Chicago: Night on the town - August 13th
Highlights:
Bin36
Sushi Samba
Sugar: A Dessert Bar
After the meeting was done on Friday, I moved to downtown Chicago to spend the night and check out the town since I had never been there before. Lori was in town, her last weekend before moving to Melbourne (but we'll visit her there!!). I met her and her friends Ian and Jill for drinks, dinner and dessert. We met at Bin36 which seems to be a chain of wine bars in the area (there was one in Lincolnshire!). It was a hip rather retro place with lots of space and what looked like a mix of an after work crowd and tourists. The wine list was extensive and they also offered tastings, glasses and flights of wine. We ordered a bottle of Pinot and sat around and caught up.
We moved on to our dinner spot - a japanese brazilian fusion restaurant called Sushi Samba. The place was a little too chi-chi hip for me - loud music, pretty people, hanging beads everywhere, glass doors and purple lights in the bathroom so you have no idea which is the men's and women's not to mention the bathroom attendants to open the door to your stall, and then turn on the faucet, dispense soap for you and give you a towel when you wash your hands. I'm surprised they didn't offer to wipe my ... never mind. All in all, probably over the top, trying too hard.
We ordered an assortment of dishes to share - not necessarily what I would have ordered if I was alone but some overlap. We started with Tuna Tataki and Samba Tapas. I was expecting Tuna Tataki a la Ebisu but it was basically 4 pieces of seared tuna with salad. It was ok but nothing special. The Samba Tapas were 4 small plates - queso fresca, fennel anchovy salad, stuffed chili and nori tempura. All were ok, but I think they were trying to hard with the flavors and nothing really stood out.
We ordered sushi rolls and nigiri. The soft shell crab was good, and the spicy tuna was decent. I also enjoyed my salmon and japanese snapper nigiri but they weren't over the top. I did enjoy my unfiltered sake though (thanks to Remco for introducing me to it!).
We saved room for dessert and headed to Sugar: A Dessert Bar (and not like the dessert bar at Dairy Queen or anything). Cool concept but also a little too chi-chi hip for me. Lori even said that on some days they have a cover charge. Anyhow, this was a loud, retro, chic bar playing techno music and serving dessert alcohol, mixed drinks and dessert for $13-$18 dollars a head. I didn't order a drink but ended up with one after we waited forever for dessert and the waitress told us that there was a mix up and our order was never placed. I had tasted Lori's drink and ordered one - a Muscato D'Asti - sweet dessert bubbly, one of the highlights of the evening. I ordered the Tequila Mockingbird which was a kaffir lime pudding cake, not too sweet at all and very tangy, definitely could taste the kaffir limes served with tequila sorbet (way too strong) and salty meringue sticks. Pretty good but not worth $13. I tasted Ian's panna cotta which was excellent and Lori's orange souffle which was really good.
I had a fun night - I got to see a handful of Chicago eating venues and while the Sushi Samba and Sugar were a little over the top, the experience and hanging out with friends in Chicago (a great city) was worth it!
Bin36
Sushi Samba
Sugar: A Dessert Bar
After the meeting was done on Friday, I moved to downtown Chicago to spend the night and check out the town since I had never been there before. Lori was in town, her last weekend before moving to Melbourne (but we'll visit her there!!). I met her and her friends Ian and Jill for drinks, dinner and dessert. We met at Bin36 which seems to be a chain of wine bars in the area (there was one in Lincolnshire!). It was a hip rather retro place with lots of space and what looked like a mix of an after work crowd and tourists. The wine list was extensive and they also offered tastings, glasses and flights of wine. We ordered a bottle of Pinot and sat around and caught up.
We moved on to our dinner spot - a japanese brazilian fusion restaurant called Sushi Samba. The place was a little too chi-chi hip for me - loud music, pretty people, hanging beads everywhere, glass doors and purple lights in the bathroom so you have no idea which is the men's and women's not to mention the bathroom attendants to open the door to your stall, and then turn on the faucet, dispense soap for you and give you a towel when you wash your hands. I'm surprised they didn't offer to wipe my ... never mind. All in all, probably over the top, trying too hard.
We ordered an assortment of dishes to share - not necessarily what I would have ordered if I was alone but some overlap. We started with Tuna Tataki and Samba Tapas. I was expecting Tuna Tataki a la Ebisu but it was basically 4 pieces of seared tuna with salad. It was ok but nothing special. The Samba Tapas were 4 small plates - queso fresca, fennel anchovy salad, stuffed chili and nori tempura. All were ok, but I think they were trying to hard with the flavors and nothing really stood out.
We ordered sushi rolls and nigiri. The soft shell crab was good, and the spicy tuna was decent. I also enjoyed my salmon and japanese snapper nigiri but they weren't over the top. I did enjoy my unfiltered sake though (thanks to Remco for introducing me to it!).
We saved room for dessert and headed to Sugar: A Dessert Bar (and not like the dessert bar at Dairy Queen or anything). Cool concept but also a little too chi-chi hip for me. Lori even said that on some days they have a cover charge. Anyhow, this was a loud, retro, chic bar playing techno music and serving dessert alcohol, mixed drinks and dessert for $13-$18 dollars a head. I didn't order a drink but ended up with one after we waited forever for dessert and the waitress told us that there was a mix up and our order was never placed. I had tasted Lori's drink and ordered one - a Muscato D'Asti - sweet dessert bubbly, one of the highlights of the evening. I ordered the Tequila Mockingbird which was a kaffir lime pudding cake, not too sweet at all and very tangy, definitely could taste the kaffir limes served with tequila sorbet (way too strong) and salty meringue sticks. Pretty good but not worth $13. I tasted Ian's panna cotta which was excellent and Lori's orange souffle which was really good.
I had a fun night - I got to see a handful of Chicago eating venues and while the Sushi Samba and Sugar were a little over the top, the experience and hanging out with friends in Chicago (a great city) was worth it!
posted by Karen at 12:53 PM
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