who has the best bouillabase?

Hi all,
My mom is coming into town and her favorite dish of all time is bouillabase. I have made it for her before, but I'd like to go out for it. Anyone have fond memories of having this dish somewhere? I'm asking far in advance (she's not coming til October) so that I can make reservations if needed. Thanks!

I'm not sure about best, but I had a very good bouillabaisse at La Sardine a few weeks ago. If you go on a Tuesday night, you can get it as part of a very reasonable $25 three-course prix fixe special. A couple of threads that mention the bouillabaisse at La Sardine are here and here.

La Sardine
111 N Carpenter St
Chicago, IL 60607
312-421-2800
www.lasardine.com

messycook wrote:Anyone have fond memories of having this dish somewhere?!

By far the best bouillabase I have fond memories of, other than what I've made at home, was at The Bakery on Lincoln, just north of Webster. Unfortunately, unless you're a personal friend of Mr. Peabody and Sherman, with their Wayback machine, you might not be able to get a reservation.

I've enjoyed the one at Jacky's Bistro up in Evanston, on Prairie off of Central.

I'm partial since I work there, but I really enjoy Cafe Selmarie's bouillabaisse. It's not on the set menu, but appears regularly as a special. I'm sure if you gave the restaurant a call with the day you were thinking about coming in we'd be happy to put it on the special menu for that evening-

I second La Sardine...great garlicky rouille. Chez Joel onTaylor also has a great version...overt Pernod perfume.

I don't know if it's the best, but the bouillabaisse at Le Titi de Paris is pretty awesome -- though it is seasonal (winter). Loads of fish and shellfish, plus a silver gravy boat full of yummy, garlicky rouille. It's one of the few great things about winter.

I agree that La Sardine has excellent bouillabaise. But the bouillabaise at Blackbird is more ethereal and just as good, if not better.

thank you, I will let you know where we end up! I think it will either be Sardine or Blackbird....is it super noisy at Blackbird? My dad is hard of hearing and doesn't like it when it is 'echo-y' in restaurants.

My parents, my husband, and I went to La Sardine Saturday night.

Overall it was great, including the Boullabaise.

We had 2 Lyonnaise salads (pure eggy and bacon goodness, crispy croutons); a pate plate (huge amount of pate); and one pumpkin soup on special. The soup was very heavy, with a lot of butter and cream, but the pumpkin was roasted to a soft caramelized state and was easily scooped up with the soup.

My mom had the Bouillabaise, and deemed it excellent. She is a connesiuer of this seafood soup and was very happy with the amount of seafood, saffron, and ailoli covered bread.

My dad had rabbit and ate every bite. Husband had hangar steak and I had a few tastes. It was very good - soft but strongly flavored steak and a lovely demi glace around it. I had the skate special and I think it was a little overdone, and had too much butter on it, believe it or not.

Thanks for the suggestions - La Sardine was a nice night out.

It is not always on the menu, but Mon Ami Gabi does a nice job as well.

If you can make the trip, try it at The Parkside Restaurant in Bar Harbor, ME.

http://parksidedining.com/main.html

Blackbird is noisy, but I'm not sure it's super noisy. Try to request a table towards the front of the house as I think it's a bit quieter. I love the restaurant (having eaten there a good 30 times), but I'm not at all sure that it's the place for bouillabaisse (because I don't think they have it frequently). If my dinner decision depended on bouillabaisse, I would certainly call first to make sure that it was on the menu. I glanced at the web site and don't believe it is. That being said, I'd eat there over La Sardine in a heartbeat regardless (unless it was half price wine night).

I am still mourning the fact that Avec took the borride off of their menu. That was one fine fish soup.

messycook wrote:....is it super noisy at Blackbird? My dad is hard of hearing and doesn't like it when it is 'echo-y' in restaurants.

Blackbird can be quite noisy. I always ask for a table against the west wall, where the room forms a little "L," because it's somehwat more sheltered from sound. Or go early, when they're not as busy.

There's no doubt that the cooking is superior to that of La Sardine (which can also be qiuite noisy, by the way).

I doubt if the place still exists, but Sloppy Louie's in the Bowery was great about 20 years.

La Sardine has excellent bistro fare and is far more traditional than Blackbird, both in ambience and menu. The latter is far more innovative and a notch above in quality and price, altho its bouillabaisse sounds fairly traditional (I haven't personally had it).

If the former's your preference, you might want to avoid La Sardine both on Monday (1/2 price wine) and Tuesday ($25 prix fixe) when it tends to draw crowds and is therefore tight and noisy.

haven't been there in years, but cafe bernard on halstead and dickens used to be very good

Hubby enjoys Cafe Bernard's.