Rustic House

Now that it's been open a year and made the runners-up list in Chicago Mag's Best New Restaurants, we figured it was time to try Rustic House. There are a few mentions in the forum, but no dedicated thread, and I start this one with a mixed report.

The concept is based upon the rotisserie oven that was in the space before RH, apparently imported from France. Menu offerings always include chicken, and then an additional protein on the rotisserie on a daily basis, along with some mains, apps, and sides. We went with the rotisserie chicken and the rotisserie duck, accompanied by brûlée corn custard, broccoli, and potato gratin. Starter was octopus salad.

While service was friendly, complementary focaccia a cut above the usual, and rotisserie meats nice, we found execution (if not design) flaws with several dishes. The octopus salad was tentacles that were not cut into pieces, atop wilted frisee, with some confit (?) tomatoes and minced green olive. The flavors were fine, though more greens would have been welcome, but the octopus was simply not cooked properly - unpleasantly chewy. Coupled with the presentation as whole pieces, and the lack of a steak knife, it was genuinely awkward to wrestle a bite off with a butter knife and then try to masticate. The corn custard was really befuddling - it was utterly indistinguishable from dessert. Served in a creme brûlée dish with a bruleed sugar top, and no discernible savory aromatics (onion, celery), nor salt. We would have been excited to eat it for dessert on a seasonal menu, but even so it would have required some salt. The broccoli was serviceable, steamed beyond crunch (not roasted) and tossed with chili flakes. The potato gratin was quite the flop - not browned on top, and upon first forking the layers of potato slid apart, leaving a deep pool of cream / milk. It was clearly undercooked (the potatoes tasted undercooked, there was no starch-binding, liquid-thickening effect, and no luscious browning) but more time in the oven may not have resolved an ill-proportion of liquid to potato. We inquired of the server whether it was always done this way, and though he readily agreed that it looked incorrect he did not remove it from our bill (he offered a do-over but we passed).

The systemic nature of these errors outweighed for us the good technique with the proteins (nice flavor, crispy skin - though a little dampened by a pan sauced being poured over rather than pooled under), and the proteins aren't cheap ($21 for chicken and up, and that's without any sides).

Would be glad to hear others' experiences, as we wanted to like the place.

1967 N. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60614
312.929.3227

Surprised nobody else has posted about this place. Maybe the OP went too close to thier opening, but we went tonight and really enjoyed it.

The wood-grilled octopus was tender, not chewy at all. The caesar salad was great, with a full anchovy on top. The rotisserie chicken was well seasoned and had crispy skin. Veal cheek ragout was cooked down similar to a braised short rib, very beefy. Served black dog gelato for dessert, always a winner.

I'd definitely go back and would easily recommend it to others.