- photo by notashamed on flickr
chicagoreader.com says the following:
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better-heeled crowd than the one at this designer dining room adjacent to the Ralph Lauren store. The decor is hypermasculine, all dark blues and burgundy and leather, with Waspy hunter-themed artwork, and the menu is classic American.
We showed up a tad late for our reservation but our table was still being set up when we arrived. We were asked to wait at the bar, which was a very cozy little corner of a library. We then were led to a small table in a tiny alcoved room off the main dining room. We barely sat down when another hostess rushed over to the table to say that a better table had opened up. A corner table that was easier to talk at rather than face to face. OK… sure. Thanks. It turns out the table is right next to the entrance to the hallway to the restroom, but they made such a fuss over the better table that we disregarded it.
We must have been too full from our earlier snack of Vietnamese “banh mi” sandwiches on Argyle Street, because we were actually not into our food at all. The service was great, but we felt the food was less than stellar. I had the halibut with couscous while Stef had the short rib with vegetables. I hated to say so, but I think her medley of corn, red peppers and lima beans looked frozen. We ended up boxing more than 50% of our food up. The after-dinner cappucino was not great, and the desserts disappointing.
Though the food was unspectacular, we still had a very enjoyable time. Our evening looked up when at one point while we were fussing over the dessert menu, Ross Gellar walked right by our table on his way to the restroom. We quietly freaked out. It was my first celebrity sighting in Chicago. Stef quickly put on her glasses, we grabbed our phones and twittered, and we braced ourselves for his return from the restroom. A few minutes later… Yep, Mr. David Schwimmer walks by again. We notice he heads into the alcove and we realize if we had kept our original table we might’ve had the opportunity to dine with him. Darn!
I excused myself to the restroom at one point, only to discover that I should have dashed off behind Ross the first time around. The small hallway led to a a set of elevator doors. The elevator seriously took forever to come. The ride was super slow. I thought, darnit! I could have been stuck in an elevator alone with Ross! I would have had no choice but to strike conversation! haha, the return trip was no quicker. Ugh.
On the way out, we snuck a peek to see where Ross was seated. He was dining with a female. AT OUR TABLE.
Anywhooooo… Wow, I sure have gotten offtrack. RL Grill… I might give it another try someday, I hear lunch is great. A unique experience that felt glitzy and a tad stuffy… Very Gold Coast Chicago.
I reccomend brunch! Pastries are delicious and service is impeccable. Crowd really isn’t my type but there were many familes with kids all prepped out. Very cute! The artwork are original works from RL’s personal collection … there are some impressive pieces, did you notice?
As you know Byung likes to chat up the waiter so it usually makes our experience at those types of places more fun =)
haha I like how you refer to him as Ross most of the time.