If you are going to call your self fine dining and they do have a Michelin star. Service has to be your gig. I don’t need the hassle of their reservation system or the stress of maybe having them not even open. BYOB is great but there are better places to go spend your money in Chicago IMO.
George
George,
I don’t think the restaurant asked for a Michelin star and I’m not sure they have any interest in being classified as fine dining. I think it is pretty well known that service is not their strongest suit, as there are no front of house workers at the restaurant. If you want to go to Schwa and expect the chefs (who act as waiters) to handle your wine, you are always going to be disappointed. I’m not saying it’s Corey’s fault as they should not have offered to take care of his wine but I’ve dined there a few times and always had a great time with no complaints about the service that I would air here. This problem was easily avoidable.
Yes, the staff should not have offered to take care of the wine for their dinner guests…
Trying to pin this on Corey is just blaming the victim.
Oh dear … sorry your experience was the other type of OMFG … ours was brilliant.
I’m a big fan of Schwa (not Alinea/Grace level fandom, but still one of my favorites) but accept that its definitely not for everyone.
So question about Schwa- can you request that you handle the wine service yourself? I would guess that would take care of the wine service issue.
Last time we were there we asked to have them left on the table as they tend to bring them back in to the kitchen. It wasn’t an issue. They really don’t seem to care too much. They also never opened anything without asking.
George
Just to add to the Schwa banter…since it seems that this thread has morphed that way…
I am a fan of the food at Schwa, as I said, that egg yolk ravioli might be the single best bite of food in Chicago.
BUT
I agree with others on the service side. I feel like too many excuses are made for a place charging $100+ pp for a tasting menu. The reservation system sucks, there is no one handling front of house and no waiters. IMO it results in a half baked effort (literally) and it takes away from the overall. Just due to service issues alone, my last meal at Schwa was over 4.5 hours long, which I find to just be completely unacceptable.
We had a friend that was a chef there for a very long time, so I say this both knowing the staff and also going there many times over the years. Some people don’t mind it, but I find the quirks just outweigh the positives and I rarely go anymore.
One last story…my last visit was easily the most drunk I’ve gotten at dinner it kind of upset me. We brought our usual wine, but were served drink pairings with EVERY course, starting with three huge pours of whiskey. I found it irresponsible of the staff and it ruined my meal. I should have just said NO to the pairings, but with a friend pushing on us and as pure curiosity, I indulged. Well, overindulged.
Long story short, Schwa is what it is. You will either love it or you will find the quirks outweigh the pluses.
IMO, you get a better meal, better wine service, BYOB, reservations, and a similar vibe (IMO better) at El Ideas. It feels like a more evolved version of Schwa.
Well said Michael.
I would add that 42g is a step or two above El Ideas and is also BYOB.
George
I didn’t love El Ideas. Frankly, I thought the service was markedly better than Schwa (no wine theft and the staff was lucid), but the food wasn’t as good. The two dishes I remember most vividly from El Ideas were the french fries in ice cream (very enjoyable and fun) and five onion tarts in a row, which just made me go, “huh”?
The dishes at Schwa were better, but with the possible exception of the truffle ravioli, there was nothing that I ate that made me think “I want this again ASAP”. For instance, our first course looked like a tree branch with little birds (I’m assuming that’s what the mushroom were supposed to represent) on it. The mushrooms were good, but the branches…meh. Even the truffle ravioli felt slightly gummy, though the flavor was on point.
Mind you, I think haute cuisine is difficult to do well and while I enjoy it for what it is, I don’t crave it. Of the restaurants that would broadly fall into this category, I think Grace is far and away the best. The artistry and flavors were there and everything else (service, room, wine list) was great too. In fact, I daresay it was the most comfortable dining room that I’ve ever experienced.
Unfortunately, while I appreciate the creativity of these restaurants, I think that the food tends to lack soul. I struggle with this concept, because I hate the concept of “cooking with love” or other trite cliches, but every time I dine at one of these places, I enjoy it in the moment, but it’s an ephemeral feeling.
In contrast, 4 couples went to Restaurant Michael in Winnetka the Sunday (free corkage) after our Schwa experience and it blew me away. Disclaimer: while Rob Pollard-Smith chose the venue, I know Michael and he said he’d treat us right. That he did. We had a menu that was partly off the menu and partly selections he made for our party. I ordered a potato and truffle soup with sweet potato ravioli off the menu and it blew me the f*ck away. It was delicious – flavor was as good or better than the truffle ravioli from Schwa and texturally it won hands down. The rest of the dishes were similarly excellent, but the other notable dish was a truffle soufflé that was indescribably incredible. Somehow the warm, earthy truffle sauce contrasted perfectly with the slightly sweet dough of the soufflé. The dish was at once both modern and traditional. I daresay, it was magical.
A bit OT, but that dinner was everything I want in a wine dinner. Very good food, wine, service and most importantly people. And while the wines were very good, no one was rushing to line up bottles for dead soldier pics or hurriedly posting notes to CT from the table. Just a wonderful evening with wonderful people. And Rob.
Corey, you have convinced me to give Restaurant Michael a try. Its been on my list forever, but I rarely make it to the burbs.
Now that we have beat to death the topic of Schwa, and IMO tasting menus in general in chicago, what other new places have been on everyone’s radar?
I haven’t been to any of the following yet, but they are on my near term radar:
Entente (i believe former Schwa chefs here)
Income Tax (wine bar + food)
De Quay
Elske (tasting menu, west loop)
Mott Street (been on my list forever)
Ruxbin (haven’t been since the re-do)
Gather (been on my list forever)
Antico (italian)
Just for the fun of it, Logan Square (where I live) is absolutely killing it with the cocktail bars. Here are a few favorites:
Scafflaw (IMO the champion)
Best Intentions (angostora on tap!)
Billy Sunday
Mezcaleria Las Flores
Estero
So many more, but those are some favorites. Great smaller food items at most of those places too, minus Estero.
Elske is high on my list, but haven’t made it there yet.
Mott Street was high on my list (based on Ruxbin) but as soon as they took the fish head for 6 off the menu, I lost interest.
Cellar Door Provisions is on my list and I’m going to arrange a dinner in May. My only question is whether we do it civilized (with women folk) or uncivilized (gents only).
just an FYI on cellar door, if you have not been there yet for brunch/dinner, some strategizing should be done.
First, expect smaller stems, but I found them fine for pinot/champagne that i brought.
As far as tables go, you are going to want to either do 2 people or 6. If you do 2, high liklihood you will be sitting at a 6 top with 2 other couples. If you are super against communal dining, this prob isnt the place for you. My wife and I managed to snag one of the two 2 tops, and it was great.
6 people or even more is probably the way to do it, tbh.
Corey,
I regret to inform you that this is the motto of Cellar Door Provisions (and they really mean it) -
more labor + more flavor + less money = more love
That being said, I can assure you that the food does not lack soul. Also, please keep in mind that a $48 tasting menu may not make it to the top of the list of the best meals that you’ve ever had. If you do decide to go, bring your own glasses, keep your wine close to you and serve yourself what you’d like when you’d like it. I have a two bottle wine carrier with an ice sleeve in the middle to keep things cold if you’d like to borrow it.
Full disclosure - my daughter works at Cellar Door Provisions.
Thanks Doug. I think my expectations are reasonable and I certainly don’t expect the same level of service from every restaurant. At the risk of beating a dead horse, my issue with Schwa was that they didn’t hit a minimum acceptable level of service of any restaurant (taking the Michelin star out of the equation). Put another way, I had far superior service the one time I went to Applebee’s. I’m not joking, either.
That said, lesson learned about keeping my wine close at hand and bringing stems.
I’ve eaten at quite a few of these, but one i must single out is De Quay, where we ate last weekend. I thought the food was unique thoughtful, delicious and well executed. The wine list has a reasonable mark-up and is very nerdy + includes well priced coravined options. The sommelier/general manager, Terry, could tell we were interested in wine and gave us a couple of bonus pours. I didn’t ask him, but i suspect on a quiet night he may welcome an offline - worth asking if someone is looking for a place.
Good to hear about De Quay. Another that has been on my radar for a while but I haven’t been to yet. I too have heard the wine list and service are fantastic.
Any recommendations for a wine friendly place on a Monday?
I know the Bristol waives corkage; other options? So many restaurants are closed. I was really hoping to try Elske, but they aren’t open.
A few general comments:
In terms of service, wine service, ambiance, quality of food and level of technique in the kitchen, Restaurant Michael is at the very top of my BYOB experiences, tout court. It is one of the few places I never regret not bringing my own glassware.
Cellar Door Provisions is hardly lacking in any sort of soul or point of view when it comes to the food. If anything, their first few rolls of the dice with the tasting menu had perhaps a little too much whackiness about the menus. But then again, that’s the idea. Loud, communal tables, off beat menu. If you go not knowing these basic facts you might be missing the point. Ultimately this is an easy recommendation as long as you agree with the premise.
Dinner at Schwa two nights ago was off-the-charts good. As always, I managed my own wine and the staff had no issue with that. I never walk into Le Dome without expecting to drop a fortune, drive through Portillo’s without expecting some caloric regret soon after or dine at Schwa without expecting a raucous atmosphere. Roll-your-own crab lollipops aren’t served by waiters in tuxes, thank goodness.
I’ve also always been very careful about directions given for wine service at all BYOBs. From very high end to neighborhood Thai places, in my estimation BYOB necessitates a greater level of awareness on the part of the diner.
I didn’t really groove with this dish. The lollipop fell off the stick and flavor wise it didn’t do much for me. Ah well.