that would be great.

Count me among the huge fans of this place. The food is spectacular, but when you add in the prix fixe price and the BYO, this place is one of the best. I have the agree the scallops were dead on. I also loved the foie gras risotto served with the scallops and the ridiculously tender spare ribs. The desserts were all good, but not exceptional. Next time we'll sub sides for some of the desserts. Nonetheless, this place clearly makes the regular rotation.

Second meal here. Today I went for the brunch. You can't beat it. The place is so civilized. You can even hear your dining companions without them having to shout or repeat themselves. Then there's great food on top of it. Plus they take reservations for brunch. My husband was shocked.

Brunch is a prix fixe for $14.00. You get an assortment of sweets for the table, today it was a plate with palmiers, cinnamon roll, fig scone, a chocolate chip muffin, and a coffee cake with walnuts & caramel. Then you choose from soup or salad, both were outstanding today. The soup was a sweet potato bisque. The salad was aruglula, lemon, & grana. Then you choose from a selection of french toasts, bacon waffle, eggs, etc.

I think I want to go back next week. I just can't decide if it should be for brunch or dinner.

Well, today I find myself a bit conflicted. I said I would comment back on my experience at S&S, but I'm not eager to post a negative review, particularly after such glowing reviews above and the wonderful recommendation I received for the place from LTH members.
Perhaps S&S just had one of those nights where nothing goes right, but man, this was not a very good experience.

As Mrs. P commented, "was it something we said?"

My night started with the lovely Pursuit women, dressed to the nines (admittedly over dressed for the joint, but we were having one of our last family nights together before my oldest goes to college next fall). We arrived about 10 minutes before our 8pm reservation. One of the waiters quickly put set our table, and we were seated a bit before 8. So far so good.

The room itself is really quite nice. Perhaps a bit small, but the intimacy lends a certain neighborhood feel to S&S that is quite nice. People are talking, the atmosphere is loud, but not overly so, and it is easy to find yourself with a smile on your face ready to have a good time.

Our waiter came over and introduced himself, and gave us menus, printed on colored paper. Our glasses were filled with cucumber water that was very refreshing, and the waiter gave me a cork pull to open our Chateau La Nerthe Chatenuef du Pape.

We opted for the prix fixe $29 for three courses. Mrs. P ordered the arugula salad and the scallops, Daughter 1 ordered the gnocchi and mushrooms and lobster risotto, daughter 2 opted for the pear, gorgonzola salad, and I chose the butternut squash risotto and chocrute (I believe that is how it was spelled on the menu). Oddly, our waiter complemented me on knowing how to pronounce chocrute. Since we had read about the mac and cheese on LTH, and it was not on the menu, I asked our waiter about it, and he said, that he had forgot about it and we went ahead and ordered two servings.

Our first course met mostly approving reviews. The two salads were good, and I thought my risotto was ok. It was well cooked, but in my view it was overwhelmingly rich and cheesy. It came with crispy sage which helped the dish gain some balance and as I ate the risotto, it sort of grew on me. Sadly, the gnocchi was poorly executed and came out mushy and pasty.

This is when the meal started going downhill.

As I was finishing my risotto, my main course showed up. I had barely put the last fork full in my mouth, none of our plates had been cleared and we shared an uncomfortable moment with the waiter. Our plates were quickly cleared, and my chocrute was put down in front of me. No other plates arrived. A few minutes later, a waiter came back, and asked to take my plate away. “There’s been a screw up in the kitchen”. I actually was relieved since I really didn’t want to eat without my family. About 3 minutes later, my traveling chocrute appeared yet again! This time with my wife’s scallops. Our two other meals were nowhere to be found. After a couple minutes of waiting, I told my wife that she’d better go ahead, since cooled scallops really don’t work. In a few minutes, by daughter’s lobster risotto arrived, and then a couple minutes later the steak frites arrived.

In all this time, we had a different waiter, and our main waiter who introduced himself, had yet to stop by. The replacement waiter did apologize and explain that the kitchen screwed up.

The good? The scallops were done quite well, just a little pink in the middle perfect, and the fois gras risotto was good, but again almost too rich. The lobster risotto was good, as my daughter said the risotto itself was excellent, but the lobster itself was not the best that I have had – a bit mushy. The mediocre? The steak frites. After a first bite that was inedible gristle, Daughter 2 said the steak was quite good – and a very generous, thick serving – but the frites were way over salted. The bad? My chocrute. I really couldn’t eat much of it because it was so overly salty. Truly a bad dish.

What happened next was truly strange given the speed with which our first course was cleared. Once we were obviously done with our meal – I say obviously because I did still have half of my dish left and my daughter’s steak was half finished due to the portion – we had to wait for at least 30 minutes before our waiter came over and cleared the table. Now I recognize these guys are understaffed as the waiters do seem to be doing everything short of cooking, but we did observe our guy with time on his hands to chat up other diners or hang out at the bar talking to his fellow waiters. So, this was really rather annoying. Compounding the problem, we asked for my daughter’s steak to be wrapped to take home, and, of course, never saw it again. I suppose we should have asked about it, but frankly forgot until we got to the car. So, our bad.

Finally our table was cleared and it was on to desert. The cornmeal chocolate cornmeal pie with peanut butter ice cream was good, as was the bread pudding and apple tart with bacon cheddar ice cream.

So, all in all, a disappointment. One wonders if S&S, in an effort to make their business model viable, has understaffed to the point of providing an average dining experience. This may also, just have been a bad night. Either way, I’m not sure we’ll be back.

Pursuit thanks for the report. It's always important to hear about not so great meal/service even if it is loved by others here.

Before I went to S & S the 1st time I was a bit concerned b/c someone a few months ago had a bad time when they showed up without a reservation. There was also someone who had a difficult phone exchange, if my memory is correct. I went with some reservations because most here had loved the food. When I went the 1st time & had no service issues & everyone enjoyed their food, I thought the service glitches were over. Today, I had a very different experience from you so I don't know what's going on. I guess I will need to put my guard back up on this place, although I've had great experiences with service and food.

Cheers,

I thought I'd give Sweets and Savories a try for a big group dinner last night for friends visiting from Dublin. For anyone needing to plan something for a larger group, S&S has a nice option for large groups- for the same prix fixe of $29 for three courses, your group can enjoy pretty much the entire menu served family style. We were served three salads, the gnocchi, butternut squash risotto, scallops, salmon, lobster risotto, pork loin, steak, short ribs and five desserts. The only thing we didn't get were the soups and burger. It was great fun to see dish after dish coming out of the kitchen. The food was terrific as always. Alas, I was more focused on catching up with friends than on the food so won't report on dishes with great detail, but we all enjoyed pretty much everything that came out of the kitchen. Standouts were the short ribs, which I've enjoyed before and a beautiful pumpkin cake that was incredibly moist, not too sweet and not overloaded on the spices so that the pumpkin flavor really came through. Our group took up about half the restaurant and the service was attentive and friendly. The only service glitch was that there were no serving spoons or forks provided with the dishes that were passed around and we initially had to use our own forks to serve ourselves until we asked for extras. Overall, a lovely meal and a truly terrific value that worked well for our large group.

Back again last night for dinner. Everyone else, but me, went for the 3 course $29 steal.

My food was very good again. Everyone else said their food was great as well.

Weird service issues. Before folks could finish their 1st course, the main was placed on the table. These tables are not big enough for 1st and 2nd course dishes to share.

It was awkward. My husband, who isn't a slow eater, started wolfing down his arugula salad so that he could get on to the steak.

I will chalk it up to an off night but service was too fast. Not to worry, I will go back and our friends want to go back as well.

Seven of us had dinner tonight, and because everything was half-price, the total after tax came out to about $150! Tuesdays are GREAT days to go! Appetizers for about $4. Entrees (generous portions!) for $8.50-$11. Desserts for $3.50.

Not surprisingly, the place was packed. We had a reservation for 8pm but didn't get seated till after 8:30pm. In the meantime, our group chilled at the bar with some beer that we had brought lol I had to call the restaurant three times to change the number of guests under the reservation, and each time I spoke with a different person. Some people have experienced rude employees, but everyone I spoke with on the phone, and all the of servers I encountered this evening were very kind and friendly! If you have a reservation for more than six people, they do ask for a credit card number. If you don't show, you are charged, but at least they give you that amount back as a gift certificate to the restaurant. That's better than other places.

The service was unexpectedly strong! The servers offered to hang our coats in the back. We received a bucket of ice to chill our bottles of wine without having to ask. Empty bottles, finished plates, etc were removed quickly, water glasses were constantly replenished, and tables were marked before food arrived. Although the restaurant was full, the wait between courses wasn't long.

My favorites of the night: mac and cheese ($3.50) (I like most mac and cheese though...); kobe burger ($8.50); lemon curd tart ($3.50); pear cardamon cake ($3.50).

Call a couple weeks in advance and make reservations for a Tues! And don't forget to bring booze!