Chicago Chop House – The Resurrection
A new year, an old joint. The “history” of Chicago adorns the walls at the Chicago Chop House sort of like “famous” guitars line the walls at the Hard Rock Café. This restaurant could not be situated in a better place amongst the rest of every hokey establishment such as the aforementioned Hard Rock, and the Rain Forest Café, and Rock & Roll McDonalds…..a total tourist restaurant. The history of the chop house with this group is a mixed bag of emotions. The first visit was well received, with a lot of talk about how much of a bargain it was. They must have heard you talking because the second trip turned out to be one of the most expensive in steak night history, adjusted for inflation. And Jon Glick ate a dirty sock. Let it be known that most everyone else had a fabulous, albeit expensive meal the last time around. But due to an expensive bill, and one guy getting a bad steak, it was written off for the last six years or so.
This year, I decided we wouldn’t let Jon Glick steer the ship, and booked a reservation, in hopes it would be a great, and surprising start to the year.
The Rick and I arrived to see Papa Fedderke and the night was off. Mason, Scotty, and Glick soon rounded out the party and we were whisked away to our table on rollers in the “saloon” or basically the side of the bar. Apparently not enough expense accounts had rolled in with reservations for the New Year so the upstairs was closed.
We started out with Calamari, Shrimp Cocktail, and some beefsteak tomatoes with onions and blue cheese. All were serviceable, but nothing really special about them.
Chicago Chop House probably has one of the largest steak selections of any place in the city. Every cut has a dry or wet aged, option, either available in bone-in or bone-out. In addition, they offer a Mishima cut which is a cousin of Japanese Kobe. Looking back, the current prices would have definitely been exorbitant six years ago. But today, they’re pretty comparable to anywhere else. Jon will whine and cry and still claim it’s one of the more expensive dinners, but we have had many stretch above that mark. And remember, it was only a six-man crew with one walking free. As a side note, let it be clarified that six men is quorum. Period. There was some confusion and discussion on that topic. Anyway, I had the dry aged bone-in ribeye and mine was excellent. I’ll always want more salt, but that’s more of my own deficiency as opposed to the restaurant. Everyone else seemed very pleased although JG won’t ever admit it. In fact, I think those who had the bone-in filet were really blown away, which is a similar response to the last time the group dined here.
Sides were done as family style. The potato pancakes were outstanding. The truffle mac and cheese was good, but seems to have been surpassed by recent culinary advancements. And the portion was way too large. And the creamed spinach, although done to my liking in the classic preparation style, was just average.
Rick Ray walked free for winning the NFL Pick ‘Em pool. Pretty sure we skipped birthdays and dessert.
All in all, the evening with the gentlemen was outstanding, the dinner was well above expectations, but nevertheless, the Chicago Chop House will probably not be visited again for a while.
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What turned out to be a controversial call ended up being quite the gem. After years of neglect, it was time to revisit an old fave…and by old fave, I mean an old fave of Chicago from the 1980s. Fittingly the place upon walking in, seems to have not changed from the 80s as the decor, smell and clientele all appears to be stuck in the time machine back to 1985.
What isn’t in the time machine is the steak. With some trepidation I was reluctant to go too big here but went ahead with the bone-in filet medium rare. I have to say that with utmost delight, the steak arrived and was one of the better bone-ins I have had in recent steak memory (ok, I know how that sounds). Cooked perfectly, nicely aged and seasoned well, this thing went down without any complaints. While it is worth noting that the bar for CCH was one of the lower ones we have ever had to cross, they easily jumped over it with some good service and even better food. Sad to see that we couldn’t revisit some lesser known Chicago history upstairs at the place where a young Mr. Glick once received a sock on a plate instead of a steak.
Good start to the New Year gentlemen.
Our last trip to Chicago Chop House 6 years ago has turned into a bit of an urban legend and certainly has a place in steak night lore. Yes the previous trip was expensive and there was sticker shock at the bill. However with the exception of Glick’s gym sock steak the food was well received, a detail lost as the story has been retold. As we know urban legends or fish tales tend to get further from the truth as time goes on and take on a life of their own, we needed a return trip to Chop House even if it was just to reset our starting point when discussing this establishment. That being said there hasn’t been a choice this controversial since Jethro Tull won the Grammy for Best Heavy Metal Performance over Metallica in 1989.
The downstairs room is smaller and more old school then I remember, going for a Chicago gangster of yester year sort of feel. While the bar was fairly empty the service was on point and Crenshaw, Hans and I caught up about our respective holidays. We were joined by Glick, Mason and Scotty and the first steak night of the new year was officially under way. The last time Scotty was actually at Steak Night might have been the last time we were at Chop House but it was good to have him and his briefcase back in the mix.
Our table sucked, not because of the location or because it was too long or too short but because it was on wheels and kept moving. This place is old school so the apps are pretty standard but still tasty. I went with the porterhouse wet aged. I didn’t go dry aged because the waiter was selling it so hard and talking to me like I have never had a steak before that I just had to rebel against his suggestion. My steak was great, lots of flavor and I’m confident that the wet aged was just as worthy as the dry aged, especially given it’s not like they have their own salt cave in the back. Potato pancakes were killer, I love good potato pancakes and these delivered. The mac and cheese was indulgent and huge, not the best I’ve had but still good. Overall I thought the food was great, they do the traditional steak house staples well.
Dinner conversation included dog racing vs. horse racing, the run and shoot Houston Oilers and the upcoming SF wedding weekend. I walked free for my second consecutive football pool win, next year I go for the three peat. After dinner drinks were at the Kerryman, which was a welcome change from Sienna Tavern.
I applaud Crenshaw for making the ballsy selection of going back to Chicago Chop House. Is it my favorite steak place, no not even close. However I do think they have good food and it is not the red headed step child of the Chicago steak scene it has been made out to be. Consider the Urban Legend reset.
On to February.
The nuptials of a S&C member past that was parlayed into a ski trip with cizzle caused me to neglect to post in a timely manner. In lieu of purchasing adult beverages at our next outing, I am working on something much more elaborate for our upcoming 10 year anniversary. Stay tuned.
PS, my steak was quite good, but i would never suggest Chicago Chop House to anyone as a good place to go. Our table by the bathroom would have been convenient had I a over active bladder.
I too goofed.
Resurrection was better than the first time – if we don’t go back for another 5 years am fine with that.
Steaks were ok – food was still way overpriced. Barely drank and still got to $200 a person.
Can’t wait for the 10 year.
10 year?