I ate at the Next
I ate at the Next Door Bistro, in Northbrook, yesterday with my family. It’s so named because it’s next door to Francesco’s Hole in the Wall. If you’re going to eat there, I suggest getting the whole roasted chicken. My brother ordered it. It’s a good deal of food and a cheap dish at around $10 for a dinner portion. Looking around, it seemed to be a popular dish there. I, on the other hand, had the artichoke ravioli special. The general consensus was that it wasn’t very good. The portion was small and, at around $15, was more expensive than the whole chicken. I didn’t think it was worth it at all. The butternut squash ravioli at Scuzzi’s is much better. Although, the food at Scuzzi’s seems to be a bit inconsistent. It’s good some days and not so good on others. My mom ordered the spaghetti, which also was nothing to write home about.
I was contemplating ordering the Chilean sea bass on the specials menu. I was surprised that they had it on the menu, since I thought there were tight restrictions on Chilean sea bass fishing. Alas, I was a little put off by the $25 price tag and the fact that fish is hard to prepare well. I’ve had a lot of poorly prepared fish. I don’t think I would have liked how they would have prepared it, anyway.
I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t have panna cotta for dessert. They did have tiramisu, but I forewent it for some white chocolate gelato. Which was okay. However, you have to consider that I had gelato in Italy from a place that supposedly had some of the best gelato in Florence and I wasn’t that impressed then either. I prefer a good panna cotta, crème brulée or some hazelnut filled crêpes–mmm! Dessert was much better at Bin 36 in Linconshire. They had some intensely flavored sorbet and hazelnut crême brulée the last time I went.
Also, leave your AMEX card at home. The Next Door Bistro is strictly cash only.
I also went to Todai for lunch, yesterday. Let me preface my comments by saying that I’m not a particularly big fan of buffets. That being said, I wasn’t impressed by Todai. My brother mentioned that they used to have lobster tail and crab legs, but I didn’t see any when I went. Everyone raves about Todai because it has all you can eat sushi. The only problem is that the nigiri isn’t very good. The saba was dry. The unagi didn’t taste very good. The cuts of fish were small and kept falling off the rice. I didn’t try any maki because I usually prefer not to fill up on it and save room for nigiri or sashimi. The other food was the usual asian buffet fare. It was about the same as what you’d find at Pacific Buffet. Although, the desserts are better at Todai. The, made while you wait, dessert crêpes were okay. If you really want cheap sushi, you should go to Shiroi Hana in Wrigleyville and get the sushi lunch special. The last time I checked, it was under $10 for about eight pieces of nigiri. It’s better quality than what you get at Todai.
Here’s a Chicago dining blog for those of you who are interested: thereitis.
Amanda Larsen Puck’s show Check Please! is also a good source for reviews on Chicago area restaurants. Puck is, among many other things, the general manager of Spago Chicago.
Also, this is a shameless plug for my former co-worker’s web venture:
Please visit urbanstyle.net!
