Swift & Sons
It seems like this city has an endless supply of steakhouses, something I certainly am not complaining about. Apparently the demand is there for more because a new batch of steak places has opened in the past year. One of the hot new places is Swift & Sons, which is where we kicked off the 2016 steak night season. Would the experience match the hype?
Jevon (our host) and Mr. Cole had to cancel thus the Magnificent 7 became the Fab 5. The roster was set so let the festivities begin. I arrived solo, the entrance is a bit confusing with Cold Storage on one side and the bar for Swift & Sons on the other. I found Zee German at the upstairs bar waiting for the group. Glick, Crenshaw and Mason followed shortly and the 2016 steak night season was officially underway. The bar was fairly empty however actor Terrance Howard known for the show Empire and his Oscar nominated role as a pimp in Hustle & Flow was at the bar. Actually he wasn’t, it was just Glick making another Jerry Sloan like celebrity sighting. In Glick’s defense this guy actually resembled Terrence Howard unlike the infamous Sloan sighting. It’s fair to say Swift & Sons is not a place where “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp”. Drinks were compliments of Crenshaw and Mason because of previous posting infractions.
Appetizers included tomatoes/burrata, Crab cakes and shrimp cocktail. All were good but nothing really stood out. I went with the bone in ribeye and it was perfect, one of the best steaks I have had period. I can’t say enough about the flavor of this steak. They offer a bunch of sauces to compliment the steaks and we ordered all of them for the table, these included: bordelaise, caramelized onion, anchovy-garlic butter, whipped lardo and oxtail marmalade. My steak was so good by itself that I didn’t indulge much in the sauces. Sides were mushrooms, creamed spinach ( I think) and a tartiflette potato with ham and caramelized onions. The potatoes were the stand out for me, they were a gooey delight and a nice compliment to the steak. For dessert we had the Boston crème pie and the cheese cake. The cheese cake was good but had more of a tangy flavor then I prefer. The Boston crème pie had great flavor but the presentation was way too arty, I’m not impressed by the artful, fru fru, bite sized way it is served up. Give me a big slab of those flavors. Someone else will have to comment on the wine since I prefer hard alcohol but based on the bill I would say it was expensive and a lot was consumed.
Overall I thought the service was attentive but not over whelming which is the right balance. The one minus on the waitress was when she said “I usually recommend adding some seafood to make it surf and turf”, really adding the most expensive thing to the entrée is your suggestion, it was a like a new version of recommending the seafood tower. Thanks we will pass on that reco, usually if you want surf and turf you will state it at the beginning and are not upsold. By the way we usually like to recommend a blow job after dessert, we will assume you are passing on that.
Dinner conversation included the Super Bowl, returning to Chop House, Kane Vs. Roenick, Christmas vacations and the New Year’s college football playoff disaster, why didn’t they play on Saturday? We also had our annual football playoff drawing, the results were as follows:
Steelers-Mason
Seahawks-Glick
Bengals-Hans
Broncos-Rick
Redskins-Crenshaw
Chiefs-Brad
Packers-Cole
Cardinals-Jevon
Patriots-Conway
Texans-Scotty
Panthers, Vikings-Not Picked
As always the winner eats for free. We didn’t have quorum so there was no one walking free. Thus I will capitalize on my football pool win next month. After dinner Crenshaw and I headed over to Bar Sienna for a night cap. Swift & Sons showed a lot of promise and is a worthy addition to the Chicago steak scene, I look forward to returning.
Cheers,
Joe Predicto
Filed under: General
Swift & Sons has been on my radar since the very first PR about its opening. It is a very well done space with alot of good detailing as to be expected by the Sodikoff empire and Studio K as the interior designer. The two level bar was empty when I arrived on time as all good germans do. By the way, a moment of silence please for Hans “Bubby” Gruber who left this world today and will be sorely missed. RIP Alan Rickman. The make a decent old fashioned with enough of a variation on the norm to make it somewhat acceptable to charge $13.00 each. The rest of the skeleton crew filtered in throughout the cocktail hour and a half. I was unable to run up an epic bar tab B Ray style on my own thus the penalized gents didnt suffer too badly.
Our table was at the end of a banquette at the entrance to the dining space. Comfortable and well spaced from other tables so we did not offend any other patrons sensibilities with our complete lack of the same. TOP TWO STEAK. Bone in filet done medium rare, but the piece de resistance was the oscar accouterments. I dont usually go this route when I know the steak will be top notch but they do a twist on the norm as well. An asparagus crepe filled with king crab meat and a lemon beure blanc sauce. I removed this delight from the top of my steak and ate it on its own as a palate cleanser. I was also considering adding this to my list of food i would do bad things to in the broom closet. The Mastros butter cake has some competition in the food violation department. The sides were okay, mushrooms a bit rubbery and odd. i have to admit I didnt really try much of the sauces or sides since I essentially had a double dinner. Its a nice idea to offer the variety of sauces, but if the meat delivers like this, leave the sauce in the kitchen. The wine was flowing as if Holingwa was at the helm and dinner conversation was a pleasure as always. The addition of yet another bottle of wine after the dessert course was certainly unneeded but very welcomed by all. This partly explains the exorbitant bill. I think it would be possible to dine here for far less than we did, but we did it right and i would happily return for a redux so those not in attendance can partake.
9.5/10
In the land of West Loop startups and overpriced real estate, I felt like a late-cycle investor that evening: steadily throwing money at a return that never quite materialized. The unusually short list of traditional cuts seemed designed to channel the eye to the Wagyu selections, and I gullibly complied. $75 later, I had five ounces of room temperature steak. The flavor was still present, but the cool presentation definitely dampened the effect of the specially fattened flesh. After sending it for a heat up, it returned with a sear and medium-plus cook temp. But the char provided a flavorful surprise that I quite enjoyed
The wine, sides, and company easily delivered all expected ROI. Real culinary effort was on display in the apps and sides, and whoever ordered the Pinot Noir should be commended. The second bottle to accompany dessert was a bit of a stretch (to both the pocket book and length of hangover), but was well enjoyed at the time.
My suggestion to future potential Swift and Sons investors: eat your steak with the bankers, not the entrepreneurs. Stay east of the highway.
Mason
S&S. Swift & Sons. Steak and Sex. Whichever of these you want S&S to stand for is just fine. January brought us to the new kid on block in the “Google-fied” West Loop. ‘Twas a smaller group this month, but we were determined to run up a bill worthy of a full boat.
I arrived to find Rick and Hans waxing poetic at the bar, followed by Sirs Mason and Glick. Mason and I got off pretty light on the bar tab this month for having not posted in time. Thank God no Brad Ray or Scotty this month, but we’re all looking forward to Brad hosting Drinkapalooza in February for trying to be slick, but really not posting last month until bright and early the morning after the deadline.
We were off to the table, a corner booth/table mix. Not normally my favorite setting but we had plenty of room, and were far enough away from other patrons where cursing levels worthy of a drunk, post-Cubs game Scotty and Brad could be tolerated.
With Jevon having to cancel at the last minute, we decided to split the duties or ordering. Crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, and a tomato and burrata dish were chosen for sides. The shrimp cocktail was average, the crab cake was a crab cake. (I’m not the authority here as I find them all to be pretty similar) And the tomato burrata dish was delectable.
Getting down to S&S. Hans spoke of defiling food, and I know he was serious. This steak is worthy of a nice dinner, a summer walk along the lakefront, followed by a trip to pound town. I would put this steak up against any in the city. Bavette’s, Joe’s, and Michael Jordan’s were my previous top three. S&S is now in that conversation for best steak in the city. Perfect char. Perfect saltiness. Perfect temperature. I can’t say enough about it.
Sides were okay, with the Au Gratin Potato being the clear winner. It was a creamy, gooey, masterpiece of potatoes. Desserts were a third bottle of wine, and deconstructed versions of cheesecake and Boston Cream Pie. All three were unnecessary but welcome for this gluttonous group.
The night ended with our bank accounts going down pretty heftily, and not due to the worst start in market in history. It was a huge bill, but one that was worth it.
On to February, and another high priced expensive newbie.
The beauty of January steak night is we get to start a new year, at a new place in a new part of town.
Swift & Sons hit on all three. While it will be debated on whether or not Terrance Howard was at the bar, there is no debate that Rick and his purple velvet sportscoat certainly was. He went with a white pocket square and a black shirt, some could confuse him with Lucious.
Dinner was good – I am blanking on apps, I ordered the small $75 steak and well…I’ve had better small $75 steaks but I’ve certainly had way worse. The upsell by the waitress was in full gear and given our total tab of north of $200 per person was a bit excessive.
Dinner conversation was great, triumphant returns was certainly the theme….hopefully the notion of Chicago Chop House seems as likely as MJ. Whether it is around in 5 years….I give it 50-50 odds. Unfortunately a nuclear bomb couldn’t take down Chop House.
I think we went with wine as our desert and I wasn’t disappointed.
Overall: 8 – 1/2 point positive for atmosphere.