Extra Virgin on Randolph [Now Closed]

My dining companion (Aschie 30) and I stopped by Extra Virgin last night for some antipasti and a couple of drinks. Boy was I disappointed! The wine and drink list was okay, but nothing special. Anyhoo, I ordered a champagne cocktail of sorts while I planned my menu strategy.

The pricing of the antipasti was little confusing. Upon clarification from the server, it appears that ONE person can get THREE antipasti for $9. If there are TWO persons, the antipasti are $18. Not wanting to fork over $18 for antipasti, we decided to order antipasti for ONE. In addition, we ordered some cashews warmed with parmesan cheese and fried chickpeas.

The server brought us bread and a pool of extra virgin olive oil. The bread was again, only okay, nothing special or memorable. Our antipasti order consisted of baby artichokes, proscuitto and one cheese. When the antipasti arrived, it appeared that the baby artichokes had been attacked and overthrown by watery giardinera. There wasn't even a half of a baby artichoke on the platter (and by the way, I am making allowances for this dish being only for ONE). The proscuitto was described as buttery, but was quite dry and tased exactly like the proscuitto I get every week at Trader Joe's. The cheese I ordered came in a shredded pile on the platter. The cheese looked and smelled good, but dried out fast and was very difficult to eat. (Most of it ended up in little shards half-way between the platter and my plate.)

The antipasti also came with some olives, which were a bit watery and bland. Thank goodness that Aschie 30 had the good sense to poor some of the Extra Virgin olive oil on them, which improved their taste and texture a thousand times over. The other little dishes we had (nuts and chickpeas) were fine, but again, nothing special or inspiring, just passable.

Needless to say, I was not inspired to order anything more complicated from the menu. To save the evening we walked down to Avec and had real olives. I may go back there for a drink, but not the food.**

**I cannot figure out how to spell check my post. I apologize in advance for any misspellings.

In case anyone thought that the restaurant name had to do with a certain oil and was wondering how it tasted, I actually thought that the olive oil that was served with the bread was quite good. It was fruity and grainy. It was not helped by some foccacia-esque bread, which was too yeasty-tasting and overpowered the oil, but the second bread offering in the basket help to show off the olive oil's flavor. I was tempted to ask the server what kind it was but gave up after getting only partially satisfactory answers to various other questions I had regarding the menu. She was very sweet, although not a well-seasoned server.

I had the same lukewarm reaction to Extra Virgin and wrote about it here.

I wasn't knocked out by anything we had, and the service, though genial, is lot quite there yet.

Hammond

Yesterday, old friends and I gathered at Extra Virgin at the corner of Halsted & Randolph - a combined celebration of a friend's birthday and the ensuing holiday season. We went there to meet because the birthday person thought it might be a nice place for lunch- I had my doubts...they were confirmed.
Do yourself a favor- do not bother to enter this place for any reason other than to use the bathroom ( which, by the way, was deplorably filthy) in case of emergency.

I was the last to arrive for our 12:30 gathering, and my friends were at the bar- no host, no bartender, not anyone associated with the resaturant to be found anywhere.

Looking into the cavernous dining room adjoining the bar area were two tables of 6 to 8 people ( no doubt celebrating the holidays) with blank expressions on their faces.

One server; one busboy- no one else working "on the floor."

My birthday friend told me he had ordered a Bloody Mary about 20 minutes before I joined the group and was still waiting for his drink. When the busboy whisked by we hailed him to find the bartender- he told us that the waitress, who was in the dining room, was also the bartender, but that he would be happy to make my friend a drink- we asked him if he knew what a Bloody Mary was and he admitted he did not know. At least this guy was honest.

I suggested that we think of going to an alternative eatery, and we all agreed.
Before leaving, I went back to the kitchen just to see what kind of activity was going on- not a soul in sight; it reminded me of the hotel in The Shining.

When the waitress/bartender/ hostess/ manager? came by she asked if
we were ready to be seated (my friends had been at the bar for 30 minutes!) we politely told her we were going to move on elsewhere- could our two friends pay for their drinks? Her response was- did'nt all of us want a drink before leaving? The young lady could not have been over 21 or 22 years old. Her expression was that of a deer in front of a car's high beam headlights.

Anyway, how this place still has its doors open is beyond me. After some research, I found out that this so -called restaurant is owned by Roger Greenfield. Mr. Greenfield's reputation in the restaurant biz is not laudable.
He closes restaurants faster than he can open them. Why does'nt he just throw in the towel and find another vocation?

Hi,

Are there any recent experiences at Extra Virgin?

Regards,

nope, because it's been a Bar Louie, I think for about a year now.