**** (4 stars)
This is probably your best choice for dining in Holland. There is a nice view, and the menu offers and excellent variety of well-prepared food. We particularly liked the salmon spinach salad and the San Francisco flatbread. Inside can be noisy, so sit on the terrace if it’s not too sunny.
CityVu Bistro
CityFlatsHotel
61 E 7th St, 5th Fl
Holland, MI 49423
(616) 796-2114
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cityvu-bistro-holland
***** (5 stars)
This place certainly had the best wine of any of the southwest Michigan wineries we visited. The large, round, tasting room can get busy, but the service is friendly, and your tasting fee includes five samples, a glass to keep, and a discount on purchases.
As with all Michigan state wineries, you can tell that the winemakers are struggling to compensate for less than ideal growing conditions for vinifera. But the battle is largely being won here, and the sauvignon blanc, in particular, was world class.
The weekend ambience at the winery is hopping. There is live outdoor music, and hundreds of folks gathered around enjoying it. There is also a barn where they sell their beers, although the brewery itself is elsewhere.
I don’t recommend their distilled spirits, as the rum tastes more like vodka mixed with gin. However the walnut creme liquor is fabulous, probably the best thing they make.
Round Barn Winery
10983 Hills Rd
Baroda, MI 49101
(800) 716-9463
http://www.yelp.com/biz/round-barn-winery-baroda
**** (4 stars)
Tabor Hill wines share the characteristic struggle of other Michigan wineries, where you can sense the winemaker struggling to overcome difficult growing conditions for vinifera. However the real highlight at Tabor Hill is the restaurant and the ambience of the property. A leisurely lunch on the patio overlooking the vineyard can’t be beat. We enjoyed the charcuterie plate, the fish tacos and the orange shrimp salad. Service was friendly, and the view can’t be beat.
Tabor Hill Winery & Restaurant In the Vineyard
185 Mount Tabor Rd
Buchanan, MI 49107
(800) 283-3363
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tabor-hill-winery-and-restaurant-in-the-vineyard-buchanan
Exterior
Sashimi: snapper, hamachi, salmon, eel sushi
White Dragon – white tuna, shrimp tempura, yellow tobiko, cucumber, avocado
California Sunset – imitation crab, avocado, mayo and cucumber, seared salmon, topped with a shies leaf and ikura, miso dressing
Emerald – lightly saute‘ed scallop, asparagus, cucumber, green caviar, and spicy sauce
Summer – Tuna, masago, red snapper, cilantro, avocado, green pepper, chili oil, spicy sauce, lime juice
***** (5 stars)
This stylish and spacious restaurant on Grand can get very busy, so the best place to eat during the summer is on the sidewalk. The menu is extensive, with many rolls, some cooked dishes, and all the sashimi and sushi selections you can imagine.
Beer selections are limited, but there are some nice wines and quite a few sakes.
We liked everything we had, so much that we couldn’t pick a favorite. We tried:
An assortment of sashimi: snapper, hamachi, salmon, and eel sushi. The eel was the best I’ve had.
White Dragon roll – white tuna, shrimp tempura, yellow tobiko, cucumber, avocado. A very attractive roll, and the white tuna was excellent.
California Sunset roll – imitation crab, avocado, mayo and cucumber, seared salmon, topped with a shies leaf and ikura, miso dressing. This roll was best eaten disassembled.
Emerald roll – lightly sautéed scallop, asparagus, cucumber, green caviar, and spicy sauce. The asparagus provided a nice crunch.
Summer roll – Tuna, masago, red snapper, cilantro, avocado, green pepper, chili oil, spicy sauce, lime juice. This one probably had the best overall combination of flavors, which united to be more than the individual components.
So far this is the best sushi place I’ve found in downtown Chicago, and I am including the high end names in that comparison.
Service was prompt and friendly.
Oysy Sushi
50 E Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 670-6750
http://www.yelp.com/biz/oysy-sushi-chicago
**** (4 stars)
When you can’t decide between a hamburger and a grilled cheese sandwich, M Burger’s secret menu comes to your rescue. Ask for a bacon cheeseburger “Roman style” and you’ll get both. Yep, a bacon cheeseburger with two grilled cheese sandwiches as the buns.
If that sounds insane, it is pretty extreme. However I must say that both the burger and the grilled cheese are top notch, and the combination weirdly satisfying.
Fries and shakes here are just run of the mill. Pricing is quite reasonable.
I like this location’s ample outside seating, which is nicely shaded. That’s a good thing, since the dining area inside is about two feet wide!
M Burger
161 E Huron St
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 254-8500
http://www.yelp.com/biz/m-burger-chicago
**** (4 stars)
This may look like any of the hundred other steakhouses in River North, but the food here is a but above (no pun intended) and it’s not all about steak.
The bar can be pretty loud after work, and the patio gets crowded on nice summer days, but even when full the dining room has some reasonably un-boistrous corners.
We stared with the excellent smoked salmon, a generous serving with bagels and condiments, and the hamachi crude, which was topped with peppers with just the right amount of spice.
For entrees we also enjoyed the rich and tasty Oak Aged Bourbon Barrel Meatloaf, which came with some very creamy seller root mashed potatoes. The Lake Superior Whitefish had a really nice crust and a pleasantly citrus tinged beurre blanc.
The Not Your Father’s Root Beer float was the perfect dessert.
Wine markup seems a bit steep, although there was a nicely priced Scotch flight the week we visited.
Tortoise Club
350 N State St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 755-1700
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tortoise-club-chicago-3
*** (3 stars)
I was a bit hesitant to try this place because of its reputation as a noisy dive bar and a jam packed disco. But that’s at night. At lunch time it’s just a Mexican restaurant. Which is not to say it isn’t noisy.
The food is fairly predictable. I had the nachos, which were a very generous pile of just about everything you’ve ever seen on nachos. The underlying chips were thin and crispy, and the only fault I found was the use of liquid cheese rather than melting real cheese under a broiler.
The margaritas are served in a 20 ounce glass, but they’re more than half ice cubes, which quickly dilute the already tentative tequila and lime flavors. Nothing really wrong with it, but you’ve had better margaritas, I’m sure.
Service was friendly but slow, especially given that the place was half full. It started with a ten minute wait to be noticed at the front desk, which could be a problem on a tight lunch schedule. Another ten minute wait for a server didn’t help. But in the end the food came out quickly and the nachos turned out to be more than enough for lunch.
El Hefe
15 W Hubbard St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 548-6841
http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-hefe-chicago-3
***** (5 stars)
Vermillion offers very interesting food in a trendy, upscale atmosphere with a nice soundtrack.
They bill their food as a fusion of Indian and Latin, but it seemed to lean much more to Indian, although none of the items were traditional Indian, each had a unique and interesting spin.
We tried an extensive assortment of tapas, appetizers, and one entree, and enjoyed all of them. There is also an interesting wine list with about half the selections available by the glass.
Service was friendly and attentive.
Vermilion
10 W Hubbard St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 527-4060
http://www.yelp.com/biz/vermilion-chicago-2
**** (4 stars)
If you’re looking for something different, BoHo offers excellent Central European food in a funky yet stylish environment. We tried it for Sunday Brunch, and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and attentive service.
We sampled the Hungarian Langos, a pice of fried potato bread with garlic butter, sour cream and shredded gouda. It was good, but one slice was plenty. The Pork Schnitzel Sandwich was more to out taste. Served open face, it was a stack of rye bread, sauerkraut, the schnitzel and Emmentaler cheese, topped with perfectly cooked sunny side up fried egg. Rich, but tasty. The beer flight provided an interesting accompaniment.
We finished with an order of doughnuts, which are really beignets, served with two dipping sauces.
While the menu is not extensive, there’s enough variety to bring me back to check out their other offerings of this interesting cuisine.
Bohemian House {BoHo}
11 W. Illinois
Chicago, IL 60654
(779) 333-0236
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bohemian-house-boho-chicago-3
**** (4 stars)
This is certainly one of the better sushi restaurants in Chicago, although it perhaps can’t live up to the prestigious name attached to it. The decor and vibe of the place is top notch, from the downstairs bar (the Blue Room) to the upstairs dining rooms.
The food features many of the items you’ll find at Morimoto in New York City and as far as I could recall they were nearly identical. Fish quality is, of course, excellent.
We had the multi course omakase, which is a bit different than other omakases in that you can pretty much pick your own items, so it’s just a way of bundling the items you’re interested in, at a reasonable price of $130 per person. Portion sizes were large, and we definitely left feeling well stuffed with sushi!
The best item we tried was the hamachi crudo, thin strips alternating with pimentos. The hamachi tacos were also quite good.
A few of the specialties didn’t live up to expectations, including the Caesar salad, which just was voted best salad in Chicago, but seemed rather pedestrian to me. Perhaps it’s just that I don’t like Caesars that are served deconstructed, leaving the prep work to me.
The vaunted Duck Duck Duck was also a bit lackluster, although there was nothing wrong with any of the (more than 3) duck preparations on the plate.
We also had octopus, both raw (supposedly live, but I think the octopus would disagree) and cooked, beets, a large platter of sashimi, and spicy crab legs.
The trio of sorbets was a nice light way to end the meal.
The wine list is extensive, and there is a nice selection of Champagnes, the perfect match for sashimi.
Service was friendly and attentive, although several times during the meal there was an attempt to deliver two dishes at once, a physical impossibility on such small tables and with such large dishes. This is apparently caused by them having three kitchen and no coordination between them, which seems very odd for a restaurant of this caliber.
Overall I enjoyed the meal, thought it was reasonably priced for what it was, and would go back. But I’m still looking for a truly great Chicago sushi restaurant.
Japonais by Morimoto
600 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 822-9600
http://www.yelp.com/biz/japonais-by-morimoto-chicago-2