Bascule Wine Bar

Jan and I went to Bascule Wine Bar to check out the menu and enjoy the BYOB while it lasts. The latter part will end as soon as they get their liquor license, which is expected every day.

The restaurant is in the old Urban Union space on Taylor street. I liked the space, and the service was excellent. When we got there at about 7:15, we were the second table of the evening. By the time we left, there were about 4-5 other table occupied, but that still left the place about 65% unoccupied. Maybe that's normal for the area on a cold Wednesday night.

Now comes the food. If I had to use one word to sum up the menu, it would be "uninspired". The majority of the menu consists of "been there, done that" dishes. My starter was Roasted Bone Marrow Canoe with pickled shallots, arugula and toast, consisting of two half bones of nicely roasted, very tasty marrow. Just like I had at Purple Pig a few years ago.

My main course was beef short rib with gnocchi, hen of the woods mushrooms, and horseradish gremolata (didn't really taste this in the dish). It was good, but not unlike just about any other menu that's in most decent places in the city.

Jan started with citrus hops cured salmon with salmon bacon, soy and beet crisp. She liked it a lot, especially liking the soy which had been made into a gelee. The salmon bacon was fried salmon belly, again something that's been showing up a lot over the past couple of years.

Jan's main course was the line caught yellowfin tuna with bouillabaisse vinaigrette, chickpeas, and coriander crust. Again, the seared tuna was like anywhere else, and Jan noted that the crust really didn't have a flavor to it. While the bouillabaisse vinaigrette and chickpeas were interesting, Jan decided not to eat most of the dish because it was too acidic due to the vinaigrette. The house took it off the menu, something that was very nice of them.

Summing it up, it's a nice venue with generally tasty food. There's just not much new in the menu.

Bascule Wine Bar
1421 W. Taylor St.
Chicago, IL.
312-763-6912
http://www.basculewinebar.com/home.html

John Danza wrote:The restaurant is in the old Urban Daddy space on Taylor street.

Slip of the tongue...it was Urban Union.

milz50 wrote:

John Danza wrote:The restaurant is in the old Urban Daddy space on Taylor street.

Slip of the tongue...it was Urban Union.

Yep, my bad. I've corrected my original post. Thanks for the update!

The wife and I have been enjoying the Bascule Wine Bar fairly frequently lately. We like the casual atmosphere, the friendly staff, interesting wine, and the mostly tasty food. An added attraction is their penchant for playing vinyl (LPs) on a real turntable - no canned Muzak here. As a record collector, I had threatened....err, offered, to bring in a few unusual items from my 6000+ collection to play for them.

Last evening, I actually did bring in a couple of LPs. But, sadly, it was their last night of service. They have now closed. Maybe it's the location - Urban Union didn't do so well there on Taylor St. either (I thought they were horribly overpriced, too).

I'm sad to see it, we were really beginning to like the place. Good luck to Jason, Josh, et al....