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Chicago has become a great restaurant city over the last 30 years thanks to the tireless efforts of many chefs and entrepreneurs. Two businessmen who have made a significant contribution to this evolution are Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, co-founders of the Boka Restaurant Group. Since 2002, this organization has opened more than a dozen restaurants in different, often wildly different, styles. They have worked with many established or up-and-coming chefs to develop concepts that reflect the style of each chef operating at the level of quality the group is known for. Many of these chefs are graduates of Charlie Trotter’s eponymous restaurant, which is often credited as the place that started the development of Chicago as a modern foodie destination.

The Boka Group’s first restaurant was – are you ready? – Boka. Opened in 2003, the restaurant and its chefs have received a steady stream of Michelin stars and other awards. The Boka Group’s 5th project, and the subject of today’s ramblings, was the GT Fish and Oyster Bar, opened in 2011 under the direction of Chef Giuseppe Tentori (I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out where the GT in the name of the restaurant comes from.) You can follow the link to read Chef Tentori’s complete resumé, but the highlights for me include time as Sous Chef at The Metropolitan in Salt Lake City (my favorite fine dining restaurant when I lived there some years ago), Chef de Cuisine at Charlie Trotter’s, and finally as Executive Chef at Boka for 4 years before taking the helm at GT Fish and Oyster. Yeah, the guy can cook.

Despite the fact the the restaurant had been open for 3 years and was playing to rave reviews, this was our first visit. Why? Because it was darn hard to snag a reservation on the weekends we were downtown. Apparently there are a lot of seafood lovers in Chicago and, once you eat here, you will know why they keep this place busy.

The menu is totally focused on seafood. Vegans and carnivores, this is not the place for you. Seafood lovers, rejoice. A daily selection of fresh oysters leads into a menu featuring fish and shell fish prepared in many old-favorite ways as well as newer, more novel ways.

[Note: since this review was written, a few meat items have been added the menu.]

The menu is built around the idea of small plates, which I love. You can pick and choose in whatever order you like, or your waiter can offer suggestions for what to try and in what order. There is no pressure to hurry up and make all your choices. Start with the beverage menu that offers creative cocktails, a good selection of beers, wines by the glass, half bottles of wine (big bonus points for a good half bottle menu) and a long list of wines in full bottles.

Next, pick your first course (which should be the fresh oysters, if you like oysters) or your first 2 or 3, as you like. With luck, you will be eating with at least one other person, so you can order a couple more dishes and share. Even though they are small plates, there is enough to share nicely between two to four dining companion, depending on the dish.

Then just repeat until you are full. Order another plate or two, share, maybe get a second drink or half bottle of wine. Casual dining, world-class food, set your own pace. Nice. At least it works for us.

Our first course was a dozen oysters. I introduced my wife to oysters on one of our first dates and she has loved them ever since.

Not much to say about these; either you like raw oysters or you don’t. These were fresh and delicious. The exact types available vary, of course.

Where you go from there depends entirely on your taste. If you are a traditionalist, you can follow the oysters with familiar seafood preparations like smoked fish, clam chowder and crab cakes. Or you can chose dishes that you may not have seen before. We tried some of each and learned that even the old standbys are given a twist here.

Example: our first dish, fish tacos, with garlic marinade, chipotle aioli and chicharrón.

Four mini-tacos – perfect for sharing – came on the plate. People have no doubt been eating fish tacos – fish wrapped in a  corn tortilla – for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The modern fish taco was apparently developed in the Baja region of California and includes lightly battered white fish, fried, wrapped in a corn tortilla with shredded cabbage a little sour cream or mayonnaise-based dressing, salsa and a little lime juice. There are, of course, endless variations on the fish, type of batter, dressing, salsa, and any additional toppings (guacamole, anyone?) you might like.

Here the fish taco is made with a nice, soft, white corn tortilla with perfectly fried whitefish (not sure I heard what kind) with good flavor and a bit of kick from the garlic marinade and chipotle aioli. All of this was topped with a sprinkling of chicharróns (fried pork skin). That extra bit of texture and flavor sealed the deal. Aficionados of the modern fish taco might argue that these are not the genuine article. Most of the rest of us would just say they are delicious.

Next, shrimp sausage with piquillo pepper, pickled onions and giardiniera. Seafood sausage is relatively unusual, although it is popular in Southeast Asia. Seafood does not lend itself to sausage making because it is so low in fat and easily perishable. Even where seafood sausage is popular, it is generally made with added pork (or other meat) fat.

I don’t know just how the shrimp sausage is made at GT, but it has very nice flavor and texture. Still, by itself, it would not be that interesting. Put it on a dollop of piquillo pepper sauce (piquillo peppers have no heat to speak of), a slice of pickled onion and, in a nod to Chicago cuisine, some giardiniera, and you have some really tasty little bites. (I know giardiniera has a long history in Italian cuisine, but it is a special favorite in Chicago, especially on Italian beef sandwiches.)

Vegetarians will not go completely hungry here. I can recommend the eggplant with tofu, hoisin, cashews and Thai basil to anyone.

In this dish, both the eggplant and tofu were firm and the cashews were crunchy. Hoisin (“Japanese barbecue sauce”) always adds great flavor and any kind of basil is a good thing. For us, this was a side dish, but it can easily be a main for those of a non-meat persuasion.

Lobster rolls have become an “in” dish in the last few years. I remember having one for the first time at a little shack on the side of the road in Maine many years ago. Now they appear on menus all over the country in some of the most high-end restaurants. I have lost count of the number of “Top Ten Lobster Rolls in Chicago” lists I have seen. I do know that the GT Lobster Roll appears on just about all of those lists.

Like any other sandwich, a lobster roll must have the right bread and the right bread-to-meat ratio to be good. The bun for the GT lobster roll comes from the Labriola Baking Company and it is excellent.The bun is buttered and grilled, then stuffed with nice chunks of perfectly cooked lobster meat that has been enrobed in house-made mayonnaise and flavored with herbs. There is plenty of lobster meat and just enough bun to hold it all together. It will definitely give you flashbacks to summers in Maine if you have been there.

I should mention that the lobster roll is sold at market price, which routinely exceeds $20. That’s a lot for a sandwich, but not unreasonable for lobster done this well.

It also comes with onion strings. I love onion strings! Lightly battered, deep fried and, ideally, just a bit greasy. Yeah, I know, not approved by the Food Police, but I love them.

Oh, and there were some carrots on the plate. Veggies make it health food, right?

Even though the plates were small and we shared them, those 5 dishes were enough to fill us up on that night. We are looking forward going back and working through more items on the menu, hopefully with friends. If you like seafood, you should too.