Harder than I would have thought

I am taking a business guest to dinner next week (Tuesday), and I am having a dickens of a time figuring out the right place to go. I am hoping y'all can help. (As you did a few weeks ago in expertly steering me towards Vie for my wife's birthday dinner.) He is staying at TheWit at State/Lake, so something in Loop/River North/etc would be best.

--My guest is from Madrid, so I don't want to do anything too Mediterranean.
--His english is good, but not super, so somewhere on the quieter side would be good.
--For the same reason, I think overly "complicated" food with lengthy descriptions would not be good -- I don't want to spend the whole evening trying to translate chef-ese into my rusty Chilango spanish.
--He's insisting on paying, so I don't want to splurge too much.
--He's ruled out sushi, but given me no other guidance.
--Did I mention I've never met him? (He's a big fan of one of my books, and a mutual acquaintance introduced us remotely.)

*Sigh*

My usual go-to spot for biz dinners is Blackbird, but I think it may be too noisy. MK may be a good option -- I have never been, but colleagues with good tastebuds think well of it. Or I could do something very Chicago/American and go to David Burke's Primehouse /Keefer's. Crofton may also work, though I have not been there in years.

Any thoughts or other recommendations? Thanks in advance for the input.

How about Naha, just a few blocks away?

Out of towner, easily described food, American/Chicago experience. . . . gotta be a steak.

Panther in the Den wrote:30 Great Places to get a Steak

1. Gene and Georgetti
2. Gibson's
3. Keefer's
4. Tavern on Rush
5. The Saloon in the Seneca Hotel
6. Joes Seafood
7. Morton's (the original Newbury Plaza location)
8. Uncommon Ground
9. Rosebud Steakhouse
10. Erie Cafe
11. Old Town Brasserie
12. Joe's on Grand
13. Chicago Chop House
14. David Burke's Primehouse
15. Ditka's
16. Capital Grille
17. Tango Sur
18. Stetson's
19. Harry Caray's
20. Carmichael's
21. Weber Grill
22. Myron & Phil
23. Ronny's Original Chicago Steak House
24. Blackbird
25. Ray Radigan's
26. Tom's Steak House
27. Mon Ami Gabi
28. Jack Binion's Steak House at the Horseshoe Casino
29. Smith & Wollensky
30. Sabatino's

My favorite for entertaining is the Erie Cafe for its great steaks, perfect service, very comfortable and handsome room, slightly less expensive menu, free valet parking, and the non-touristy in-the-know feeling of the place.

Erie Cafe
536 W Erie St
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 266-2300

If you go to Keefer's (which I'd certainly put on the short-list based on your conditions), you should request not to be seated in the main dining room when making your reservation. It gets very loud, while the two rooms on either side are conversation friendly. I always make this request when taking my parents to Keefer's (mom is a quiet talker), and they are more than happy to oblige.

I recommend Cibo Matto, which is right in the Wit itself, on the second floor. Yes, the cuisine is Italian which is Mediterranean, but much of the menu items seem to come straight off a contemporary American menu like Blackbird's. When I ate dinner there recently, here's what I had, and you'll see what I mean. I started with an appetizer of sweetbreads, which as it happens was the one dish I was less than crazy about, since the added lemons overpowered the sweetbreads themselves. My main was braised short ribs of beef with a red wine reduction, and they were very good indeed. I also got a side of their creamy polenta, which was wonderful. The dessert was so good I posted about it in the "best thing you've eaten lately" topic, which I almost never do. It was a composed plate with a small scoop of strawberry sorbet and a wonderful amaretti cookie but the featured item was cardamom panna cotta, and I'm still thinking about how great it was and wanting to go back. It was one of the very best things I've eaten in the past year.

The service was fine. The atmosphere at Cibo Matto is upscale contemporary, and they have these big vertical dividers between the tables so that there is a sense of privacy with very little noise from surrounding tables; even though it was doing a good business, it was one of the quieter restaurants I've been to lately.

Cibo Matto
201 N State St
(312) 239-9500
http://cibomatto.therestaurantsatthewit.com

Topolobampo is close, takes reservations, is unique, and speaking Spanish is not a problem.

trpt2345 wrote:Topolobampo is close, takes reservations, is unique, and speaking Spanish is not a problem.

I'm with the hornplayer - great rec.

Good luck getting a dinner reservation for this Tuesday at Topolobampo. They've been booking up 2-3 months out for dinner.

However, if you want to show off our creative Mexican cuisine (which he can't get back home), I recommend taking the short cab ride to Mundial Cocina Mestiza. (I'd normally be recommending Salpicon or Mexique for places close to downtown, but neither one is particularly quiet. Mundial is nicely quiet.)

Province or Sepia, close to each other, and you could take the opportunity to stop by the nearby Haymarket monument, a scene important to Chicago and world labor history.

And Pat, wherever you go, please tell us what you had and how you liked it.

I love the creative Mexican idea. My wife made the same suggestion last night, and the notion "clicked" instantly -- he can't get it back home, the spanish thing works, and it's very representative of Chicago. Thanks!

I have been to Salpicon in the past, and agree with the "not quiet" assessment. I will definitely check out Mundial Cocina. Anything else in that category that folks would recommend? (Sorry for seeming so uninformed on the food scene -- but we have 3.5 yr old twins, and so 99% of our eating-out nights are spent closer tou our 'hood in Lincoln Square.)

Pat*D wrote:I have been to Salpicon in the past, and agree with the "not quiet" assessment. I will definitely check out Mundial Cocina. Anything else in that category that folks would recommend?

For proximity to downtown and quiet, I think Mundial would be best for this Tuesday. Mundial is also easy to reach by public transit (18th Street stop on the CTA Pink Line), and parking on 18th Street is pretty easy, as long as you don't mind feeding the meters (they have Chicago's new pay parking system there; the old parking meters remain for people to chain bikes and dogs to, and are not operational). 18th Street is fairly busy so if you need a cab it shouldn't be too hard to find; you could also walk to Ashland to increase your chances.

I do like Topolobampo and Frontera Grill, but I wouldn't recommend them for this Tuesday, Topo because of the need for reservations (although you could give them a call) and it's somewhat noisy, and Frontera is noisier still (it's really the same restaurant, with Topo occupying the far dining room). And I also recommend Mexique but for some other time, because it's fairly noisy too; Mexique's menu is sort of a cross between Mexican, French, and contemporary American, and I've loved it in multiple visits. I don't remember whether I was there on a weekday though; maybe it wouldn't be that busy (and therefore not that noisy) on a Tuesday, I don't know.

Another place you should definitely check out if you haven't been, but it's somewhat noisy and not convenient to downtown but very close to where you live, is Mixteco Grill, at Montrose and Ashland. It's one of our best such restaurants and a GNR. One more place that's not far from where you live, but not convenient to downtown, is Yolo in Skokie. It's not noisy at all, but it's very small (26 seats) so reservations are essential. Yolo and Mixteco are BYOB. There are lots more places around Chicago, but those are the ones I would recommend for a combination of quality and proximity to your home. If you're ever on the South Side for any reason, Amelia's is a BYOB in the Back of the Yards neighborhood; it was started by a former partner in Mundial Cocina Mestiza and it's very good and very similar to that restaurant.

The menu at Mexique gets me more jazzed than than menu at Mundial, and I think the odds of it being crowded/noisy on a Tuesday are acceptably low.

Thanks, all. Input much appreciated.

Salpicon just opened a second floor dining area. I don't know if this means it is quieter, but it could be. Might be worth a call to ask if they have a quieter section appropriate for a business-related dinner.

Pat*D wrote:The menu at Mexique gets me more jazzed than than menu at Mundial, and I think the odds of it being crowded/noisy on a Tuesday are acceptably low.

I'm a strong believer in browsing menus as one way of determining how much you'll like a given restaurant you've never been to. Granted, some restaurants execute better than others, but it gives you a good idea of what kind of items will be on the menu when you get there. (OTOH sometimes a place will have items that aren't on their website menu, or the menu changes, such as with the steamed mussels slathered with strips of bacon and poblano I had at Mundial, but it was a while ago, and I didn't see it on the menu when I ate there last month.)

Last time I had dinner at Mexique, I had the braised short ribs of beef. They were really good. After braising and immediately before serving, they throw them on the grill to create a very thin layer of char on the outside, and this made them just wonderful. They were much better than ones I had at L2O where they used the same technique. I mentioned how much I liked it to Chef Gaytan when he stopped by the table to check on us.

I really like all of these restaurants, and they are a real strength of our culinary scene, something you don't find in most other cities this side of the border (or in Europe or Asia, either).