Grand Tour

I had the privilege of dining at Grand Tour last night for a pre-opening event and came away extremely impressed. Chef Roger Herring (formerly chef/owner at Socca) heads up the kitchen and as a big fan and frequent diner of Socca I am so thrilled to be able to enjoy his cooking again.

Grand Tour is an upscale European sports bar/gastropub. Significant renovations were done to the space and it is gorgeous and comfortable. The menu is outstanding; great mix of adventurous items such as a half a pig's head, sweetbreads and housemade charcuterie as well as comfort food such as buttermilk fried chicken, flatbreads and burgers. The theme of the menu is international tapas (emphasis on European countries but some classic American dishes as well as some from Asia and South America as well) and prices are very reasonable; most of the larger plates are in the $12 to $16 price range with a handful of more pricey items. Portions were quite generous as well. Just about everything we had was delicious; I particularly enjoyed the Arctic char and the squid ink gnocchi with whipped ricotta (so flavorful and the gnocchi was so soft and light). What is nice is just about everything is made in house; the breads, pasta, charcuterie - even the mustard. The staff we encountered was all very friendly; the food already is at a high level but do expect some to-be-expected service issues during the coming weeks as the front of the house staff becomes more experienced and knowledgeable about the menu.

Grand Tour is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner and there are plans for live music on Saturdays, a monthly prix fixe featuring the cuisine of a different country each month and frequent dinners with beer pairings in the back dining room. There are big screen televisions in the bar area that will feature rugby and soccer matches.

Grand Tour is planning on doing a soft opening tomorrow (February 18th) and then a grand opening towards the end of the month; for now they are BYOB but should commence having full bar service in the near future. I had such a fun evening here last night and definitely anticipate dining here quite a bit in the coming months.

Grand Tour
2434 W. Montrose
Chicago, IL 60618
http://grandtourchicago.com/
There is also an active Facebook Page and reservations will be available through Open Table soon.

Gonzo70 wrote:Grand Tour is planning on doing a soft opening tomorrow (April 18th)

???

Thanks, dang spellchecker!

I gave this place a try last night. You know all those pan-asian restaurants that advertise they do Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc etc, but none of each one is that great? Thats the vibe I got here, like they were trying to do too much. Everything was ok and passable but nothing was worth actually going here for.

I had refrained from posting here too quickly due to the fact that they were new and obviously working on kinks of their concept. I literally live a stone's throw away (though I haven't yet) from Grand Tour, so I gave it more tries than I normally would have. From my few visits I found my impression to be largely what bnl posted. The concept was a bit of a train wreck and probably did not highlight the Chef's talents. Ordering seemed like a game of roulette. Some dishes were great while others were tiny and lackluster. Every visit I found a think or two that I felt I could learn to love given time, only to return to find them missing from the menu. The prices quickly shot up from reasonable (dishes around $8 to $18 on soft opening) to completely unreasonable for the neighborhood ($25+ entrees that wouldn't fill up even the daintiest diner). Sometimes that price point is acceptable, when the food justifies it, but it just didn't seem in sync for what the dishes were and the neighborhood/concept.

That was a bit of a long winded intro to get to the point... I read here that the Chef has parted ways, and it seems that they are going to do an entire re-concept. For better or worse, it will be different. I'm guessing the food will be less exciting, more sandwiches and stuff, but as stated in the article, at a price point more in sync with the type of place it is. To me this is good news, as I had no plans to return, but with this change, I'll give it another shot.

From their web site it looks as though there has already been a major trimming of the menu by the new chef. I also note that hours have been cut from when they opened as noted in the first post in this thread. They are closed on Monday and open at 5 pm on Tuesday through Friday.

We never tried the place even though it is a reasonable walk from home. Trying to be both a sports bar and good restaurant did not strike us as a place we really wanted to try. The current menu looks quite unappealing to me while anything sportsbarish is a real turnoff.

I don't really like sports bar type places either, but for me it's about the people, not necessarily the TVs. Some of the douchebaggery that comes with sports bars is definitely absent in this place. I don't see all that much new stuff on the menu yet, but a lot of the old stuff has been removed. One thing I still see was one of my favorite things there. The "Steak And Eggs Argentina". Despite the bad lighting below making it look dark, the steak was actually one of the juiciest tender pieces of skirt I've had, cooked perfectly medium rare. It made for a pretty good brunch. I'm not trying to defend the place, just give it a fair assessment. I'll check it out under the new chef/menu and report back this time, good or bad.

Steak And Eggs Argentina $15 - grilled skirt steak, chimichurri, eggs

I don't really like sports bar type places either, but for me it's about the people, not necessarily the TVs

Amen, brother. It's about the people AND the food!! People get way too hung up on TV's which shouldn't necessarily qualify how good a place might be.

The Tour is Over: Grand Tour in Ravenswood Shutters for Revamp

From Eater Chicago:

The tour is over for the international-themed sports bar and restaurant Grand Tour. After less than seven months in business at 2434 W. Montrose, ownership has closed the restaurant for a revamp. Eyewitnesses report a sign on the door alerting patrons, and the website and OpenTable page have vanished as well.

Owner Jesse Boyle says that "we are in the midst of revamping the concept and menu." There is no firm target date yet for reopening or announcing the new concept, as Boyle says "this is a long-term proposition and I just want to make sure that we get it right."

I saw the sign in mention just tonight. Living just a few block away we gave each of the two previous incarnations of it a fair shake and while we were able to find good, sometimes very good dishes, the majority of the menu was nothing I'd want to pay the asking prices for. Earlier this week I thought they had closed down for good, so I'm glad they didn't give up so fast. On the other hand, I'm not holding my breath for anything mind blowing.