hamcha wrote:Overall, really expensive, beautiful product prepared well, but underwhelmed by flavors and creativity.

Although, I would go just for the Oyster Po'boys. They have half price oysters after 10PM. I wonder if they might be convinced to do the same for the Po'boy.

That pretty much sums up my feelings. I'd go back after 10:00 for half priced oysters, but that's probably the only way you'll get me back to GT. The Po'boy was definitely our favorite, and I'm very glad they screwed up our order and brought us 4 instead of 2. Several dishes were underseasoned, especially the crudos. The fish was pristine, but really could have used a touch of salt.

Service was mediocre. We waited almost 25 minutes past our reservation time and then got seated side-by-side at an empty communal table as two separate two-tops were exiting (and remained empty). There was no mention of our anniversary, which was referenced at the time of the reservation.

And $11 for a Three Floyd's Jinxproof or Goose Island Nut Brown Ale is highway robbery.

We had an excellent meal at GT Fish and Oyster on Monday night. We started with a selection of oysters. Though I don't remember where they were from, they were among the best oysters I've had in a while. Other highlights (cut and pasted from their menu) were:

BAJA SHRIMP BRUSCHETTA
OYSTER PO’BOY SLIDER
BBQ EEL
EGGPLANT
FISH TACOS
LOBSTER ROLLS

We also had some excellent desserts and cocktails. Our server was very good and seemed quite knowledgeable about wine. The plates began coming a little too fast, so we asked them to slow things down. (As with too many restaurants, bus boys appeared to have their pay docked if an empty plate sits for me than a second on a table or a water glass is not filled to the brim.)

Overall, I was really impressed with this restaurant.

I had a phenomenal meal here recently that made me very happy. We started out with some raw courses, which were simply outstanding. The show-stopping stand-out of that round of dishes were the Coramandel oysters, from New Zealand . . .


Coramandel Oysters
These were meaty, sweet and briney. Their shells were deep, almost resembling little cups. Undoubtedly, some of the best raw oysters I've ever eaten.

Other raw items were also excellent . . .


Crudos
A very nice assortment of raw fish and seafood, enhanced by a few judiciously chosen, additional ingredients.



Tuna Poke | mango, cucumber, black sesame
The kitchen sent out this delicious raw tuna. As with the crudo assortment above, it was balanced nicely with the other ingredients, which did not overwhelm the fish at all.

We also had a deliciously rich Foie Gras & Shrimp Terrine (apricot chutney, pickled onion, szechaun peppercorn) but I neglected to get a shot of it.

After the cold courses, we enjoyed a few rounds of hot dishes, which shared a uniformly high standard . . .


Scallops | brandade, charred yellow tomatoes, watercress, preserved lemons
Only had a bite but the scallop was sweet, meaty and delicate.



Clam Chowder | Neuske's bacon, house-made oyster crackers
Great balance here with a creamy, flavorful broth, lots of tender clams and just enough bacon to complement without overwhelming.



Oyster Po'Boy Slider | kimchi, peanuts
A great little sandwich. Loved the crispy, unctuous oyster, especially in combination with the kimchi. I can see ordering a few of these and making a meal out of them.



Tempura Cauliflower | mint, cucumber, harissa yogurt
I love cauliflower and I really enjoyed this spicy take. The cauliflower itself was crispy and tender.



Fish and Chips | beer-battered cod, steak frites, malt vinegar, dill pickle remoulade
Outstanding rendition with meaty-moist cod and some perfect frites.



Lobster and Sweetbreads (Special)
A sensational combination of perfectly prepared luxury ingredients. The sauce here was good enough to eat on its own. The 5 of us finished this one up very rapidly.



Fish Tacos | garlic marinade, chipotle aioli, chicharron
Not just respectable but desirable. A great take on a dish that's much harder to find around town than it should be.



Lobster Roll | lobster salad, pickled vegetables, fried onions, black truffle
The kitchen sent this out for us -- with the black truffles -- and I'm very glad they did. The lobster was cooked very nicely and the rest of the components on the roll were outstanding accompaniments.



GT "Mac and Cheese" | lobster, English peas
A dish like this is just ripe for disaster but, like the rest of our meal, it was executed so flawlessly that each and every ingredient shone on its own, and the sum of them was far greater than the individual parts.



PEI Mussels | roasted tomatoes, basil, ciabatta
One of the best takes on mussels I can remember having. So often, these are made in a white wine or beer-based cooking medium but this spicy roasted tomato base was sensational.

We were pretty full but we ordered 2 desserts for the 5 of us to share. The kitchen had other ideas and sent out 8 -- everything on the menu -- from new pasty chef Sarah Jordan. She and chef Tentore brought them to the table personally. The confections were diverse and very delicious. The light was gone but I got a couple of shots that represent them (more or less) visually . . .


Raspberry Lemon Tart | fresh berries, raspberry fluid gel



Salted Caramel Tart | banana, chantilly cream, chocolate



Warm Waffle | sweet corn ice cream, blueberries, maple crystals



Pecan Pie | orange mascarpone, Burton's maple syrup ice cream

Across the board, service was great. Our server, Mikail, was friendly, knowledgable and efficient. The bar at GT is also excellent. Curated by Ben Schiller, the spirits list is most definitely upper tier and his cocktail menu is excellent. I had a couple of the signature Old Money cocktails, a special batch that had been barrel-aged. We also had a few very nice snorts of American whiskey. Glorious food aside, one can drink better here than at most local bars.

The theme here seems simple: source fresh, superior-quality seafood then handle it with care, skill and creativity. Ok, well, obviously, it's not that simple. If it were, finding seafood of this quality in town -- prepared this expertly -- would be easy. It isn't. In fact, it's way too hard. But GT stands out as a trump card destination in this dining category. Yes, there are other places in town that specialize in fish and seafood but none of them combine these levels of quality, skill and creativity. Throw in GT's friendly, knowledgeable staff and its outstanding bar, and the result is a place that really distinguishes itself from most every other. Don't let the River North location dissuade you. This is excellent, destination dining and while it's not inexpensive, it is most definitely a singular value.

=R=

wonderful photos (as usual)
How nice of them to send out extra desserts!

I had a late night dinner on Friday that was also very good.

The half-priced oysters after 10 PM can be an excellent deal. Two of us ordered the entire oyster menu of six varieties for about $9/person. Because one diner wanted 3 of the available 6, there was some confusion when the oysters were served if they had gotten the right quantity of each one. Without asking, they just brought 3 more of the variety in question. It turned out the initial plate was correct to begin with, but the customer service was appreciated.

I had an Old Money which I found fine, but nothing special. I wished there were more pronounced walnut or allspice notes. My friend's All Too Uncommon was outstanding, and I don't normally like gin cocktails. Drinks in the past have been very good and I also have had great cocktails from one of the bartenders when he was at Boka on an off night.

The daily crudo was diverse and delicious. I particularly liked the smoked sturgeon with small hot peppers and the razor clams with citrus and cucumber.

The Oyster Po Boy Sliders are utterly fantastic. We ordered a round of them and then another.

We were coming from a show in the theater district. I would definitely consider GT again for future post-show snacks. On my last two visits, the food has just been spot-on.

gastro gnome wrote:I had an Old Money which I found fine, but nothing special. I wished there were more pronounced walnut or allspice notes.

I've loved this cocktail ever since Ben was making it at In Fine Spirits. I thought the barrel-aged version was especially nutty; more so than the standard version. Any more and I think it would have obscured the whiskey.

The half-priced oysters (after 10 pm) seems like a great deal, especially if you're in the area. I hope to try it out someday.

=R=

pizano345 wrote:Our main complaint of GT was that besides the oysters and the king crab, all the other dishes were unnecessarily complicated and masked the prime seafood they offer.

I've been twice now, and I've left feeling exactly the same way both times.

The oysters are fantastic, they're treated well and served with plenty of liquor. I also really enjoyed the oyster po boy. Great combination of flavors and textures, I particularly enjoyed the crunch of the peanuts in the dish. At $4 a slider, it's one of the better values on the menu.

Beyond that, though, I found most of the seafood dishes to be over-constructed and overwhelm the flavors of the fish. The crudo platter was hit and miss for me. It's beautifully presented and I appreciate the variety of preparations, but not one of them stood out to me as augmenting the flavor of the base raw fish ingredient. I would've preferred a sashimi platter. I felt the same way about the tuna poke. I think they're using far too many fruit juices in their raw fish preps for my taste. The fish simply gets lost under the sweetness. The octopus dish was also not for me. There was no char on the grilled octopus and they paired it with hearts of palm and potatoes. Most bites were just boiled potato. I've seen octopus and potato preps done successfully before, but the potatoes were crispy and the octopus was well charred. This dish missed on all fronts.

Reading through the thread I see people having very different reactions to the same dishes, so I guess this is really a matter of taste. I didn't have a problem with the way the kitchen is operating, I just didn't agree with the culinary decisions of the chef. I would gladly grab a seat at the bar, sip a few cocktails, shoot some oysters, and eat a few oyster po boys in the future (probably skip the $11 beers).

=R=, your photos make me want to jump in the car right now and head for Chicago!! GTF&O is on the top of my list for my next visit!

jaholbrook wrote:=R=, your photos make me want to jump in the car right now and head for Chicago!! GTF&O is on the top of my list for my next visit!

Thanks, for the kind comments. Now that we're in season, I'd especially like to go back for some oysters (half-price after 10 pm).

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

jaholbrook wrote:=R=, your photos make me want to jump in the car right now and head for Chicago!! GTF&O is on the top of my list for my next visit!

Thanks, for the kind comments. Now that we're in season, I'd especially like to go back for some oysters (half-price after 10 pm).

=R=

The new policy, as I was told the other night, is that oysters are half price if you sit at the bar or at the horseshoe-shaped table near the bar. No discount at the regular tables.

Our meal the other night was excellent. My only complaint, ironically, was that some of the oysters were incredibly small (i.e. within a variety, some were much smaller than the rest).

Darren72 wrote:The new policy, as I was told the other night, is that oysters are half price if you sit at the bar or at the horseshoe-shaped table near the bar. No discount at the regular tables.

Good to know. Thanks.

=R=

My wife and I very much enjoyed our dinner last night, but I want to highly highly recommend one dish:
SAGE GNOCCHI crab, butternut squash, burrata, spicy pepitas

Don't know what to say except we savored every bite. Light gnocci, al dente squash, creamy burrata, and just a hint of crunch and heat, all covered with a light seafood broth (may have been some butter in there!). There is only a small amount of crab here, as it's used to add sweetness to the dish.

Jonah

Jonah wrote:My wife and I very much enjoyed our dinner last night, but I want to highly highly recommend one dish:
SAGE GNOCCHI crab, butternut squash, burrata, spicy pepitas

I was there on Thursday and we had too many dishes that we wanted to try. Sadly, our server encouraged us to drop that one in favor of lobster dumplings (which were a special...not bad, just not anything to write home about).

I loved the fish tacos, in part because the corn tortilla rocks...freshly made, moist, delicious!

The half-priced oysters after 10 PM can be an excellent deal

Are they still doing this and how hard will it be for one person to get a barstool for this right at 10pm?

Are they still doing this

?
No, they are not.
Still, ordered two of each and they were the best damn dozen oysters I have ever had.
Paid full price and worth it.

I wanted to update everyone on the dinner suggested for last Saturday for me. My wife and I had a lovely meal at GT Fish and Oyster following the Louder Than a Bomb performance (which is awesome if you are a fan of youth and spoken word poetry).

Had a tasty Three Sheeps Really Cool Waterslides and the wife had a very crisp white wine (sorry, can't give anymore details than that). They were very accommodating of my vegetarian needs.

Wife had the clam chowder which she praised for the smokiness of the bacon and the slight spiciness (I think others have noted this as well).

We split the Coffee roasted beets (which were excellent, the coffee flavor balancing the sweetness of the beets nicely), the Eggplant (which was sweet without being overly so) and the squash gnocchi (my least favorite dish, I felt it was a little unbalanced and somewhat one note).

The wife also had the octopus, which was a different preparation than is currently on the menu, and which she liked for the char and what she described as the proper amount of chewiness.

Desert was the Chicago mix, a nice sweet and savory play on the popcorn. It was an enjoyable end of the meal.

All in all, we enjoyed our meal at GT Fish and Oyster, so great recommendation. The windows offered great views of the falling snow, which was pretty though unwelcome this late in March.

turkob wrote:The oysters are fantastic, they're treated well and served with plenty of liquor. I also really enjoyed the oyster po boy. Great combination of flavors and textures, I particularly enjoyed the crunch of the peanuts in the dish. At $4 a slider, it's one of the better values on the menu.

Indeed, these oysters are prepped with quite the skill, 2 dozen last night and not one bit of shell and lots of liquor present.

Slider is now $5 per, I enjoyed it but would have liked a larger oyster, say like the gulf of Mexico slab oysters one gets in New Orleans. I'd line up for a meal of those all night long.

The $5 hit for our table and for me one of the best bites of 2017 was the GT “DEVILED EGG” smoked salmon, cauliflower, preserved meyer lemon. Wow what a flavor bomb.

We enjoyed the COLD GREEN TEA SOBA shrimp, tofu, bok choy, thai chili soy vinaigrette. The tofu was in small cube format and had been deep fried to give a warm cheese curd effect, really a nice addition. The soy vinaigrette had good flavor with decent heat.

Mom had the FISH & CHIPS beer battered cod, dill pickle remoulade, steak fries, malt vinegar. Didn't get to try any of the fish so I'm assuming she enjoyed. Steak fries were loaded with salt so if sodium sensitive stay away. That said, she did take them home "I'll scrape off the salt & make something with them"

Pop had the smoked fish platter and the clam chowder. He enjoyed both, I don't think either was a wow for him.

I know this is blasphemy at a place like GT, but I had ROASTED LAMB SHANK w/ roasted cauliflower, eggplant puree & Moroccan flat bread. The flat bread was actually store bought pita cut in half. The lamb was cooked perfect however the Moroccan "BBQ" sauce over it was overly sweet, there were some spice notes trying to come out but I found the sauce to be very cloying.

Mrs Willie chose the OCTOPUS prepared korean BBQ, bok choy, crosnes, peanuts. EXCELLENT dish, prepared perfect, just not much of it, very small portion.

Service was very attentive and warm w/o being overbearing. Mrs Willie & I will be back for more of the raw oysters, the octopus and that egg.

Side note, maybe because it was a Friday and it is the fashionable River North area, the music was very loud, something to consider if that's not the atmosphere you are looking for. (and another thing, "Get off my lawn!!")

hoppy2468 wrote:

The half-priced oysters after 10 PM can be an excellent deal

Are they still doing this and how hard will it be for one person to get a barstool for this right at 10pm?

I saw some coasters/paper slips at GT last night announcing 1/2 priced oysters after 9pm, so I'd say yes, but I didn't look to see the T&Cs of the deal. (certain nights, only at the bar, etc)

Had the bouillabaisse last night and it was spectacular.

Last night four of us ate at GT Fish & Oyster. They were firing on all cylinders, with one thoroughly delicious standout dish after another after another, without a single miss. It was wonderful, an amazing dinner.

I didn't take the photos of the first two dishes until we had started on them, so they only show a partial portion in the photo. Sorry!

Exterior


SEARED TUNA SALAD red potato, egg, nicoise olive, cider mustard dressing


SHISHITO & WATERMELON lump crab, green tomato gazpacho, cilantro


GT "DEVILED EGG" smoked salmon, english pea, pickled kumquat


CRAB CAKE red pepper aioli, pickled vegetables


OCTOPUS korean BBQ, bok choy, jicama, peanuts


FISH & CHIPS beer battered cod, dill pickle remoulade, malt vinegar (those fries were spicy and awesome, best fries I've ever had)


HALIBUT brandade, asparagus, maitake mushroom


MAINE LOBSTER ROLL fried onion, pickled vegetables


MUSSELS roasted tomato, basil, ciabatta


CHERRY CHEESECAKE bruleed cherries, almond cookie, honey and peppercorn ice cream


KEY LIME PIE raspberry meringue, vanilla whip, gin & tonic sorbet