Chicago is one of the great restaurant cities in the world, boasting world-class, chef-owned eateries as well as restaurant groups that operate several restaurants, sometimes with no identifiable theme to show their shared parentage. The Rosebud Restaurant Group began with the original Rosebud in Little Italy in 1975. Owner Alex Dana created a classic Italian-American landmark that remains popular to this day. The Italian theme is constant through the nine restaurants operating today and a few that have come and gone over the last 40 years.
The Rosebud restaurants don’t generate the kind of hype that some celebrity or celebrity chef-owned places do, but they are always busy. Mr. Dana’s philosophy has been “Keep it simple, keep it good, and keep it coming.” Portions tend to be large, the food is fresh and flavorful and the service generally top-notch.
The newest Rosebud restaurant is Joe Fish, which opened in March. The Italian influence is still strong, but the theme reflects the current popularity of seafood restaurants as well. Apparently the name is a play on the childhood card game of Go Fish and the name of the group’s head chef, Director of Culinary Creation, Joe Farina.
The restaurant sits on the corner Dearborn and Illinois in the foodie-friendly River North area. The walls facing the street are essentially floor to ceiling glass. It is a beautiful place to look into, with a nice bar area, white table clothes, dark wood accents and a wait staff in sharp white jackets. I suspect that more than a few people walking buy stop in for a drink, at least, just on sight alone.
While it is nominally a seafood restaurant, Joe Fish will not leave anyone – piscitorian, carnivore, vegetarian or old-fashioned pasta lover – hungry. Think of it as a steakhouse, but with seafood up front and steak also available. The variety is wide and the portions are large. Most appetizers are big enough to be a meal for many people. The sides, too, are for sharing. That’s all good as long as you order wisely and/or can package up the leftovers for later use.
One unusual appetizer is the Bang Bang Biscuit from the Bang Bang Pie Shop, which also supplies some of the desserts. Large, fluffy and served with plenty of butter, jam and Himalayan rock salt, this one won’t appear in any of the diet books, but it is delicious.
There were three of us, so we ordered three appetizers. The first was offered as a special that night, poached lobster with avocado, tomatoes and Russian dressing.
At first glance, this could be a throwback to a dish from the 1950s (minus the avocado, which you didn’t see much back then). Try a bite, though, and you’ll realize it is a thoroughly modern take on a classic. The lobster was perfectly poached – much more unusual than it should be. I would have thought the creamy dressing might have been a bit much with the creamy avocado, but they played very nicely together, especially with the sweet acidity of the tomatoes.
There is an obligatory crab cake and it is a good one. Lots of crab, not much filler, and mild spiciness, but it’s the great lemon-garlic aioli that sets it apart. The Charleston Slaw, colorful ribbons of cabbage in a vinegar-catsup dressing, also adds a little something different.
Our third appetizer was sautéed shrimp served with polenta, pancetta and a white wine pan sauce. Carolina low-country meets Italy. Very tasty sauce; polenta and shrimp both perfectly cooked. The pancetta was the icing on the cake as it is just another from of bacon, and bacon makes everything better.
Each of the appetizers was generously sized. We basically created out own 3-course tasting menu from the appetizers, and there was more than enough of each to share three ways. (Any one of these could be a meal for a light eater.)
The same strategy worked well with the entrées. First up was Alaskan halibut with wild mushrooms, caviar, and lemon butter.
As with the appetizers, there was no new culinary ground broken here, just really good ingredients cooked and combined skillfully. The fish was perfectly pan fried, with a nice crust on the outside and tender flesh on the inside. Nicely sautéed mushrooms and a surprisingly generous amount of caviar were all tied together with creamy lemon-butter sauce.
We also ordered the Chilean sea bass with La Quercia prosciutto, sage, lentils and arugula pesto.
As with the halibut, the fish was perfectly cooked. I don’t remember ever having sea bass flavored with sage before, but the herb worked beautifully and tied the lentils and fish together nicely.
If you enjoy cured pork products (prosciutto, pancetta, coppa, speck, lomo, guanciale, and lardo) and you don’t know the products of La Quercia, you owe it to yourself to give them a try. The name is pronounced “la Kwair-cha,” which is Italian for “the Oak.” They use locally raised, heritage pig breeds to create small batches of products in the traditional Italian way (the owners lived for three years in Parma, Italy, where prosciutto was born).
Our third entrée brought us onto land: a Colorado rack of lamb with herb breadcrumbs, fava beans and a Barolo wine sauce.
This was the one service snafu of the night. We like our lamb close to a true medium and that’s how we ordered it. We know that “they” all say lamb should be medium-rare or even rare and we certainly encourage you to cook it as you like it and we will do the same. This rack, however, came out rare at best and had to go back – which never helps the enjoyment of a meal. The staff responded instantly and went back and got it right. Thanks to our tasting menu approach to the meal, we just occupied ourselves with the halibut and sea bass and that filled the time until the lamb returned – this time a perfect medium. The Barolo sauce was delicious with the meat.
In addition to the wonderful, seasonal fava beans, we ordered broccoli sautéed with garlic, olive oil and lemon. Again, no culinary flamboyance, just simple ingredients perfectly cooked.
Astute readers will note that I said nothing about cocktails or wine. This was a pre-theater dinner for us and a cocktail and glass of wine would make it impossible for me to stay awake through any play, no matter how excellent, that did not involve live canon fire.
Nor did we have room for desserts, though the list was impressive including pies from the aforementioned Bang, Bang! Pie and Biscuits.
If you are looking for only the latest, trendsetting menus with obscure ingredients, molecular gastronomy techniques and dinner as theater, Joe Fish will disappoint you. If, however, you are looking for relatively simply prepared, beautifully presented and delicious foods offered up with a traditional Italian touch, Joe Fish is worth a look.
