ILuvParis

I have now been to Osteria via Stato three times in the past year. I absolutely love this place. Everything is always seasoned to perfection. A couple weeks ago, one of the items on the dinner party was faro. Now, to me, faro seems like a recipe for BORING. It was prepared like and was reminiscent of risotto. It was stunningly good.

Big Mo

We've been twice in the past year. My wife loves it, but the food's a teensy bit too rich for me.

Sweet Willie

excellent, thanks for the post, I think I have a reservation there next month:-:

Sweet Willie

The buy $100 get $25 free gift ecerts and cards are back at LEYE through December 30, 2011.

for more details, see: www.leye.com/gift-cards
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toomanybooks

Somehow I knew you'd be the guy to post this.

bsdstone

I've been a silver member with LEYE for 3 years running...love their restaurants.

They've now moved into the Westin North Shore in Wheeling and are calling it Saranello's. The space is beautiful, I hope the food matches.

Anyone eaten at Paris Club yet?

newcastle

Paris Club...good, not great. Quite the scene. Very hip, see and be seen. You may run into some celebs, you will surely run into plenty of beautiful people.

Strictly on the food, I think it's a good spot for someone who is unfamiliar or uncomfortable with French food. They've got the basics, nothing too "weird", and most of it is executed in a solid and acceptable manner. Fun spot for a group or night on the town, I enjoyed my time there.

bsdstone

Ironically my brother just posted on facebook a picture from Paris club (taken back in September)...they were sitting across from Juliana Rancic...not sure if she qualifies as a "celeb" or not!

feedmeflyer

I agree that Paris Club is ok but not great. Brasserie Jo, which it replaced, was far superior. Be advised that if you are older than about 35 you will be the oldest people in the place.

Sweet Willie

It is my parents 54th wedding anniversary so Mrs Willie & I took them out to Oyster Bah this evening. Their choice of a long list of potential spots I had emailed to them.

We started with the oysters, there were ~10 varieties to choose from. At $3 a piece they better be fresh and they better be shucked properly (no bits of shell & liquor remaining). They were.

Crab bites are legs of Alaskan King Crab cut into 1" lengths. Easy way to pull the meat out, but the tendon still is in the meat. That said, the legs were fresh and full of flavor.

Tuna Poke. Very good but portion size is tiny.

Grilled Oysters, for $14.95 I'm expecting more than 4 oysters but that is what was served with the order. Seasoned nicely, too heavy on the breadcrumbs, cooked excellent as there was still some nice moisture to the oyster. No real smokey flavor detected.

Smoke Trout Dip, it is tasty but again no real smoked flavor. Too easy to make terrific smoked fish dip at home, so I wouldn't bother ordering this again.

Mrs Willie had the seafood salad. She loves the version served at Shaw's and said Oyster Bah's version was a very palatable step below what Shaw's serves. Not just flavor wise but in the amount of seafood and other chopped goodies, like hearts of palm.

Father had the lobster roll sandwich. He grew up on the east coast so is not an easy person to please with seafood. He stated the sandwich was enjoyable but not great. Looked a bit heavy on mayo to me, I did not taste.

Mom had the crispy one sided snapper w/Thai chili sauce. Yes I know the menu states it is one sided but for $27.95 I really expect the entire fried fish or at least a much larger sized one sided fish. Fish was cooked perfectly, just spot on. Sadly the chili sauce came in a small tiny dish and was very out of balance (I tasted almost nothing but lime juice).

I had the shrimp & grits w/a lobster-tomato gravy. Grits were a bit cheesy, cooked well, I really enjoyed this dish. Addition of a little hot sauce added to my enjoyment of the dish.

Pop had peppermint ice cream. Mrs Willie, Mom & I all dug into a fantastic piece of coconut cake. I'm not a sweets guy but this was truly terrific cake.

Recent Reader review: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago...t?oid=21516850

I believe the Chicago Trib also had a recent review, the parents said they saw one.

Oyster Bah
1962 N Halsted
Chicago, IL
http://oysterbah.com/

PamT

Interesting, you'd think that they'd have the same suppliers as Shaw's and also the same level of quality. Sounds like a mixed bag, some good, some not so good. Had dinner last week in the bar at Shaw's and it was fantastic as always. Thanks for the review Willie!

Sweet Willie

Mrs Willie and I had dinner last night at Café-ba-ba-reeba, hadn't been since last century. There was an Iberico pork w/chorizo & olives that was quite tasty, everything else was very mediocre.

With the likes of Cafe Iberico and Emilio's for tasty tapas, there is no need to go to Café-ba-ba-reeba IMO.

bsdstone

That's too bad! This place was always very good!

OTOH, if you're ever in Minneapolis and find yourself at Mall of America, Twin City grill is fantastic! Kind of like a mini version of Wildfire.

milepig

So, we wound up with a gift certificate. I've never been much impressed with any of their options. Soulless commercial food. What's the least offensive?

bsdstone

I'm guessing you haven't looked at a lot of their options lately. RPM is fantastic Italian...if you like Sushi, Naoki is fantastic, but a little over priced, IMO.

If you are located in the north burbs, Saranello in the Westin in Wheeling is a solid choice.

If you want to go Michelin rated, TRU is a staple in the high end dining scene.

I know there are a ton of Wildfire's around, and it's a bit generic, but it's a pretty solid supper club option if you're looking for that vibe in the Chicago area.