That is a lot of natural light.Photo: courtesy of Urban Daddy
• Phil Vettel checks out Noble Square’s Fogon, finding that cousins Leo and Eusevio Garcia have a “penchant for weaving European influences into their cooking.” The space is “lovely,” with “huge glass windows,” which “let in glorious amounts of light.” Luckily, the “sophisticated look” is complemented by the “striking presentations” of the “upscale cooking.” [Trib]
• Julia Kramer had a couple “hit-and-miss” experiences with Fogon, eventually giving it two stars out of five. The food is often “beautiful and colorful,” but the “the dishes can seem dated.” That’s especially true of the roasted white fish with “unappetizingly wet” eggplant. Also, most of the entrees are more than $20, meaning that “you’re committing to a reasonably expensive meal.” [TOC]
• We are not even going to attempt to sum up Jeff Ruby’s review of Next, as he decided to write the whole thing as “the ghost of Auguste Escoffier.” Needless to say, he liked it: “At last! Here are modern chefs with the requisite respect for good ingredients and the imagination to use my book as a starting point rather than an end.” [Chicago Mag]
• They are back! The Chicago Gluttons visited Fish Bar, and decided to lash back at the critics who panned the place. Most the hate goes to Bruno, but we can’t really repeat any of the comments here. Basically, the deep-fried rock shrimp “is gravy,” the lobster roll is “very tasty,” and “finding smelt like this is cause for celebration.” [Chicago Gluttons]
