Tavern on Rush – #1/3 of Ferris Bueller’s Absences
Chided by Ol’ Lambykins for a third visit – I don’t concur. Tavern remains a great Chicago spot for steaks and again delivered a delicious meal at a reasonable cost. I arrived at 630, anxious to get my scotch on. Knocking back 4 Oban before dinner – I started to hit my stride. Scotty Markets and the crew followed around 7 and shortly after. Except Donald, who was dangerously close to pulling a Glick showing up as we were seated. I am a fan of the bar at Tavern, it is a good space. They were however a bit slow on the service. Maybe if they were fast I could have had 6 scotches before dinner.
Making our way upstairs, Tavern was not as crowded as expected. In fact, I would have to say it was kind of dead. Really my only poor marks for the evening – the atmosphere was no where near as boisterous as the last time. If you recall, we sang happy birthday to a hot blonde in the corner.
From a service standpoint I thought we were well attended to, even if some did not care for the pace – which, admittedly, was brisk. Surely had he been full of Gin, Thorzeen would have had the waiters take some time to strut through our sides. Instead he spat fire in my direction which I always love.
Diving right into the apps we hit up some Connecticut blue points, pot stickers, tuna tar-tar and blackened shrimp. Everything was amazing except the tar-tar had too much cucumber for me. Not a fan. A cucumber has the ability to poison an entire dish. The shrimp were huge and well seasoned – a definite highlight. Oysters as fresh as they come. Great job on the apps.
Keeping the wine to a reasonable level we got some Mount Veeder cab and were ready for steaks. Standard bone in rib-eye, medium rare. The steak was great and my personal steak knife sliced through it like warm butter. It was definitely on the rare side. I would even say it was cooked rare, not medium rare. But, that is fine with me. For sides we got “all in” potatoes, chipotle Mac and cheese, creamed spinach and some au gratin. All were excellent. They do the creamed spinach right….good mix of greens and cream. Very well balanced on one of the better in my opinion
Continuing to snip….lamby-kins informed me I forgot it was someone’s birthday. We got some key-lime anyway and it was delicious.
All in all a good night, I was quite hammered. Rick Ray walks free thanks to the giants. I throw a 7 out there….rick ray, what is your number?
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Rolling in at 715 to find zeebs, and the two poppa bears whacking back drinks was a pleasing sight. The bar scene at Tavern borders on touristy death trap for me, but nothing a stiff bourbon can’t fix. Our waitress quite possibly was a man in drag, but I will leave that to others to decide. The banter was brisk and the 45 minutes flew by in a blink of an eye. Perhaps this was due to my overwhelming hunger. Upon seating, my aforementioned hunger led me to the bread basket which is unusual for me. It was truly a low spot in the evening. i think we have rarely delved into the subject of best bread basket in the city, as of last night it is now on my radar. The appetizers came out almost immediately which was shocking given the size of the shrimp. Some fisherman along the coast likely rode on of these things home. The tuna tartar was a total miss in my book as well. The blue points were slightly salty and delicious.
I am not sure if it is possible nor a good idea, however if they were to offer me a bathtub full of chipotle mac n cheese i would be likely to jump right in. God damn that shit is good. The creamed spinach was extremely light on the cream and had some good cinnamon / nutmeg tones which I was a big fan of. Most creamed spinach features the cream, which is not my thing, but this was all about the spinach. The au gratin while slightly greasy was well liked.
Ordering the filet oscar has become a go to move of mine in recent months. I was presented with twins which were doused in the bernaise. I would recommend ordering the sauce on the side for any other takers. It was heavy handed and overwhelmed the otherwise well prepared medium rare filet. The crab was lightly tossed in the mix but not at all missed.
The waiter was quick to inform us that he had a wonderful tiramisu. Twice. In fact he had a sub par piece of crappy tiramisu. the key lime made up for it in my book.
I overate and paid the price of painful restless sleep, but visions of April steak night danced in my head.
Sounds like a swell time. Sorry to have missed. I was busy ignoring single women and old friends by getting sucked into a 3 hour fake money craps table at our sales conference’s “casino night.”
There’s nothing I enjoy more than a great steak. You can’t eat it everyday, but when you do have it, you want it to be memorable. We’ve been to some pretty good ones over the years (Joe’s – my personal favorite), some being “great” Chicago steakhouses and others being top brand chains like Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris.
Honestly, this was one of the BEST steaks I’ve ever had. It isn’t quite on par to say it is one of my favorite steakhouses, however. As the host aptly noted, the place does come across as a bit of a tourist trap…but not on this night (okay, aside from the 5×9 “VIP” section in the bar area).
Ambiance: You would think that the dark mahogany and dim lighting would give it a stuffy feel. On the contrary, it’s quite charming. Large establishment with 2 floors. Although I’m no fan of going to crowded places just because, the place could have used just a little bit of liveliness for us. The lack of customers resulted in my feeling rushed at the end of my meal – everything came right out as if we were the centers of attention. Perhaps they should stagger the dishes just a bit more to allow people to soak up the conversation. (4/5)
Service: Very accommodating, polite and patient (although not the sharpest…it did not quite get the sarcasm about our not wanting to hear about the steaks). Unlike Mr. Thoresen, however, I liked the service overall. He was a bit too enthusiastic about the really awful tiramisu, and for that, he deserves being knocked down a peg or two. And the fact that they apparently adhere to the old age tail of women should be seen and not heard is a disappointment. I’m glad that there was no roulette to play this go around – oh yeah, congrats Ray! (3/5)
THE MEAT
I cheated and got the surf and turf…I will admit, I was feeling really lucky tonight. I ordered the Prime Filet medium-rare and I was not disappointed. Possibly my most favorite cut of steak and it was fantastic. Perfectly seared and moist. (5/5).
SIDES
Oh the creamed spinach was delightful. I felt like my mother would have been so proud of me (of all of us in fact). With a taste like that – not too creamy and very fresh – I felt like it was coming right from a farmer’s market. Superb. The only issue is that because it was so good, I failed to really take in the rest of the sides. Oh well, when you know a good thing, got to go for it! (4/5)
Bottom line, this was a great way and place to enjoy my last steak night for a bit. Perhaps I would not have been so enthusiastic if it would have been packed and loud, but, aside from how fast our meals came out and the lack of equality on the service floor, this was a great choice. Plus, Brad was in good form; we celebrated Zeebs finishing off his apps!, and Rick got us going with some good news of his own. (7/10)
Until next time (and fellas, whatever the side bet was on me missing this entry, I’ll just take 10% of the winner’s cut!).
Funny thing happened when I went to post this comment, somehow the writeup got stuck in my outbox and didn’t post days later…can I back date?
That said, Tavern on Rush was full of high expectations, and frankly other than the fine company that night, failed to deliver on most of them.
Arriving at the bar early to the request of Gimms Ray was a good evening starter, as was the usually fine-looking waitstaff in the bar area. Following up the obligatory oggling at the discretion of me and Brad, Rick Ray, Zee German and Zeebs arrived to finally take me out of the lame conversation and onto dinner.
Arriving upstairs in the dining room, we were all taken aback at how dead the place was…maybe 60% full at 8 o’clock on a Thursday when everyone in the city seemed to be out due to the warm weather was odd. Even more odd was the waiter, who was in no form to accept any criticism or jokes, as when asked, with his meat tray in hand, if we were interested in meat and all of us gave a resounding ‘no, not really’ he did an about face and walked away from the table huffing. Calling him back to discuss the meats seemed to make the guy’s year.
The apps we well chosen, with the oysters (blue points) being the star for me. The shrimp were almost too big, as i found myself nearly choking on all the shrimpmeat since they were about the size of a blackberry – hi Glick!
Steaks came out quickly and were perfectly cooked. Got cajun on mine but it tasted regular. No worries, the perfect temperature inside took away any negative sentiments. Sides were fine – all in mashed seemed to be the crowd favorite where I was sitting.
The night rounded out in an odd fashion with no birthday and nobody walking free. Consider it a missed ground ball by the host, and having to watch Rick Ray win along side that was practically torture. Had to go out with the host after dinner for a nightcap to calm my nerves.
7/10
My first trip to Tavern on Rush for something other than a brunch was simply satisfactory. While I think the group is a little harsh on the “scene” I’d like for the group to point out a few other examples of places where the scene has been better or perhaps notably busier. In my short steak night career I’ve been to 5 other places, and only one of them had a more populated, bustling dining room, Benny’s. MJ’s may have been somewhat busy as well, but that was just a terrible setup so that doesn’t deserve such mention. In fact, I’d say the scene when we were seated at Tavern was pretty busy, but at the end of the night the room looked like our plates, empty. Boo hoo. We’re there to catch up with each other, make fun of the waiter, perhaps point out the shortcomings of the sports network we work for, or point out some of the weaknesses of our company. It’s like a monthly teambuilding experience accompanied by generally good food and an abundance of spirit(s).
Starting off at the bar, a leathery lady took my order. I think she said her name was Lois Einhorn. She was a scary looking belle and was probably the niece of the manager because there was a severe lack of talent there. Our host, Mr. Ray played his best Glick impersonation toward the beginning of cocktail hour, as he put in his picks in for the evening’s games, but somehow managed a 5 scotch happy hour. I think that was quite admirable. It was quite a quick happy hour as the host was anxious to get upstairs and down to business.
The potstickers were top apps of the eve in my opinion as the tuna tar tar was more appropriately titled cucumber salad with tuna. Ease up on the cucumbers, we didn’t order from the garden, we ordered from the sea. The creamed spinach was probably one of the best I’ve had with a good amount of balance, without overdoing the cream. There’s nothing worse than watery creamed spinach, and this had a strong reliance on the spinach. The side that stole the show was the chipotle mac n cheese though. I’d eat that by the bucket full on a Sunday if I had my choice. The au gratin…meh.
I have to be honest; I think I’ve been pretty easy going on the steaks I’ve received. It’s hard for me to give one a bad mark. They’re usually flavorful, cooked to the right temp, and perhaps I am a little too lenient on my judgment of temperature but I don’t think I’ve had an overcooked steak. However, the amount of Cajun rub that was on this piece of meat was unreal. They must have shaken half of Louisiana on that ribeye. Obviously a flavorful steak, but every bite began with more Cajun on my tongue than a Tri Delt after an LSU game.
Drinks afterwards with Rick Ray at Butch McGuire’s was enough to push me over the edge for Friday morning at work. It may have been one of the worst morning experiences at a desk I’ve ever had. The thought of pulling a Castanza under my desk was one that reoccurred throughout my morning. I might have to pull the family card or the I have a girlfriend who wants me home card after dinner next time. Too many Friday morning meat alcohol sweats with a vapor that literally repels any deodorant I applied in the morning.
Have fun in Vegas fellas. Good luck on the tables.
7/10
LIMP MENU -WEAK SERVICE – TAME ATMOSPHERE- GREAT FOOD:
Picking up the menu at Tavern, you might think you had walked into TGIFridays. A gloss feel, with flimsy cardboard made me wonder where the hell I was sitting. No matter, the company was tremendous and the banter solid. When old Steve the waiter came over, he seemed as though he had a date somewhere else. Were we keeping him from a hot date? Rushed, no romance, no love, felt like we were being used.
Gimms was in good shape, throwing around piss and vinegar to keep us on our toes. A rectangle table under the horse race board, made for a positive place. Too bad there was nobody else in the joint.
On to what matters – food: Wonderful. All the way around, tasty. I do think the steaks here are as good as any in the city. Again, a third trip might have been a bit of over kill.
Let’s mix it up boys. Some new places out there to go and get it.
Will be out in Denver for April date, so might need to trade my date.
love you boys – waiter, if you are back from your date, I will take some more love, a bit more water and perhaps an occasional check in – and no, we do not want the cake – thanks for trying to push it a 5th time.
Tavern has always been one of my favorite places in Chicago. This trip did nothing to change my opinion, still one of the best places in the city.
The bar area is a great space: plenty of room, lots of tables but they are not crammed together, festive crowd. I disagree with the assessments of the dining room being dead. The dining room was bustling when we were first seated and livelier then most Thursday night steak nights. I feel like most of the group is comparing a Thursday crowd to a Friday or Saturday crowd. The reality is Zeebs is right, often steak nights are not that crowded and Tavern was more crowded then most steak nights.
The most important part of the evening is the food and the food was phenomenal. Porterhouse medium rare for me, a top notch steak. The chipotle mac and cheese is one of the best side’s at any steak house. The au gratin potatoes were also elite. The blackened shrimp were amazing but I hesitate to call them shrimp, they were huge.
The waiter was not bad but not great. I have previously had better servers at Tavern. The only negative aspect of the evening for me was it was over so quickly, I imagine the same reaction the girls that sleep with Glick have. I think we were finished and standing outside the restaurant at 10:00 on the dot.
I completely disagree with Jevon that a third trip to this fine establishment is overkill. It is not like we were just here; our last trip was over two years ago. The three trips here are spread out over a 5 or 6-year period. In my opinion we waited to long to go back. Jevon and I just have different philosophies about going back to places we have been and looking for a new hidden gem. In my opinion we are way past the point of discovering a hidden gem and the quest to find one leads us to sub par places like Stetson’s. I’m all for a repeat visit at a favorite, where you know the food is great. I guess the different views is a good thing within the group because each person has the opportunity to do what they want and the rest of the group maybe does some things they normally may not have done.
Thank you to Eli and the Giants for the free meal. The cool kids are off to Vegas and will be dining at Delmonico’s while there.
It is actually decriminalized on Federal land here in the US. That’s why people at Burning Man and at other Federal parks/monuments get tickets much like a parking ticket.