After a brief brain collapse that made me consider McCormick and Schmick’s choice steaks for May, I wisely did some research into Eddie V’s, the latest entrant to the Chicago steakhouse scene. A bizarre pedigree ranging from Red Lobster to Capital Grille, this was going to be interesting. I believe Eddie V’s resides in what was previously Buco di Beppo or some similar italian named place. They did a good job with the makeover from what I can tell, but I never attended Bacco de Burpo so what do I know.

Attendance was strong, Cizzle, Scotty, The Brothers Ray, Conway, Glick, and yours truly, sadly missing Thoresen and Cole The early pace car for the evening was the one and only Brad Ray, coming fresh off a afternoon IPA bender with his superior, he was out of the gates in first place, clearly in the lead. Some friendly banter over a Oban versus Balvenie mix up suddenly took a turn and required multiple expletives. I was not privy to the details so will allow others to elaborate. The bar has a good vibe to it despite low ceilings, dim lighting, and a crooner in the corner with a piano. Fortunately unlike Mastor’s crooner who likes to cover Christina Aguilera, this gentleman stuck to the classics and wasn’t half bad. Scotty was in attendance for the first ten minutes of cocktail hour, but disappeared for the remainder of the time when a Darius Rucker look alike gave him an alluring glance. Thanks for coming. The conversation drifted towards the Blackhawks and their run for glory. The other topic of interest was what would be the penalty shot for new comer Conway’s April transgression of canceling within 24 hours. Lacking in green chartreuse, most likely because it is vile death bile in a bottle, we had to improvise.

The decision was made and the shot of choice was Luxardo, apparently this is a cherry flavored liqueur, whoever thought this up was a sick bastard. It required a prayer beforehand and some gagging sounds after throwing it down.

Departing the bar, we descended a flight of stairs into the dining room. Well appointed and generally sticking to the expected decor of a fine Chicago steakhouse of dark woods, Eddie V’s dining room is comfortable and lends a respectable air to it. Our table was well situated with a long booth side facing the entry with leather clad chairs opposing. Our waiter was responsive and quick to welcome us. In my opinion the crab appetizer and the calamari were the standouts of the first round. Given its Capital Grille roots I shouldn’t have expected anything less but the kung pao coating and peanut sprinkles were a delicious start. I may have gone a bit heavy on ordering the apps. The reason I believe this to be the case is upon completion, our fearless pace car, in all seriousness, looking down the table of Chicago’s finest gentlemen, asked the very serious question of “so what did you guys think of dinner?”. Our collective response was the obvious, “we havent even had the steak yet…..”. It was well played Daddy Gimms, well played.

Cizzle has devised a new method of selecting his steak that involves some knife play, what could possibly go wrong?   I do suspect that someone at Eddie V’s will be wondering why there are multiple stab wounds in their menu. The NY strip au poivre was my steak du jour. This is by far one of the best strips I have had. The pepper corn crust was perfectly done and seared to a medium rare. The waiter was quick to inform us that Eddie V’s sports a pair of 1600 degree broilers, which certainly delivered the goods. The accompanying cognac sauce is not absolutely necessary but very well balanced. Sides were not the best ever but solid. The truffled mac n cheese is a nice departure from the more commonly seen lobster mac n cheese which is usually disappointing. Having confused the mac for the potatoes, I was happy to set that record straight. The truffled mac n cheese at Eddie V’s is worth giving a go and was gone in a single round of the table. Potatoes au gratin and the spinach were both adequately good but not outstanding. The brocollini was truly bland. The wine list was comprehensive without being gaudy. I selected a Willakenzie Pinot Noir from 2010 which was very well paired with the appetizer course. http://www.willakenzie.com/ hilarious slogan if you have a minute to waste, and followed with a Cab from Rodney Strong. Both well priced and certainly liked.

Cizzle walks for free for a second month, due to his Swammi-esque selections in the tourney, thus precluding us from credit card roulette. He has had a good run of it these past couple months, but I see an impending dry streak in his future. A few of us intrepid gentlemen made our way down to Blackfinn for a post dinner drink paid for by the evenings winner. I really don’t see anything appealing about Blackfinn and would not recommend passing over Siena Tavern for it. Nonetheless it was a good close tot he evening and looking forward to June in which I hear we will have a special guest joining us….

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