Tre Kronor - Love Brunch, Dinners a Winner

LTHForum,

Long a favorite for weekend brunch, in particular Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict* I've never set foot in GNR winner Tre Kroner after dark, an oversight I'm happy to have corrected.

Mixed crowd of of 9-months to 90-years with the friendly intramural chatting that always makes for enjoyable dining, tables were full, but the room felt open in comparison to the busy weekend crowd. Most, including my wife and I, were enjoying the no corkage charge BYOB. Service terrific, I wish I could bottle our waitress's softly sweet Swedish accent, and she enthusiastically directed us to daily specials of Cod and Rib-eye steak.

Following a tasty onion jam amuse on Swedish rye crisp I had one of the better salmon appetizers of recent memory, lightly sweet aquavit-cured salmon with dill sauce, a very generous portion especially considering the $6 price tag.

Gravlax, Aquavit-cured salmon



My better half had a salad with bacon and toasted goat cheese round, crisp bacon, warm goat cheese, crisp greens, a tasty nicely presented salad.

Salad with Toasted Goat Cheese and Bacon



Bride had a daily special of cod with mixed veg and rice in a light sauce, light, flaky, perfectly cooked, and I opted for med-rare rib eye with Llngonberry sauce, asparagus and Swedish potatoes. Sweet tart Lingonberry sauce a surprise winner when used sparingly with the tender well marbled beef.

Cod with Mixed vegetables and rice



Rib eye with lingonberry sauce, asparagus and Swedish potatoes

Steak was slightly rarer than it appears in picture


Taking a flier on Blueberry Soup for dessert we were pleasantly surprised, lightly sweet, shockingly blue, both in flavor and color, and a pleasant grainy mouthfeel, I thought ground nuts. Next day my wife was still thinking about Blueberry soup! Finish with a excellent coffee and gratis cookies with the bill.

Blueberry Soup



Speaking of the bill, our total for one bottle of BYOB wine, two appetizers, two entrees, one coffee and one dessert was $59, including tax but not tip. This represents an outstanding price/value/quality ratio.

Tre Kronor, still love you for brunch, but see you again soon for dinner.

Enjoy,
Gary

*Prairie Grass Cafe has a stellar version of Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict as well.

Tre Kronor
3258 W Foster
Chicago, IL
773-267-9888

G Wiv wrote:Gravlax, Aquavit-cured salmon

Love Tre Kronor, and especially love everything salmon there. I'll have to divert my eyes, however, away from those sad looking, way overboiled eggs with the gray ring around the yolk. Poorly cooked boiled eggs - ubiquitous as they are - are a big pet peeve of mine. I mean, what could be easier than boiling an egg?

Thanks for posting the lovely pictures, Gary. They make me realize that we haven't been to Tre Kroner in a few months.

My family are big fans of TK for dinner for a nice treat, and my husband and I sometimes go there for a night out on our own. The lines at brunch can be too long, but it's often easy to walk in for dinner on a weeknight or call for a reservation in 30 minutes. The salmon and herring are always good, and I like their desserts very much. The "ostsallad" with goat cheese and bacon is my salad-loving daughter's idea of the perfect dish. I am fond of their duck breast dish. We have even taken my MIL there, so for those looking for good food that is nonthreatening to very conservative palates, TK can work well (see senior dining thread).

Kennyz wrote:I mean, what could be easier than boiling an egg?

Evidently making gravlox with aquavit is easier...at least at Tre Kronor.

LTH,

Tre Kronor date night dinner with the bride yielded a surprise, new chef straight from Sweden a week into running the kitchen and they are slowly shifting to more traditional Swedish. "We are a Swedish restaurant, we really should be offering Swedish dishes". Closest I've been to Swedish food is Bridgestone's posts so I'll have to take their word, but if last nights meal is any indication staid Tre Kronor is in for a surge in popularity.

Started with the same-as-always Gravlax, aquavit cured salmon with toast points, chilled asparagus and mustard sauce. Simple, delicious. New to the menu Nyhavn Salad, lightly dressed sheafs of Romaine scattered with shredded Jarlsberg topped with Swedish anchovies. Sweet cure anchovies lent balance to the crisp bite of Romaine and mild nutty Jarlsberg.

Often on the menu Duck Breast served with pureed Spring Peas and straight from Sweden Cereal Stuffing, think oat based musili baked in a loaf. Dense, hearty, one taste and I felt like hitting the hiking trail. Daily special Wolen Burger casually described as lightly breaded pan fried Swedish fish burger with brown butter sauce yielded a generously portioned light as air mix of salmon and cod. More mousse than burger, I wondered how something so delectably delicate could be pan fried without falling apart. Green beans and Swedish Potato Hash as accompaniments.

Same reasonable pricing as always, with a no corkage fee BYO bottle of Pinot Noir our well paced thoroughly enjoyable Saturday evening meal capped with coffee and a share Blueberry Soup for dessert came to just North of $50 including tax. I'm looking forward to Tre Kronor's shift to more traditional Swedish, though I get the impression change will be slow and subtle.

In answer to the obvious question, yes, Tre Kronor has always seemed Swedish to me, but seemingly from a pure Swedish perspective many of the menu items had been Americanized over the years.

Enjoy,
Gary

Guy Fieri (sp?) of diners, drive-ins and dives is filming at Tre Kronor today. Apologies if this belongs elsewhere on the forum.

Which, though, of those three d-words is Tre Kronor, one wonders?

Shasson wrote:Guy Fieri (sp?) of diners, drive-ins and dives is filming at Tre Kronor today. Apologies if this belongs elsewhere on the forum.

Which, though, of those three d-words is Tre Kronor, one wonders?

We were up in that neighborhood just an hour ago and considered Tre Kronor for lunch. But, Smoque was calling to us. I'd say "too bad" if we hadn't just had a delicious lunch.

Ronna

Apparently today (Friday) they were shooting b-roll footage. The Guy himself, and his wristbands, will be there on Wednesday the 29th.

I assume the show will focus on the breakfasts (seems most "diner-ish") but would like it if they showed them making gravlax.

My wife and I had dinner at Tre Kronor Friday night and enjoyed it quite a bit. We started with a very good potato pancake served with house-cured salmon and a beet and orange salad. The salad had dollops of deep red and orange purees on the side. We thought they were red and golden beets, but the orange puree turned out to be orange - I think it was made mostly from orange zest. Very tasty with the salad.

My wife had the duck breast, served a perfect medium with a small caraway sausage patty and wild rice pilaf. I had a special fish stew with "several kinds of fish and lots of vegetables" as our waitress said. I definitely noticed salmon, a firm white-fleshed fish and a smoked fish. It was a broth-based soup, but with a good bit of cream in the broth. It was served over cubes of brioche. I really really enjoyed the fish stew; if it's on the menu again, I'd order it hands down.

We finished off with a lemon tart and "burnt custard" that turned out to be simply creme brulee. Both were quite good.

As Gary noted above, Tre Kronor is a great deal. Our meal came in at right around $75 after tip. We also came at about 7:30 on a Friday night with no reservation and got a table immediately, which was a pleasant surprise.

Tre Kronor has revamped their website and their current menu is now available (the dinner menu, in particular, seems to reflect the changes made since the chef Gary mentions upthread took over):

http://www.trekronorrestaurant.com/#/our-food

PS: last-night was the showing of T.K. on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. But, i didn't see it....

Shasson wrote:
PS: last-night was the showing of T.K. on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. But, i didn't see it....

I saw it. It was quite positive (but, then, when isn't DDD?) but the question I'm still struggling to answer is . . . which of the three D's is Tre Kronor? It's certainly not a Dive, definitely not a Drive-in and it would be quite a stretch to label it a Diner. I guess DDD has become a bit like the GNR . . .

which of the three D's is Tre Kronor?

Diner, no question.

Guy Fieri seemed quite taken with the food - and unless my memory is failing me, this is the first Scandinavian place he's done. Good one to start with! He looked rather like he wanted to stuff the unsliced slab of gravlax down his shirt and make a run for it.

sundevilpeg wrote:

which of the three D's is Tre Kronor?

Diner, no question.

Hmm. When I think "Diner" I think Patty's in Skokie, Chicago Diner on Irving Park Rd., Jeri's Grill down the street or a host of other places with a similar look and feel. I don't think of a place that has an outdoor garden, an upstairs, and a bunch of kitschy art surrounding the place. I like Tre Kronor - it's close, unique, and has good food and very friendly service - but it really doesn't register on my Diner radar (Dinerdar?).

Had a coupon in the entertainment book, so stopped on by here on the way back from O'Hare for an early dinner [4:30, they said they were still serving lunch but gave us dinner menus upon asking]. Meatballs were good, duck was better, gravlax was absolutely fantastic.

Tre Kroner owners Patty and Larry were very happy to receive their GNR renewal:



Larry said he used the LTH quotation at the top of the certificate as a motivational tool for his staff -- "See, here's how we're perceived; let's live up to that."

They're building a little Swedish garden in back, with herbs growing, an arbor, and a little red Swedish outdoor dining house. They also bought out the former dentist's office next door (which was paneled in lightly stained mahogony and features old Nordic design elements), which they can now use as private dining room, Julbord buffet area, late night boozing parlor, etc.

David Hammond wrote:late night boozing parlor, etc.

That is, if you bring your own booze, because their precinct is dry.

Regards,

How curious. What ward/precinct is that? TIA.

There is a Groupon today for Tre Kronor.

$7 for $15 towards Brunch AND $15 for $30 towards Dinner

CrazyC wrote:There is a Groupon today for Tre Kronor.

$7 for $15 towards Brunch AND $15 for $30 towards Dinner

Which would you suggest for someone who hasn't been there?

abe_froeman wrote:

CrazyC wrote:There is a Groupon today for Tre Kronor.

$7 for $15 towards Brunch AND $15 for $30 towards Dinner

Which would you suggest for someone who hasn't been there?

Would also appreciate some advice about this.

I'd do dinner and be sure to order the gravlax and hearing which are fantastic.

I agree ... it's a relatively quiet room, so the hearing is fantastic.

By the time I decided to just go for it, brunch was sold out, so dinner it is!

nr706 wrote:I agree ... it's a relatively quiet room, so the hearing is fantastic.

I think that deserves a side of smackerel.

Had a very pleasant dinner here last night. Beet and Goat Cheese Salad followed by perfectly cooked, and boneless, Rainbow Trout for me. Jonathan had the Crab Cakes and the always reliable Swedish Meatballs. The potato gratin served with the trout was decadent and addictive!

Only disappointment was the Filberts Ginger Ale I tried for the first time. I guess I like my ginger ale with more bite and zing to it.

Mr. X and I had a very pleasant dinner at Tre Kronor last night. We had an expiring Groupon to use (along with probably most of the other tables.) I started with the herring appetizer; Mr. X had the soup of the day, a potato-corn chowder with bacon. I'm a huge herring fan and I loved both the herring with the mustard sauce and the plain, pickled herring. Mr. X is not a herring fan but dutifully tried a bite of each. The soup was excellent -- the right consistency for a chowder with plenty of corn and potato pieces with an assertive bacon presence. I had the rainbow trout entree. Mr. X had the Swedish meatballs. I won in the entree wars. The trout was perfectly cooked with a lovely almond crust, sauteed spinach and onions and fantastic potatoes au gratin. The meatballs were good, but tasted a little off to me. The mashed potatoes served with the meatballs were delicious. We split a milk chocolate mousse for dessert.

This was my third visit to Tre Kronor for dinner and won't be my last. Even with a big Tuesday night crowd due to the expiring Groupon, service was pleasant and mostly efficient. No corkage fee is also a bonus.

We had an early lunch at Tre Kronor yesterday after I had fasted for a medical test. I ordered one of the three quiches of the day--salmon and dill. It was a perfect slice: flaky and not soggy crust, pillowy, eggy with just the right amount of real (not canned) salmon with a touch of dill. Also on the plate was a generous helping of ripe fruit. Every fast should end so well! We were glad to see they were busy because I had seen that they were closing now at 4 p.m. and no longer serving dinner. There was a card on the table explaining these are only summer hours and they will reopen for dinner in September. I'm hoping they might shake up their dinner menu a bit. We like dining there but wish there were different choices sometimes.

Tre Kronor with the Bride = Saturday night dinner. Still a hidden gem for dinner, jam packed Saturday and Sunday brunch, not so much in the evening, especially during the week.* I never understood why as food, service, atmosphere tip-top, easy on the wallet and BYOB.

Went appetizers for dinner, terrific onion soup & pickled herring. Shared potato pancakes w/gravlax, terrific melty baked brie w/apples, almonds and honey with Ellen. She had beet salad and delicious if not photogenic duck breast.

If you have ever groused at the well deserved weekend brunch wait at Tre Kronor try dinner, you will be pleasantly surprised.





Tre Kronor, count me a Fan!

*If summer ever comes check weeknight dinner hours, they have moved them around in the past.