Hugo's Frog Bar - love it [+Naperville]

Last week we had friends in town who were looking for a seafood place. Recalling someones' earlier raves (Gwiv, I think) about Hugo's Frog Bar, we decided to give it a shot on a Tuesday night. I had made reservations at 8 PM. We all were there at 7:50 and we waited at the bar. The place was completely packed, loud (in a good way, happy, jolly folk), full of energy. At about 8:35, I started getting a bit lightheaded and although I hate doing this, told the host I was pregnant and getting lightheaded and asked would be seated soon? We were immediately seated in a nice booth towards the back.
Our server was very efficient, nice, attentive not overwhelming. Hubby and I split the fried calamari - this was the best I have ever had. So light, not rubbery, not too greasy - phenomenal!! Then I had the NE clam chowder, hubby and one friend had green salads, one friend had the asparagus salad. Regular salads were fresh, crispy, deemed very good. Asparagus salad got raves- simple, in a a light vinagrette. I was a bit disappointed in the chowder - it was rich, but lacked clams, and I don't like the texture of sliced potatoes vs cubed. It did have a nice smoky bacon taste though.
Main courses included Shrimp DeJohnge and Grilled halibut for friends - both were outstanding. Again, simple, elegant, flavorful. I had the crab stuffed cod - which was great as well, a very crabby filling, not much filler but not overpowering, cod was cooked perfectly,not dry. Hubby had the tuna, rare +, which he said was great as well.
As we finished, the server bought us huge slice of apple pie with ice cream on the house as an apology for the long wait. This was also fantastic - nice flaky crust, not too sweet, great apple taste, not too "jelly-esque"/sticky.
With 3 non alcoholic drinks one glass of wine, split bill 4 ways came to $45 apiece including tip. I would totally go back for a nicer occasion. I think prices were very reasonable for the portions and quality.
I highly recommend this place - service, food, atmosphere were outstanding.
LO

Both myself and the Condiment Queen love Hugo's. I would call it our default high rollin' date place (of course limited to the times when we can exercise our high rollin' muse). We too love the shrimp de jonge, the classic Chicago take on shrimps and garlic. I especially like how Hugo's keeps the integrity of the larger shrimps. Here's some of our other favorites at Hugo's:

- Crab cake - I've never done what I would call a comprehensive tasting around town, but this is by far the best version I have tasted, accented well with the hot pink mayo.

- Lake pearch - Very mediocre lake pearch recently at Shaw's only served to remind me how good Hugo's are. Can I make another appeal for Chicago chef's to make better use of freshwater fish?

- All the potato preparations

- The burger

- The obscene desserts

Anyways, thanks for reminding me of Hugo's. I am going to get there soon.

Rob

I like Hugo's too, especially the bar menu. The kitchen is open late, later in fact than they say they are if there is enough business.

Best of all, you can order off of the Gibson's bar menu, which means superb chopped liver, prime fillet tail "sliders," good North Side ribs, etc., to go with your crab cakes, calamari and popcorn shrimp (which are great, by the way). Also, you can get the avocado/crab cocktail, which oddly is not on the Hugo's menu.

Much less of a hassle than Gibson's, next door.

Hugo's has a store front in Naperville with a sign "coming soon", I've been looking forward to this, does anyone know when it will open?

Likes,

From the website it appears that they will open in early Fall. I heard from a friend last night that they were supposed to open this summer, but had permit issues. I don't know if that is true, but the opening for Catch 35 was delayed for similiar problems.

Flip

There is going to be some serious restaurant carnage in downtown N'ville when all these places find there is not quite enough business to support them. Since I never go to these places at night, I cannot offer a reliable guess as to which are doing well, and which are not, but if there is justice, I hope Clara's on the Square, and Samba Room close soon.

I could do without Noodles etc, Sullivan's, BD's Mongolian Horror and Rosebud, too.

We should all support Tango and Heaven on Seven, though. On my last visit, I did notice that La Sorella was no longer always packed, so perhaps there is some effect.

Flip, have you tried the little middle eastern place just up Main from Heaven on Seven? Had one lunch there, and it was pretty good. Next to the Book Zeller, I think.

I think the Middle Eastern place on Main street in Naperville is called the Olive Branch. It's not too bad. I like their hummus. However, they seem to pre-make their falafels. Every time I've been in there, they are already fried up and sitting under a heat lamp. I've tried them a couple of times, and found them cold inside.

Unfortunately, it's the only Middle Eastern place in a 10 mile radius.

In Carol Stream, I really like Shish cafe. The falafals are always made fresh.


Tim

Flip, have you tried the little middle eastern place just up Main from Heaven on Seven? Had one lunch there, and it was pretty good. Next to the Book Zeller, I think.

Dickson,

I have not been there. In fact, with my tendency to avoid that section of town like the plague, I was not even aware that it existed. I'll try to make it over there in the near future and report back.

Flip

Moderator's Note: One of the issues we've been pondering with the software is how to handle threads like this one that go into a new subject area that might be of interest to people who aren't following it. Vital Information had the suggestion that we might alter the initial subject line to reflect the new subject(s). So I'm doing that on this one to kind of show how it would look-- my idea is that it would be done in a standardized format (with the brackets and plus sign as above).

We wouldn't do it for every digression, obviously (that's what the search function is for) but in cases where there's a lot about a new topic, it might be a good idea. Or it might not.

So anyway, look at this example and if you have comments, I'll open a thread for it in Site Chat.

More Naperville:

The name of the Middle Eastern place is the Olive Branch - on Main Street. Little lunch place. In two visits, I am lukewarm on their chicken and lamb shawarma, but the lamb ka-bob sandwich was pretty tasty (with hummus as the sauce it seems). And the salads I tried were very good. Hummus and foul quite tasty. Eggplant and okra salads were excellent.

All in all, a very nice addition.

Flip, I also avoided downtown N'ville for a couple of years, but the food options do keep getting better it seems, so I am going back. Tango, Heaven on Seven and Olive Branch are now all on my lunch list for once or twice a month.

Dickson,

It's not the food choices that keep me from downtown Naperville. It's the hassle (No Parking, crowds, etc.). I really enjoyed my one visit to Tango which I posted on, but left HO7 completely underwhelmed. Granted it was just a week after opening, but the food an service lacked any of the qualities I found at the locations in Chicago.

Have you been to the new Catch 35? It opened on the 12th for dinner, lunches to come soon. Financially speaking I haven't been able to go yet.

Flip

What I love (and don't) about Hugo's.

For some reason I was in a mood to be a wee bit celebratory on Friday, so I asked the Bride to join me at Hugo's in N'ville. On balance, I really like Hugo's but the place is a mixed bag.

The room is quite well-done, warm wood paneling, white tile, a touch of nautical decor. The waiters in their old-school whites round it all out, and with the piano player immediately to your right at the entrance of the hopping bar, the place gives a nice feeling upon entry - a warm, anticipatory buzz that "I am going to have fun here."

Then come the hosts. The bride and I usually arrive separately at Hugo's and dine early (530p this night). I like to sit at the table and have a cocktail while reading the paper and awaiting my lovely companion. To do this, one must jump over certain hurdles. First, they will not seat you at all if your party is incomplete without a reservation (to be clear, I understand that one does not seat incomplete parties in a full restaurant, but this is a place that is probably less than 20% full at the time). Maybe someone can explain the logic of this, but I do not see how having a single waiting at a table for a companion is more or less of an issue with a reservation. So now I call when I leave the office to make a reservation for 15 minutes later. Then when I get there I have to vouch as to when the Bride is arriving, so I usually step outside and call her. Now, as far as they can tell, I could be holding a fake cell phone full of candy hearts to my ear, but that satisfies them and I get my table. I admit that this dance hardly annoys me now that I know the steps and can get what I want with little inconvenience, but it still strikes me as silly.

Attentive service and a good martini follow, and I settle in while the place fills around me and the buzz builds.

Once the Bride arrives, we go off on separate tangents. I will focus on the basics - some oysters, and a steak. The Bride goes for the Lobster Bisque and seafood, most often salmon. Their soups are okay in my book, but about as subtle as a sledge hammer. If you want the oldest of old school bisque, great, but I find the flavors and all the butter fat too much; the Bookbinders is better, but the sherry is a bit overwhelming. The fish dishes are hit and miss - often overcooked and oversauced for me, though at times they can be very good. The oysters and steaks - particularly the Chicago Cut which is really a Cowboy Ribeye - never fail to satisfy.

Service is never less than professional and attentive, but can be too rushed. I have had times when main courses appeared less than 5 minutes after the starters and either went back or sat and cooled - a friend who is a bit more ornery than me actually sent her main courses back twice until the waiter finally said, just let me know when you are ready.

But maybe they are working on this, since on Friday the waiter told us he was going to hold off on putting in our mains until we finished our starters and cocktails. We were having a lively conversation that included him at times, imbibing freely and really enjoying ourselves, so his gesture was appreciated and very appropriate. Or maybe it turns out that the kitchen operates under the mandate to "turn the orders fast!!!" and we just got lucky with a good waiter who knows how to manage that. Either way, this was much better than usual.

Then we finish with good coffee service and that last piece of theater - the gargantuan desserts. Pretty good, even if the portion sizes are ludicrous, in a good way.

By the time we leave, say 7p or so, the place is full and full of Friday festivity - eating drinking and celebrating the weekend, and I leave a happy and well fed man.

I really do like Hugo's, and would love it if they could just iron out some service issues and the inconsistency in the preparation of the fish dishes. For now, it will just be a warmly retro spot for steak and oysters when I am in that mood.

Dave,

Thanks for the review. I will chime in, as I am a fan of Hugo's as well as a regular customer there. The service definitely can be spotty and can vary tremendously from server to server. So much so that we frequently request a particular server (I don't typically do this at other places), because having a good one definitely can result in a dramatically different overall experience. The problem with this approach, we've found, is that requesting a specific server can cause an unnecessary wait, even with a reservation, if that server's tables aren't turning over as anticipated. Of course, this always occurs at the height of the dinner rush. I would think that at 5:30pm you would experience a much different, better level of service. However, it sounds like what you may be experiencing, at that earlier hour, is a thinly-veiled attempt to turn over tables.

As for the food, I almost always go for steak and have never been disappointed. My wife typically gets the crab cakes or shrimp de jonghe, so I almost always get to sample these items too. The crab cakes are very good -- the signature dish, really -- although I've noticed on recent visits that they can be a bit dry. Others with whom we've dined have ordered the lobster tail, as well as the stuffed lobster, and have been very pleased with these items. We almost always start with the fried calamari (very good), baked king crab (very good), or crabmeat avocado (excellent), along with salad (wedge for me) and/or soup (my wife loves the lobster bisque). IMO, Hugo's is probably more expensive than it should be, and sometimes is a hassle to get in and out of, but the food is pretty much without peer in the area and is much, much better than at other pricey local spots in its genre (e.g., Sullivan's, Timpano, etc.).

Hi Dick,

I like their bisque, but it is definitely rich. I agree with you 110% on the sherry in the Bookbinders, but I think that's because they use lousy sherry, probably the "cooking" stuff. If they used Tio Pepe Fino, or better yet, an amontillado, it would be completely different. A good glass of Fino with the bisque would be great, but I don't think they have any on the wine list.

All the best,
John

I did forget one other thing I do not love so much - the side dishes. Like the desserts, they have this large steakhouse side charm going for them, but I generally find the sides themselves over seasoned, imbalanced and often just plain strange. Both the creamed spinach seems to be some sort of industrial product using some cream, some butter, some thickener and a whole bunch of seasoning salt; the sauteed spinach can vary from quite wiled to almost uncooked, and the primary note here is once again seasoning salt; the mashed potatoes are okay, if nothing special. Can't recall having tried the other sides, but I believe I have tried some of them and left with the same impression.

Lest one forget - I do like Hugo's. I like the atmosphere, and I think they generally use excellent ingredients. The service and some of the work in the kitchen could be better, and given that the pricing is a bit high on some things - though there are some great deals on the lunch menu (Nueski's BLT is a nice touch). Manage the wait staff properly, don't get seduced by the more complex items on the menu, and enjoy.

That is the point of my post - it is a pretty good place, but there are some traps that can make it an unpleasant experience. And I am reminded again of this every time I go. And if all is right in the world, maybe they will even read some of this and consider a few tweaks here and there.

I agree Dick. It is a nice place and has far more positives than negatives. I love the little sandwiches. And the desserts are excellent, although so big that they're a characature. I took my three team members there for a Christmas lunch last year and we ordered one piece of carrot cake. We all ate off of it, and there was about half left for one of the people to take home.

Dickson, great post (s). My feelings about Hugo's mimic yours, if at least in spirit if not specifics. I love Hugo's a lot (althoiugh I'm speaking of the Chicago location), but I would never just recommend it. It's a need explaining kinda place. Or, like Mardi Gras, Las Vegas, and the such, you either love it or don't.

My personal favorite thing to order is the perch deal, which provides not only good perch, but a deal as the nicely done fries are included in the price. As I've said before, it's the best crabcake that I know of around here. The shrimp de jonghe's pretty darn good too, but I rarely order. The fancier fish, I tend to avoid. I'm also not a lover of their steaks. Do like the burgers...

dicksond wrote:I did forget one other thing I do not love so much - the side dishes.

Although I also don't particularly care for the spinach dishes (and would avoid their mashed potatoes), IMO the side dishes can be quite good at Hugo's. We almost always get the asparagus and/or the Gibson's style double-baker. The double-baker is outstanding -- my favorite potato at any restaurant, anywhere. The asparagus in almond butter sauce also are very good, albeit a bit pricey (the price seems to go up on each visit).

Ron A. wrote:

dicksond wrote:I did forget one other thing I do not love so much - the side dishes.

Although I also don't particularly care for the spinach dishes (and would avoid their mashed potatoes), IMO the side dishes can be quite good at Hugo's. We almost always get the asparagus and/or the Gibson's style double-baker. The double-baker is outstanding -- my favorite potato at any restaurant, anywhere. The asparagus in almond butter sauce also are very good, albeit a bit pricey (the price seems to go up on each visit).

I will second that the double-baker is one of the highlights of any meal I've had at Hugo's

Flip

It's been awhile since I've given a review (I have a few others coming).

The wife and I went to Hugo's a few months ago for the first time. It has now entered the top spot on our list for a nice night out. I'm hesitant to do so as we could have over-looked somethings with it being our first visit. But the atmosphere, the service, the food - all top notch.

Pretty much everything that has been mentioned here has been spot on. We try not to do appetizers in both an effort to save money and also avoid over-eating. I had the Lobster Bisque - good but very rich. I wife had a salad of some sort.

For the main course.

My wife had the blackened swordfish which was very good. She's just starting to eat fish (part of a lower-fat diet due to gallbladder issues). Swordfish makes for a nice transition from red meat. I felt it was cooked very well although a bit seasoned for my tastes. My wife felt the seasoning was perfect - it hides the taste of the fish

I had the Filet Oscar - a big filet topped with a lump crab sauce and asparagus. It was a thick cut and cooked to a beautiful medium/medium rare. I asked for medium - and it was exactly to my liking. The crab sauce topper was very good. I had the sauted spinach and enjoyed it - I've had worse.

I wanted dessert - but after seeing the size I opted out.

Vital Information wrote:- Crab cake - I've never done what I would call a comprehensive tasting around town, but this is by far the best version I have tasted, accented well with the hot pink mayo.

Following the lead of Vital "Man-who-knows-more-about-chow-than-most-mortals-are-able-to" Information, we had one of these cakes, which I found highly pleasing, lightly spiced and almost all crab. My only wish was that instead of the excellent Manhattan I'd ordered, I had had a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or some other crustacean-enhancing vino, because that would have pushed the taste-moment beyond excellent to absurdly wonderful.



For dinner, I had the "WR," named after William Rice (who, during Gibson's early years, told them they needed a signature steak, so they put his initials on it). This was one killer hunk of flesh, very tender. I took the leftovers home for a superb beef broth.



I had a very good time at Hugo's.

sounds like I should have ordered the crab cake and a steak, because last week I had the worst lobster roll in the history of mankind at the Hugo's in Chicago.

We went for the first time last night, to the one in Chicago, and I think it belongs in a category called "Very Famous and Popular Restaurants That Remain Somehow Underrated." Like VI, I thought the fried perch was really outstanding--fresh, delicate, buttery--and a side order of mac-and-cheese with crawfish and andouille sausage was delicious. (The saltiness of the add-ins was just enough to bring out the flavor of the mac-and-cheese rather than take attention away from it.)

Hugo's Frog Bar (Chicago)
1024 N. Rush
Chicago IL 60610
312 640 0999

I really have tried to like Hugo's, having been stuck at dinner time in Naperville quite often lately it has been a pretty regular stop(good way to pad the Open Table account as they have 1,000 point tables pretty often). I have tried a bit of the menu from steaks to appetizers, typically come away feeling just ok, and light in the pocket. Odd that for a town the size of Naperville there arnt more places that interest me foodwise.


Solid items:

- fresh oysters, seem to have Kumamoto's every time I am there. Well shucked and fresh,
- N.E. clam chowder. A really solid version, lightly creamy, chunks of tender clams, and potatoes, nice flavor as well
- mac-n- cheese with crawfish and sausage, actually a nice dish, spicy sausage, crawfish was a litle overcooked, but overall pretty solid.
- Jim Beam pours, always healthy.

Hit and miss items:

- crabmeat avocado, had it once and it was great, last time was overly citrusy. They dont skimp on the lump crab though, generous portion.
- steaks, they are what they are, decent cuts, some temp issues along the way.

the bad:

- chicken & crab, blackened chicken breasts, lump crab, and andoullie served over rice. Bland sauce, nce andoullie, sparse crab. First time it was brought out chicken was undecooked. They redid the dish, but after having a bite of semi raw chicken I really wasnt interested in it anymore. A couple free desserts, and an aoplogetic staff.

I wont rattle off what else we have tried, but no dish stands out good or bad out of that list.

Kumamotos, Im gonna stick with these & the chowder from now on:



mac-n-cheese w/ sausage and crawfish:

Mr. X and I celebrated our anniversary last night at Hugo's Frog Bar on Rush Street. We selected Hugo's as it was close to a work event I was coming from and we had a gift card. We were seated in a booth in the second room off the main restaurant. Lots of bustle. Our server was very good -- knew his stuff and was friendly. We split a crab cake to start, which was as good as noted above. I really enjoyed the bookbinder soup and Mr. X was pleased with the crab bisque. For main course, he had the pan-fried walleye, I had the shrimp dejonghe and we shared a half order of creamed spinach. The walleye was really nicely prepared and was the winner of our entrees. I thought the shrimp was so over-cooked after being stuck under broiler and served in the piping hot dish. The creamed spinach was just okay -- I should have read this thread for comments on the sides. A piece of cherry pie rounded out the meal. Our waiter suggested the Ferrari-Carano Siena when we asked for a bottle suggestion that didn't break the bank. It was a good suggestions and just over $40.

I was surprised that there was no acknowledgment of our celebration as I made a note of it on the OpenTable reservation. I don't mean to sound like I was trolling for free stuff -- many restaurants will do a little something when there is a birthday, etc. Even just a "thank you for celebrating at our restaurant" would have been nice. All in all, it was a good meal, but isn't a place I'd need to run back to.