Volo Hi-Jinx

A friend and I went to Volo a couple of weeks ago and had a very mixed experience. Our waiter was was very knowledgeable and friendly, helping us pick out several types of wine to go with our plate choices.

We ordered
½ Dozen chilled oysters; mignonette, spiced cocktail sauce - $9
Your typical high quality oyster nicely presented

Rare sliced beef, fennel, olive oil - $9
This was really delicious, the best thing we got, excellent grade beef, super tender, melt in your mouth

Duck Confit, roast garlic, red wine - $15
Incredibly salty, I mean off the charts. I love salty food, I pretty much use it liberally in my cooking and add it to most food, but this dish was bordering on inedible. In retrospect I wish we would have sent it back. In addition the presentation was blah blah blah. Just a big ole leg on a plate.
Cheese Plate - $11
Very nice selection

The bread accompanying all the food was very good.

So all in all the duck was a stand out major loser.

After the meal my friend and I wanted to check out a wine bar in Andersonville that I had heard of but was not sure of the name or address. I went to the bar and asked the bartender if he knew where this place was. The bartender deferred to a man sitting at the bar whom I assumed was the management or owner. I was astounded at his response-"Oh Andersonville is dry isn't it, they aren't allowed to serve liquor up there" I paused for a moment and said something to the effect of are you kidding me, not since prohibition etc. But he stood by his ridiculous answer. Maybe I am misinterpreting the situation but my assumption was he did not want to tell me about another wine bar because he wanted me stay and spend more money at his establishment?!?!?!?!?

Weird. My friend and I had just spent 140, we were ready to move on to another place.

The wine, bread, and service from wait staff was excellent. The food ranged from superb to almost inedible. The treatment I received from the owner/management was crazy.

Although I did appreciate their april fools joke posting, I will probably not go back to volo.

Should have had the trilobite!

That aside, as it happens I had the duck confit at Volo just last night (among various other things) and it was the best thing I had, simple and scrumptious. Variation between palates, or between the same dish on two different nights? Could be either one, all I know is, last night it was really good.

It must have been an off night for the duck. I love salt, so I think maybe they werent looking when the salt dumped in or something. It was really bad. I am glad it was good when you had it!

cuteheart1977 wrote:The bartender deferred to a man sitting at the bar whom I assumed was the management or owner. I was astounded at his response-"Oh Andersonville is dry isn't it, they aren't allowed to serve liquor up there" I paused for a moment and said something to the effect of are you kidding me, not since prohibition etc. But he stood by his ridiculous answer. Maybe I am misinterpreting the situation but my assumption was he did not want to tell me about another wine bar because he wanted me stay and spend more money at his establishment?!?!?!?!?

FWIW:

I once briefly considered the purchase of a building across the street from The Hopleaf.

The possibility of leasing the ground floor commercial space to a restaurant operation greatly appealed to me, but I soon found out that the property sits on a "dry" corner, and the only one of the four.

There may indeed be other "dry" tracts in that neighbourhood.

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:There may indeed be other "dry" tracts in that neighbourhood.

E.M.

The Edgewater Historical Society makes mention of properties in the area that have deed restrictions that prohibit the sale of alcohol, dating from the late 1890s or early 1900s (for instance, 1450 Summerdale http://www.edgewaterhistory.org/tour920 ... tml?5.html). That would explain the unevenness of dry parcels, as well as their durability (deed restrictions being notoriously hard to expunge).

Fillay

Erik M. wrote:There may indeed be other "dry" tracts in that neighbourhood.

According to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, as of the November 2004 election, 412 of the City's 2706 precincts had been voted dry (15%). Several of those dry precincts are in the Uptown, Edgewater and Andersonville areas. It is a pretty common practice for residents of newly gentrified areas to vote their precinct dry to shut down what they view as "undesirable" legacy establishments. Sometimes, as soon as the undesirable businesses close, they will vote the precinct wet again. In the past, there were a couple of high profile fights in both uptown and edgewater to shut down establishments frequented by day laborers such as the Wooden Nickel and the Boozoory (my fave). Maybe that's what the guy was remembering.

cuteheart1977 wrote:After the meal my friend and I wanted to check out a wine bar in Andersonville that I had heard of but was not sure of the name or address. I went to the bar and asked the bartender if he knew where this place was. The bartender deferred to a man sitting at the bar whom I assumed was the management or owner. I was astounded at his response-"Oh Andersonville is dry isn't it, they aren't allowed to serve liquor up there" I
The wine, bread, and service from wait staff was excellent. The food ranged from superb to almost inedible. The treatment I received from the owner/management was crazy.

For future consideration, there are two wine bars in Andersonville, both on Balmoral:

Joie de Vine
1744 W. Balmoral, Chicago
Tel: (773) 989-6846

Marty's Wine & Martini Bar
1511 W Balmoral
773-561-6425

d4v3 wrote: According to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, as of the November 2004 election, 412 of the City's 2706 precincts had been voted dry (15%).

A fascinating article about the Chicago system, and Daley's proposals to make it even stricter, is here: http://governing.com/articles/8assess.htm

- Fillay