Brunch at Table Fifty-Two

By Lu

The entrance to Table Fifty-Two

Table Fifty-Two is a restaurant owned by Art Smith, better known as Oprah Winfrey's long time personal chef turned celebrity chef. You know, once you worked for Oprah, doors would just open for you. Well, granted if you're good in what you do, of course.

Art Smith is definitely a great chef in my book. I love watching him doing his things in Top Chef Masters Season 1. Another Chicago Chef (Rick Bayless) beat him; however, he did really well in the whole competition for the most part. Surprised it took me this long to try to eat at his restaurant. It became one of my instant favorites rather easily.

I've been reading this online novel called "South of the Middle Love Story" and the main character of this romance novel loves Table Fifty-Two. In one of the chapters, Sabrina (the protagonist) went there with two of her friends and had an orgasmic experience eating the Pecan Pie. Oh...that was sooo hot! It definitely made me want to keep reading, and made me want to try the damn pie! Oh By the way, if you're into romance, give this online novel a try. It's a cool concept that you are able to follow the story chapter by chapter as soon as the author is done writing it. Yes, at times you have to wait for the next chapter, but that's what makes it interesting! Click here to go to their Facebook fan page, click like, and you will get the news when a new chapter is published. This is the link to the actual novel. Read it - it's light and fun!
 
Anyway... back to Table Fifty-Two, I first came here with Tina, Tina's mom, CK and Sabrina (another one) during Chicago's Restaurant Week last month. They had a special tasting menu for the Restaurant Week and the items were pretty damn spectacular. Tina was the one who chose the place, and I must say I was really glad she chose it. It was a marvelous dinner! First of all, the interior was decorated in a very homey Southern style type of atmosphere. It was mainly sage green color and it exuded a lot of warmth. I felt great walking into the restaurant as I felt welcomed and like I was going to eat dinner at a friend's home.

The interior of the restaurant, very warm and homey!

Oh, before I continued, both time I came here, I wore a skirt. Chicago isn't called the windy city for nothing and both time, my skirt was blown up by the wind and my friends called me "Monroe" since they thought I wanted to impersonate Marilyn. Except, if I did, I didn't do Marilyn's justice. Not at all. It was definitely less interesting under my skirt.

The Cat Fish

For dinner, after we sat down, the chef gave us a  complimentary platter of Deviled Eggs. It was up there on my Deviled Eggs list. It was super creamy and had a touch of acid from tomatoes and olive.  It was delicious! I could eat five more of those!

Then, we had homemade cheesy biscuits that hit the spot right away. For dinner, I ordered the deep fried corn meal breaded cat fish served with cheesy grits, hush puppies, collard greens, and fried okra. I don't eat cat fish usually, but that cat fish was worth eating. We also ordered the jalapeno bacon corn bread that was served with melted honey butter. I loved it. My friends loved it too. Throughout the meal, we kept on looking at the other tables with envy when their orders of fried chicken and mac & cheese were delivered. They looked so good and we all agreed we wanted to come back for those next time.

So, fast forward several weeks, then here came my birthday. I was getting old and I remember I used to love celebrating my birthdays. Now, I just wanted to have a low key meal with close friends. I like to have the one-on-one get together with friends so we could talk and catch up rather than a big hoopla where we couldn't even talk since there would be so many people to talk to. Since we wanted to come back for the fried chicken, thought it would be great to go there again. Found out also they had a brunch menu - perfect! Let's try it!

Well.... CK and Sabrina really wanted to try the fried chicken. Evi and Nate couldn't come the first time we went so they were excited to try. At the last minute, Nicole and Jo wanted to come too. We actually had a pretty good size table now.

The brunch menu was fun! On the menu, we found Chicken and Waffles, Shrimp and Grits, Braised Short Ribs, Crab-cake Benedicts, Short Stacks, to even Oatmeal. I'm sure you guessed that half of the table ordered Chicken and Waffles! Yes, Yes, Yes! Evi, Sab, CK, Jo, and I ordered it. Nate went with the Shrimp and Grits, and Nicole ordered the Crab-cake Benedicts.

When we were waiting for our table downstairs and sitting by the bar, the chef was preparing this scrumptious looking breakfast pizza. It's a flat bread pizza fired up in a brick oven, filled with bacon, and topped with two sunny side up eggs. It looked so good! Too bad, the Chicken and Waffles were too mighty to pass up.

The mouth watering Breakfast Pizza

The service was a little slower at brunch compared to dinner. I think it was because we came later in the day (1 PM) and we had a big table for that tiny restaurant. We were famished and we didn't want to wait so long. They served us a tiny sweet potato bread served with cinnamon butter to start. It was yummy but we wanted Chicken and Waffles! Evi also ordered Olive Oil Cake Donuts that were served with Lemon Curd. That was pretty yummy. It reminded me of a sweet hush puppy. Yet, my friends had Beignets in mind and the donuts definitely weren't close to a Beignet.

Olive Oil Cake Donuts

Finally the food came! Nate devoured his shrimps and grits. He thought it was great! Nicole enjoyed her Crab-cake Benedicts as well. The Chicken and Waffles.... I loved it! I thought the chickens were quite juicy and the seasoning tasted nice. The waffle tasted like waffle and I never really gotten the concept of serving fried chicken and waffle, but they both hit the spot for me. CK, however, had too much expectation of the fried chicken. He thought it was just ok. He was expecting something totally out of this world and he apparently liked super crispy Popeye style chicken. He didn't get that. However, the rest of the party seemed to really enjoyed it.

Shrimps and Grits

Chicken and Waffle

The mac & cheese was another high note for me. It was just so creamy, cheesy, and rich! I love all those burnt cheesy melts that dripped over the sides of the cast-iron pan they served it in. OMG, it was delish! I would come back just for that. I sent the picture of the Mac and Cheese to Tina who couldn't join us and she was mad that we came back without her. I guess I have to go there again with her. Twist my arm!

Mhhhh Mac and Cheese

We didn't have the Pecan Pie this time; however, we did have it last time when we were there for dinner. We didn't really need dessert this time as we had plenty of sweet from the maple syrup and waffle. They gave me the Hummingbird cupcake with a candle so I could make a wish and a great wish I made. Hope it would come true.

The foodgasmic Pecan Pie

I didn't expect to have such a great time on my birthday downtown with my friends. We really didn't plan anything but it turned out to be such a pleasant day. Afterward, we walked around Michigan Avenue and shopped for a little bit. Then the day continued with more eating at my friends' house with Malaysian delicacies I had been craving: Chicken Curry, Sambal Udang (Shrimps cooked in Chili Sauce), and Nasi Lemak. It was just a perfect day.

If you're into trying comfort food or Southern style cuisine, go to Table Fifty-two! You would leave feeling satiated, comfortable, and loved! Yum!

TABLE FIFTY-TWO
52 W. Elm Street Chicago
Reservations 312.573.4000

Monday-Saturday  5pm-9:30pm

Sunday  4pm-8:30pm

Sunday Brunch  10:30am-1.30pm