Steadfast -- fine dining in the Kimpton Gray hotel

Dave148 wrote:

Steadfast, the Fifty/50 Group's first foray into fine-dining, is almost ready to descend on the Loop — bringing with it what may be one of Chicago's most ambitious bar menus. The restaurant will open in the new Kimpton Gray hotel at 39 S. LaSalle St. at the end of June, owners say, with chefs Chris Davies and Chris Texeira at the helm.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/re ... story.html

Now open - went last night and had a very nice meal. Sparse crowd, and I suspect until the Kimpton opens they might have a rough go. But this would be a fantastic upscale, post-work spot for cocktails and dinner. The space is beautiful, interesting and well prepared food, nice wine list, terrific cocktails. GO!

122 W Monroe St
Chicago, IL 60603
(312) 801-8899

Eater.com article including photos and opening menu
Restaurant website (steadfastchicago.com)
Facebook page

($8-10 for bread? Seriously?)

nsxtasy wrote:($8-10 for bread? Seriously?)

It's swanky.

nsxtasy wrote:($8-10 for bread? Seriously?)

Yes . . . seriously. Your tone suggests that you're criticizing the price, and yet you offer no description whatsoever about the bread service . . . guessing you have no idea, haven't been, and have zero basis for your criticism. No, this is nothing like the basket of fluffy rolls you're used to receiving for free at your early bird special. Sorry nsxtasy.

In any event, for those of you who are curious before forming an opinion, we (2 of us) chose the small bread service ($8) - that gets you a choice of 4 of their 6 housemade breads, 2 of their 3 butters, 1 of their 3 oils and 1 of their 3 pickles.

For our breads, we chose the garlic cracker, orange sourdough, flamiche (with bacon) and lavender pretzel, pictured below bottom to top.





Each of the breads was terrific, though my personal favorite was the sourdough. For the butters, we chose the saffron and goat. Both were terrific and served at room temperature. They were noticeable strands of saffron in the butter and the flavor was prominent without being excessive. We chose the leek, caper and anchovy oil and it was also terrific. Finally, we chose the garden pickles (mostly cauliflower and carrots).





Aside from the bread service, I had the fideo (black garlic marinated squid, pickled garlic scapes, Fresno chiles and crispy angelhair pasta - loved it, though I would have preferred larger chunks of squid.





I also had the wood roasted suckling pig, served with giardiniera, frisee and salsa verde. The pig was shredded, formed into a patty and pan crisped on both sides. I thought this was terrific, particularly the the way the tartness of the giardiniera cut the richness of the pork.





I also had a couple of oysters that were served with chartreuse and bone marrow mignonette - unique and delicious, without masking the beautiful flavor of the oysters themselves.

There was also a chorizo-stuffed chicken ballotine that was fantastic.

Prior to dessert, a palate cleanser that was a tad heavy on saffron . . . thus, not quite a palate cleanser. This needs to be rethought.





Dessert was fantastic - strawberries, strawberry sorbet, dense almond cakes, mascarpone chantilly and meringues. This was one of the best desserts I've had in a long time.





And if you weren't already sold on the bread and pastry program here (headed by Christopher Teixeira), some sweets to end the meal (not shown - a parting gift of a cookie in a bag):





Aside from food, they have an attractive bar (and plenty of bar snacks) that would seem to make this a great spot for Loop post-work cocktails. We had a couple of cocktails to begin the meal and they were fantastic and very well balanced: The Bitter Affair, which featured gin, cucumber, gentian and dry Vermouth, and Punch Drunk Love, which featured aged rum, orange oleo saccharum and Amontillado sherry. Many wines offered by the glass too. Tomasz Sas heads the bar and worked at Boka under Ben Schiller so perhaps I should not have been surprised.

BR wrote:Yes . . . seriously. Your tone suggests that you're criticizing the price, and yet you offer no description whatsoever about the bread service . . . guessing you have no idea, haven't been, and have zero basis for your criticism. No, this is nothing like the basket of fluffy rolls you're used to receiving for free at your early bird special. Sorry nsxtasy.

Wow. An unprovoked, nasty personal attack - complete with an insult based on your stereotyping the fact that I'm older than you. Shameful.

No, I haven't been to Steadfast. But most places these days still provide complimentary bread service - places like Anteprima, which serves Chicago's best grissini, housemade focaccia, and a third bread, all for free. There aren't many places charging for bread, and the last place I remember doing so (Girl & The Goat, a couple of years ago) charged only $3. I've never seen a place charge $8-10 for bread, and I'm not aware of any other restaurant in Chicago doing so. So yes, there is a basis for my comment.

nsxtasy wrote:No, I haven't been to Steadfast. But most places these days still provide complimentary bread service - places like Anteprima, which serves Chicago's best grissini, housemade focaccia, and a third bread, all for free. There aren't many places charging for bread, and the last place I remember doing so (Girl & The Goat, a couple of years ago) charged only $3. I've never seen a place charge $8-10 for bread, and I'm not aware of any other restaurant in Chicago doing so. So yes, there is a basis for my comment.

Vera on Lake, for another example of an ever increasing number, charge $6 for bread service and worth every penny, warm crusty bread with top-notch olive oil and two flavor infused butters. Bread service at Steadfast, 4 different wonderful looking breads, two infused butters, olive oil and pickles look delicious and, along with the crispy pasta and squid, just jumped up in my must-try list.

Far as bread at Anteprima, where I was quite recently, I agree grissini are tasty, but focaccia just "fine" and white Italian forgettable. There is olive oil on the table at Anteprima, and they will bring parmesan if asked, not apples to apples to well executed $ bread service. Speaking of Antepriman, my bride cooed over her cod en papillote and one in our group had a special of pappardelle with boar ragu that was spectacular.

Thanks, BR, for the detailed post, salient information and stellar images. Opinions can be useful but always more so when they're informed by facts and actual experience. Now, thanks to your post, we all have a much better understanding of the bread program -- and a lot more -- at Steadfast.

As the thread moves ahead from here, it'd be great if all the posts that follow would be as specific and content-rich as yours.

=R=

Folks,

We've split off the Charging for Bread Service sub-discussion to its own thread.

Charging for Bread Service

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

Let me put a word in for breakfast here. Not a lot of good breakfast places open early in the Loop, but Steadfast opens at 7 am with an interesting menu (8:30 on weekends). I had only one item, but I was tempted to put it into the "Best things eaten" thread rather than here. I've always liked Heaven on Seven's grits, but Steadfast's shrimp-and-grits is in another dimension. Excellent fresh shrimp, perfect egg, grits loaded with butter. Who would ask for more? I'm looking forward to trying other things on the menu, but it'll be tough to turn my back on the above. At the high end re expense, but it is the Loop, and it's clear that quality is a priority.