Art Smith's Table 52
Mar 19, 2008, 9:56 am
#1
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Art Smith's Table 52
Went there with friends last night. It is THE hot restaurant in town. It is was pricey. The bill for four (four appetizers, four entrees, a couple of sides, one bottle of moderately priced wine, and two desserts and tip) was about $420. No one had a cocktail or coffee.
You start out with deviled eggs and parmesan goat cheese biscuits, the latter pretty tasty.
The appetizers were good, especially the individual pizza appetizers. One of us had the special gouda and smoked duck pizza. It was just outstanding and comes with greens with a wonderful champagne vinagrette. I had the parma ham and arugula pizza, which was also good. One had shrimp and grits (he like it a lot - I'm not a grits guy), another had the fried green tomato napoleon, which I didn't taste but was told it was excellent.
Two folks had the $34 filet. It was like buttah, but rather salty and one wasn't quite done the way he asked (medium in stead of rare, as ordered). I had a halibut special which was just ok, with a VERY salty sauce. The fourth person had another fish specia, bass, which was good.
The mac (actually mostacioli) and cheese is perhaps the best I've ever had, it comes baked in a bowl, with the (three different) cheeses having bubbled up and run over the sides with a nice browned top. It has a nice sharp tang and is big enough for four to share.
The desserts were great, both supposedly in Art Smith's family for generations, the hummingbird cake (pineapple and banana w/ cream cheese frosting) and Smith family 12 layer chocolate cake (very, very thin layers with fudge in between - quite someting)!
Art Smith spends a lot of time in the dining room, visiting with patrons. He is very nice and approachable. He'll pose for pics, sign his books and chat, pick stray crumbs from the table - just a delightful man. Very friendly and competent staff. It's a small place, very comfortable and attractive.
A very positive experience, but at $100 per person, not quite good enough to back unless YOU treat!
You start out with deviled eggs and parmesan goat cheese biscuits, the latter pretty tasty.
The appetizers were good, especially the individual pizza appetizers. One of us had the special gouda and smoked duck pizza. It was just outstanding and comes with greens with a wonderful champagne vinagrette. I had the parma ham and arugula pizza, which was also good. One had shrimp and grits (he like it a lot - I'm not a grits guy), another had the fried green tomato napoleon, which I didn't taste but was told it was excellent.
Two folks had the $34 filet. It was like buttah, but rather salty and one wasn't quite done the way he asked (medium in stead of rare, as ordered). I had a halibut special which was just ok, with a VERY salty sauce. The fourth person had another fish specia, bass, which was good.
The mac (actually mostacioli) and cheese is perhaps the best I've ever had, it comes baked in a bowl, with the (three different) cheeses having bubbled up and run over the sides with a nice browned top. It has a nice sharp tang and is big enough for four to share.
The desserts were great, both supposedly in Art Smith's family for generations, the hummingbird cake (pineapple and banana w/ cream cheese frosting) and Smith family 12 layer chocolate cake (very, very thin layers with fudge in between - quite someting)!
Art Smith spends a lot of time in the dining room, visiting with patrons. He is very nice and approachable. He'll pose for pics, sign his books and chat, pick stray crumbs from the table - just a delightful man. Very friendly and competent staff. It's a small place, very comfortable and attractive.
A very positive experience, but at $100 per person, not quite good enough to back unless YOU treat!
Mar 19, 2008, 5:32 pm
#2
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BTW, Chef Smith told me he is a celebrity judge on an upcoming episode of Top Chef: Chicago.
Good news after that hack (probably not an appropriate word in this context) Rocco DiSpirito judged Chicago pan pizza last week!
Good news after that hack (probably not an appropriate word in this context) Rocco DiSpirito judged Chicago pan pizza last week!
Last edited by ILuvParis; Mar 19, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Mar 20, 2008, 12:10 pm
#3
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And if Oprah told you to jump off a bridge, would you do that too? 
Sounds like the food was good though. I'm always skeptical of the restaurants that open with celebrity endorsement and in the River North 'hood...almost everything like that is overpriced and underperformed.
Sounds like the food was good though. I'm always skeptical of the restaurants that open with celebrity endorsement and in the River North 'hood...almost everything like that is overpriced and underperformed.
Mar 20, 2008, 12:35 pm
#4
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And if Oprah told you to jump off a bridge, would you do that too?
Sounds like the food was good though. I'm always skeptical of the restaurants that open with celebrity endorsement and in the River North 'hood...almost everything like that is overpriced and underperformed.
Sounds like the food was good though. I'm always skeptical of the restaurants that open with celebrity endorsement and in the River North 'hood...almost everything like that is overpriced and underperformed.
