The Portage

As a longtime resident of Portage Park (~10yrs), I have been well pleased with the dining options in this area. From Hagen's fish market at Montrose and Central to Trattoria Porretta at Addison and Central, and a wealth of smaller taqueria-type places all around, there are some great inexpensive dining options. With Sabatino's and Smoque just a few miles to the east, casual dining options abound.

However, no one would confuse Portage Park with Bucktown/Wicker Park.

So it was with great interest when I noticed someone rustling around in the dusty remains of a late 80's era dive bar called "Don't Worry," and soon after I found this website: http://www.theportagechicago.com

Last night they opened for dinner, and the missus and I went to check it out. Here's the scoop:

It's owned by Quay Tao, one of the folks behind Tizi Melloul and MOD, and he was there to greet patrons at the door, and seated us at a table near the front window. The place was busy, and had been since it opened 3 hours earlier. The service was attentive and friendly, explaining the menu and willing to make recommendations.

It advertises itself as a "gastropub", but as they are still waiting on their liquor license, it is more "gastro" than "pub" right now. It's BYO until the license is approved, so I grabbed a bottle of barbera from the wine rack on the way over...

We started with the bacon-wrapped dates, which were delicious. CThe dates were plump, stuffed with a goatchese mixture, and wrapped in bacon and roasted/grilled. Crisp bacon, combined with the lavendar honey sauce was nicely balanced between sweet and savory.

We also split the beet salad, which was also impeccably done. The beets were both red and golden varieties, and perfectly cooked before they added to a mixed greens salad with goat cheese and marconi almonds. It was lightly dressed and the flavor of the beets meshed well with the slight bitterness of the greens and the pleasantly chalky texture and flavor of the goat cheese. The marconi almonds were nice, but not especially necessary.

I chose the Southern Fried Chicken as my entree, while she had the grilled bone-in pork chop.

The chicken was boneless cuts of chicken, doubledipped in a light crunchy batter and fried perfectly. Being a stickler for fried chicken, I was a little bemused by getting boneless chicken, but I think in a more upscale environment, they were trying to make it a little more upscale. Served with sauteed summer veg (yellow squash and zucchini) and a coconut rice. The veg were done quite well, but perhaps a little to thinly sliced to accompany the more rustic chicken and gravy. The chicken was nicely seasoned, but the gravy was an excellant addition, subtle but peppery, it really highlighted the lightness of the fried chicken.

The pork chop was perfectly grilled to about medium, and was served with creamed spinach with bacon, and mashed sweet potatoes. Both sides were excellent, especially the spinach. Unfortunately, I only got one good taste before the little lady decided there wasn't really enough to share anymore. The mashed yams were a perfect texture, and savory enough to balance their own sweetness. The white wine and dijon mustard sauce was also a great accompaniment to the juicy pork chops.

The atmosphere was a little loud and raucous, but to be expected with the amount of excitement the place has created in the area. Saw the short ribs and salmon arrive at the next table and they both looked excellent, and will likely be our next selection on our return. Which will be soon.

Talking to Quay, he revealed a couple of tidbits about the place, he was looking for a place to open a more upscale take on the neighborhood restaurant, and found the abandoned bar. He said that some people expressed some doubts about whether the neighborhood population would support a place like this.

However, after watching the demographics change greatly over the last few years, I would disagree. While ten years ago, the primarily first generation Polish residents likely would not, but some of the older families are moving out and selling to a younger, more white-collar crowd.

Also, they have a back patio area, which will be partly opened this weekend. They are making a lot of their own furniture for the place, so they only have a few tables ready yet. They will also begin serving brunch on the weekends soon, which could be dangerous for us.

The Portage
3938 N. Central Ave.
Chicago, IL 60634
773.853.0779

According to their website, they now have their liquor license:


http://theportagechicago.com/index.html

I grew up in Portage Park, which seems always to have been a working class neighborhood with a goodly number of bars and fast food joints but not so many places that you’d consider above average. The Portage is aiming to change that, but it’s doing so slowly.

The menu contains few surprises. The Wife got the pork belly, which was meaty and good; my choice, the lamb shank, was absolutely spectacular.



You can tell by the asparagus spears that going local and seasonal is taking a back seat to making whatever the chef thinks would be tasty, and honestly, I could hardly taste the vegetables as I was totally focused on the meat, which was tender and lush with mouth-filling fat. In what seems a big and important difference compared to much lamb I’ve had at home and any number of local restaurants, this shank actually tasted like the animal from which it came. I hardly ever go to the same restaurant twice, but I’d be tempted to break that trend for another bite of this meat.

Desserts I can take or leave, but I found myself really liking the pumpkin crème brulee…



…which is odd because I don’t actually enjoy pumpkin. This dessert made that hideous squash edible for me.

There were a few misses: Turkey pie, which is something I hadn’t seen before on menus and thought might be interesting, turned out to be somewhat under-seasoned and perhaps comfort food for someone but not me.

My camera is malfunctioning, with a busted flash, and I didn’t figure out how to work around the problems until the apps had already come and gone. I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of the grilled romaine salad, which represented a noble effort to make lettuce actually interesting; I savored the contrast between the fresh leaf and the lightly charred edges. The salad was kind of Caesar-like (romaine, parm, garlic, croutons, egg) but with no anchovies, which I think represents where The Portage is at: at the moment, the place is playing it safe. So much of what we had was good, but almost none of it pushed boundaries. I talked about this with owner Quay Tao, who had us to dinner as his guests, and he concurred that for the first few months, The Portage has been holding back. Part of the reason for this restraint is that they want to get the neighborhood comfortable with the place and not get turned off by stuff that’s too out there. Getting people to drive to Portage Park from the city is a challenge, so convincing local folks to become regular customers is critical to getting this place off the ground.

Like most restaurants, the folks at The Portage want the place to feel like home, and the back terrace contains abstracted signifiers of a northwest side back yard (a brick façade, a patio, a garage-like structure). One could see how people from my old neighborhood would find the place very comfortable.

As far as restaurants go, The Portage Park area seems underserved. Sabatino’s is nearby, but that’s an old school joint and judging by the younger crowd that packed The Portage last night, I’m guessing this place is meeting the food preferences of new homeowners in this ‘hood who are looking for something more.

LTH,

Not sure if its Tuesday only, a few days a week or she just fell into a three course for $20 one-off special, but my bride was at The Portage last night with cousins and came home raving about both food and value.

Highlights included salmon with hoisin sauce cooked exactly as requested with a side of hominy, duck fat fries, chocolate cheese cake and an entree of fried chicken that made her cousin, who has been living out of the country for decades, well-up with fond memories of her mothers table.

Enjoy,
Gary

Just had a great meal at The Portage, my first use of a card from the a la card deck. Some highlights--

- The "Gin and Bear It" cocktail, despite the precious name, was really delicious-- cucumber-infused gin, with a bit of tonic and lime, perfect for this weather.
- The waitress was great with my 6-year-old daughter, so they seem to be good with kids, especially if you are there early and sit in the outdoor patio-- the indoor space was a bit crowded by the time we left.
- Speaking of the patio, it was beautiful on this first warm day of spring.
- We enjoyed our Kobe burgers-- the caramelized onion topping was the best part. My burger was cooked more rare than the "medium rare" I had requested, but it was still quite good.
- The house-made buttered popcorn ice cream-- wonderful flavor, very buttery with distinct popcorn flavor in a creamy, rich ice cream. Next time we are going to try the Peach-Sriachira flavor.

We enjoyed The Portage-- the food, the service, and the atmosphere. The price wasn't bad either. We'll be back.

Jen

Our first visit to The Portage last night was a bit of a mixed bag. Atmosphere and service across the board got two thumbs up.

The aforementioned bacon-wrapped dates are still on the menu and very good. We followed a shared plate of them with cups of seasonal soup - a yellow split pea w/ham and a butternut squash that was a special. Both were hearty and satisfying. From there, things got a little disappointing. Jonathan got the Grilled Flat Iron Steak. It looked great and was cooked exactly to his specification of medium-rare. However, according to him, it lacked both seasoning and over-all flavor. I had the exact same problem with my entree of Pumpkin Risotto. We had to ask for salt and while it helped, it didn't work magic.

A special dessert sounded better on paper than it tasted on the plate. Coffee was good.

The Portage is a 10 minute drive from our house and our experience was positive enough (especially the service,) to warrant a return visit. I will probably stick to apps, salads, and soups though.

LynnB wrote:Our first visit to The Portage last night was a bit of a mixed bag. Atmosphere and service across the board got two thumbs up.

The aforementioned bacon-wrapped dates are still on the menu and very good. We followed a shared plate of them with cups of seasonal soup - a yellow split pea w/ham and a butternut squash that was a special. Both were hearty and satisfying. From there, things got a little disappointing. Jonathan got the Grilled Flat Iron Steak. It looked great and was cooked exactly to his specification of medium-rare. However, according to him, it lacked both seasoning and over-all flavor. I had the exact same problem with my entree of Pumpkin Risotto. We had to ask for salt and while it helped, it didn't work magic.

A special dessert sounded better on paper than it tasted on the plate. Coffee was good.

The Portage is a 10 minute drive from our house and our experience was positive enough (especially the service,) to warrant a return visit. I will probably stick to apps, salads, and soups though.

I agree with the service/atmosphere. My experience with the food has been similar; I've had some really good meals there and some so-so ones. They have some of the best fries that I've had. I'd go pretty often if it were close to my house.

I've had good luck with everything I've had at The Portage. (Never had the steak or the risotto.) These include the fried chicken (different, as noted above, from what you might expect, but delicious), the pork chop, and the burger. I'll echo that the bacon-wrapped dates are great. And they make a good martini.

We had a very nice dinner at the Portage last night. The bacon wrapped dates were delicious, good quality bacon really matched well with the dates. I had the buffalo chicken wings, which were very good. They could have been a tad crispier, but they had a nice kick, were very tender and I really liked the blue cheese crumbles. My husband had the pumpkin risotto, which he enjoyed, I am not a fan of anything pumpkin. I had the duck breast, perfectly cooked to a medium rare, nice crispy skin, delicious. The wine list was decent, I had a Kir and a glass of Pariposo Cabernet. Having ovedosed on Halloween candy, I had a Frangelico for dessert which was a crazy generous pour but luckily I wasn't driving. My husband had the Great Pumpkin, spicecake with pumpkin ice cream, he really liked it. We really liked the atmosphere at the Portage, and it has a nice friendly laid back vibe. We will definitely be back. My only complaint was that the pace was a bit quick, we were in and out in just over an hour. Our reservations for at 645 and we were done by just after 8. Since we didn't want to go home to put the kids to bed, we went down the street on Central to K and H Package liquors, a fun dive bar with free pool. We had a Zywiec and Old Style to end a great night.
LO

I am not responding to the previous post, but wanted to raise an issue that came up during dinner last night at The Portage and solicit others comments.
I first want to get my comments on the food and restaurant ambiance out of the way. Really nice food, and wait staff. I had the beet salad and steak which were both great. Perhaps the reason the food tasted so good was due to my growing hunger after our 1 1/2 hour wait to be seated. No, we were not walk-ins, but had a reservation. Did the management at the restaurant not understand how to deal with the basic concept of turning a table? No, the host was frustrated by not one, but numerous tables who refused to leave, we'll after their meal was complete, and in a couple cases after they paid.

We tried to roll with the situation, thinking that these tables were staying because they were having a great time and we too would soon have that opportunity once they headed out. Well, that worked for the first hour. After that, we were hungry--although the host provided us with some fries to take the edge off--and getting annoyed at the others for not giving the growing crowd of diners a chance to eat as well.

I know some think the concept of the "table being yours for the night" is often mentioned as a civilized facet of dining in Paris, but isn't there a social compact that obligates you to take notice of 10 or 12 people standing waiting to eat in a small restaurant and vacate?

I am certainly one that does not like to be given the bums rush out the door so the restaurant can turn their table, but really what should one do in that situation?

I tried catching the offending diners eye in hopes they would see all the hungry souls waiting and vacate. To no avail; they just looked at me and others who tried the same technique with the same cold, dead eye that I recall being used in the movie Jaws to describe a shark about to chomp its victim--no mercy or thought at all.

Has anyone else gone up,to the offending table and asked if they might move to the/a bar and let others eat? To what success? Any technique work better than others? Or, should it be the restaurant's obligation to take this step? It is clearly in their interest to do so because during our wait we were not helping The Portage pay their rent-other than a few drinks at the bar.

In closing, I want to reiterate that I will be back to the restaurant. Great people--waiter, host, bartender. Food was well prepared and tasty with thoughtful presentation and pricing. However, should I chalk up the evening to bad luck or is there something that we or the restaurant could do to meet everyone's needs in this case. I am interested in other's views and experiences.

I feel your pain, johnnies. I've been in similar situations (as has everyone), although not at The Portage. You hope the restaurant will do something about it and wonder why they can't, while at the same time knowing that if it were your job to make people scoot, you wouldn't exactly know how to go about it, either. All I really have to add to this thread (other than to feel your pain) is to say that we've been to The Portage many times (including on Saturday nights, with reservations) and have never encountered this problem. And I have a gut level knee-jerk response to want to defend the restaurant, because, like you, I feel all the folks there (including the owners) are good folks.

Never the waiting guest's responsibility to clear away the lollygaggers, ok, a few "are you kidding me"? glances sure, but other than that the house bears the brunt of moving a well finished table out to seat the next guests. Instead of commenting to the table, a polite "ahem" to the host/ess should be all one would even have to think of doing.

Pure speculation on my part, but maybe the partner-owners are looking at the situation (with anxiety) and not knowing quite what to do because the lingering parties are restaurant regulars, while the waiting party are first-time customers. My sense at The Portage is that quite a lot of their "bread and butter" are neighborhood regulars. If this is the case, what (as the owner) do you do? Piss off the regulars and never see them again? Or just hope that they'll finally get up on their own accord? I'm not defending the decision if that's what was going on (and of course, at a distance, I don't have any idea of whether that's what was going on). Not defending it at all. But I am understanding it.

riddlemay wrote:what (as the owner) do you do?

I'd buy them a round of drinks and ask them to move to the bar.

stevez wrote:

riddlemay wrote:what (as the owner) do you do?

I'd buy them a round of drinks and ask them to move to the bar.

That's what I would do too, assuming The Portage has seating at the bar.

The Portage does have seating at the bar, so that might work.

What makes this turn in the thread interesting (to me) is the implications it has for all restaurants, not just The Portage. It must be a thorny problem. As the owner, facing a table of bread-and-butter regulars, you have no guarantee that even an offer of a free round of drinks at the bar is going to assuage them rather than piss them off. From what I know of the Portage's owners (and I do know them a bit, purely through my patronage of the restaurant, not through any other channel), I can pretty much guarantee that they did not take johnnies' problem lightly. I think they found themselves on the horns of a dilemma that they didn't solve in the best way possible but saw no guaranteed good solution for.

stevez wrote:I'd buy them a round of drinks and ask them to move to the bar.

This is exactly how this situation was handled a few years ago when we visited Café Touché and some regulars were lingering at a table.

I agee buy them a round at the bar, if they are good customers they would understand the need to turn the table. I was there Fri night on a spur of the moment, and enjoyed my dinner at the bar, the tables were all spoken for. Sometimes you just need to tell the people to move.

2146 north wrote:I agree buy them a round at the bar, if they are good customers they would understand the need to turn the table.

Good point. Even if they are real bread-and-butter regulars, if they are hanging on to a table 90 minutes past the sell-by date, and they have so little empathy for the dilemma they've created for the restaurant by doing this that they raise a stink over being asked to move to the bar for free drinks, an owner and/or manager should be able to say, "These particular regulars are regulars we can do without."

I believe that at an optimally managed place, the staff would make the offer to the buy the lingerers a round at the bar. Leaving it up to the waiting patrons to approach your other customers (i.e. effectively letting customers manage your operations) opens the door to a host of potential problems. Strong management takes the initiative in such instances and does its best to turn the situation into a postive one for all involved. Weak management lets the chips fall where they may and often suffers the consequences (as recent posts on this thread indicate).

=R=

We've been meaning to hit The Portage for a while, we have friends who live a few blocks from there who've raved about it, plus some positive nods here. Saturday morning I made a reservation -- OpenTable had plenty of spots open, but the place was getting pretty packed when we got there. No wait for the table, but everything was full, with standees throughout the night in that rather cramped space, and LOUD. They could use a little sound remediation in there.

Food and service were impeccable, though.

We started with a crabcake in miso carrot butter sauce, which was outstanding. Crisp-breaded but no interior filler, and the sauce had a nice mix of umami, sweet and hint of acid. For drinks we had a glass of granacha and a dark and stormy (nice amount of bitterness from lime peel). The apple salad with manchego, candied walnuts and cumin vinaigrette was not as over-the-top-good as the crabcake (frisee over thin slices of apple made it hard to eat, but that's the only ding), the cumin well-toasted and smoky providing a nice offset to the apples and walnuts.

SueF surprised me ordering the vegetarian dish, it just happened to be composed entirely out of the few vegetables she really likes: squash, mushrooms, pearl and crispy onions, and polenta. I thought it could use a bit more texture to it -- it was mostly puree, but it was very tasty. I had the Amish fried chicken, with brussells sprouts, mashed potatoes and bacon gravy. Generous serving of all of that, crisp, juicy chicken. My only complaint was that the gravy came poured artfully over everything, muting the crispness of some of the chicken (everything's touching!!!!).

For dessert, the flourless chocolate cake was a nice dense slab, rich chocolate flavor. The cherry streusel had great cherry flavor, but could have used more crisp streusel bits.

While I don't think this place is as refined as say, Vie, it's moving in the right direction: high quality food from good sources, good flavor combinations and impeccable service.

Gotta revive this thread. The Portage has been doing their usual good work, but they've added Sunday fried chicken. And it's everything I've personally been looking for in fried chicken. They have two varieties: traditional and Korean. I went for the traditional, and it's great. Crispy, salty, juicy chicken, and great sides (a thick bacon gravy, some wonderful mashed potatoes, and a light cole slaw).

Everyone has been getting too fancy with fried chicken, IMHO, and it's nice to see someone doing the basics right. I'll get some pics the next time I hit it.

Are they serving dark meat fried chicken. IIRC, theyu used to only serve airlin chicken breasts.

stevez wrote:Are they serving dark meat fried chicken. IIRC, theyu used to only serve airlin chicken breasts.

They have options for half/full chicken, and the meat was incredibly tender. The dark meat I had was my favorite part, as I'm a dark meat guy. But even the white meat was tender and juicy.

Given the whole chicken option, I'm pretty sure they're using real birds now.

Just read on DNAinfo that the Portage will close New Years Eve. No reason given. Shame. I loved having that option in the neighborhood.

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2015120 ... -announces