Chicago Restaurant Week 2011 - Branch 27 Review

Scallop Appetizer at Branch 27

By LuFor a person who loves food as much as I do, a concept called "Restaurant Week" is always top shelf in my book. Restaurant Week is a period of time usually between a week or 10 days where restaurants of a city, participating in a promotion where people can sample their limited menu for a reduced price.

If you think about it, there are a lot more pros compared to the cons when it comes to Restaurant Week. Some of the pros: a possibility to try different restaurants which are usually super pricy for a reasonable prix fixe of $33 or so; making it a point to go check out the city and making it a night in the town with friends or loved ones; ability to experience good food for all 10 days if you choose; exposing yourself to something new and getting a little adventure out of it, etc etc. The cons I can only think a couple: service might be affected due to the sudden spike of volume, and weight gain.

I think most major metros have their own version of Restaurant Week. Chicago Restaurant Week is ongoing right now starting from February 18 and ending this Sunday, February 27. The city bureau of Tourism must be the one who's sponsoring the program to invite local people and tourists to experience the culinary delight of the Second City. More than 200 restaurants are participating and there are some top shelf restaurants on the list.

Some of my favorites and must try Chicago Restaurants that are participating are:

Blackbird - Paul Kahan's famous restaurant and one of the top Chicago restaurants. Must try. Portions are small but you don't go there to pig out obviously.

Naha - Carrie Nahabedian's restaurant offering new American cuisine with a splash of Armenian inspiration. My friend and former co-worker, Jim Reynolds, was her sous chef some years back. I was lucky enough to get treated with some excellent food there with Jim, and my also friend and former co-worker, chef Kerri Fisher, just right before going to the National Restaurant Show. Wow, what a great memory.

Frontera Grill - across the street from Naha. Rick Bayless, the winner of Top Chef Master, the owner, also owns Topolobampo next door. They offer top shelf Mexican fare and I heard enough people boasting about how they love Frontera Grill. I think I need to go back someday soon as I didn't remember much about this place. Frontera chips and salsa varieties are also everywhere in any grocery stores, so have to be good if they are mass produced!

Drawing Room - Sandrine and Scott went there this week for a date night and they couldn't shut up about how great it was.

Fogo de Chao - I know it is a chain, but I think they're the best in their genre of Brazilian steakhouse. I love the variety of cuts they offer and I found the flavors are way superior compared to their competitors which offer more musty, gamy, and salty versions of the meats. The fillet and bottom sirloin are yummy. The caramelized banana and cheesy poofs on the table are also great for supporting dishes. Oh, also we have to remember the gargantuan salad bar and their really fabulous Caipirinha!

David Burke - I have not been here yet and it will be on my list next to try. None of my friends wanted to go there this year as they took out the Delmonico steak off the menu. Yet, I still want to go try his crazy out there food and steaks.

Keefer's - I personally love this restaurant. I like their Delmonico steak and when I went there, the waiter knew Indonesian. How cool was that? It would be a great steak place to take my dad as they offer sauces with your steak like Bordelaise or au poivre. My dad would love it. Me, not so much. Only on the sauce though! I like everything else just fine.

Ok, those are some of the restaurants I love or would like to go to. There are hundreds of restaurants on the list so I am sure a lot of people have gone nuts eating, and you do still have two days to go. If not, there's always next year. Do check out the Chicago Restaurant Week website for the complete listing of restaurants and their featured menus.

This year, my friends and I went to Branch 27 for our Restaurant Week outing. It is located on West Chicago Ave - on what neighborhood, I couldn't say. It didn't look too familiar but wasn't far from downtown. They described themselves as a gastro pub - a neighborhood tavern that offers exceptional American fare that is modern yet rustic. I liked the atmosphere there. It was definitely comfortable and would be fun to be there with a group of people, or if you were out on a date with someone special or someone new. The place offers extensive wine and beers lists. Tina had a Matilda, a beer with 7% or 8% of alcohol. I was like - WOW. Good thing I was driving.

For Restaurant Week, restaurants usually offer a limited menu for a fixed price. This place offered a three course dinner for $33. There were eight of us last night: Evi, Nate, Marilou, Tina, Kim, Sandrine, Scott, and me. Baby Brode was also there, but he opted for some milk instead.

Goat Cheese Empanadas

We started with the appetizers and our table were able to sample all appetizers on the menu: Spanish chorizo meatballs with grain mustard aioli; Goat cheese empanadas served with chipotle aioli with watermelon radish and arugula salad; and seared scallops with sweet potato in yellow coconut curry broth. We also ordered the mussels appetizer they're known for. It was Mexican inspired and the mussels were cooked in a mole sauce. I got the empanadas and I liked it a lot. It was deep fried and the goat cheese was creamy - so what's not to like. Tina liked the chorizo meatballs and she even still craved the chorizo today. The scallops were super yummy too. Yet, I liked the mussels the best even though I despise mole. It was pretty tasty. I got a couple of fishy mussels in the mix, but I was pretty forgiving.

Mussels with Mole Sauce

Time for the main courses: Grilled skirt steak with watercress jicama salad, bone marrow butter and fries; winter vegetable risotto with pecorino romano and white truffle oil; Moqueca - Brazilian seafood stew filled with fish, prawns, mussels crab and cilantro risotto.

Skirt Steak with Bone Marrow Butter

Moqueca - Brazilian Seafood Stew

The winner was the Moqueca. Wow, it was really delicious. The broth was rich and had a coconut milk taste to it. The fish, the mussels, and prawns were excellent combined with the rice. Nate was the only one who ordered it. Thank goodness he shared!

Tina and Kim ordered the winter vegetable risotto which was the loser of the night. It had a good taste when you were to get the pecorino and the truffle oil, but it wasn't distributed throughout that small portion of risotto. Plus it was a little crunchier than we would have liked it. I ordered the steak. It was yummy and got great flavor. Skirt steak tends to be chewy and mine was, but it was worth it for the bone marrow butter. Dear Lord! But, the fries were so good! They were just really really fantastically good fries. Scott ordered off the regular menu and got skate wing. The skate was definitely a quite complex dish, and I actually liked the skate a lot as well.

Bread Pudding

Desserts - not too much to mention here. They offered bread pudding and seasonal fruit cobbler. These weren't very strong desserts. I was really excited when I saw cobbler as cobbler could be the one top shelf dessert I really love more than anything. However, I could say I've had better. The bread pudding wasn't soggy enough for Sandrine but the table thought it was good.

Overall, I would definitely come back to Branch 27 for the mussels, scallops, the Moqueca, and the skate. Thanks Restaurant Week - if not, I probably would not know this place exists. I also think that they did well on the presentations of the food. They obviously thought it through and not just plop the food on plates or bowls. The empanadas were served on a rustic cutting board, while the Moqueca was served in a paella pan. I also love the fact they served LavAzza coffee. I really enjoyed that cappuccino that kept me up last night. It was strong, smooth, and extra creamy. The service was good and the waitress was pleasant even though it was during busy restaurant week. Many restaurants do get sloppy on service on this period of restaurant week. Some of my friends made comment on how they appreciated that this place chose to mark the table with new silverware after each course. Effort did not go unnoticed.

I couldn't say they're the best in town, but they scored enough points with me that I would definitely go back. You should try this place too. I don't think you would be disappointed.