In Other Critics: Let’s Go To The Counry Club

The Grocery Bistro continues its blazing trail of A-minus reviews with Julia Thiel’s take; flavor combinations are unexpected and assertive, preparations are deft, and the atmosphere is convivial. But the menu has occasional flirtations with poorly-balanced flavors. Not bad, just off. [Reader, first item]

• Pat Bruno has more of a beef with the bill than the food at MK — three courses for one a la carte will run about $60, and the check comes as a grand total rather than an itemized list. Thank heaven for the $45 prix fixe, which gives Bruno the chance to sample chef Erick Williams’s considerable culinary talent at a “circa-1999” price point. [Sun-Times]

• Let’s go to a country club in Wheaton! No, seriously, that is where Pat Bruno goes to review Arrowhead Golf Club, whose restaurant is open to the public. Chef Alan Pirhofer is a vet of paces like Brasserie Jo and Trio, and now slings his lobster lollipops alongside country-club fare like a mile-high corned beef sandwich and a burger menu. Bruno loves it all. [Sun-Times]

• It’s a subtle rave from Mike Sula for Taxim, where fresh ingredients are used to their best effect in dishes that draw equally from Greek tradition and a spot on sense of old school-new school fusion. [Reader, second item]

• Martha Bayne visits Branch 27, and finds that the place feels “formulaic” — no surprises on the menu, no dazzling examples of execution. A great porkchop and surprisingly nuanced seafood salad don’t save the menu from its plenitude of flaws. [Reader, third item]

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In Other Critics: Let’s Go To The Counry Club