Today is a special day.

Why?… you ask.

Because today is our very first segment in our brand spankin’ new ‘Chicago Insider Reviews’ section.

What is it all about?

With ‘Chicago Insider Reviews’ we do all the leg work for you by checking out the “hottest” restaurants, bars, lounges, nightclubs, spas – you name it – in Chicago and give you the dirt the other guys are too scared to share at the risk of pissing off a client and losing they’re precious ad dollars.

Here at www.EventMarketingChicago.com, we’re what some have referred to as Chicago’s marketing rebels. We’re not afraid to get into the trenches of our great city, and give you all the juicy details so you safely pick your night’s recreational activities with informed certainty from the comfort of your own computer chair.

So without further ado, let’s begin shall we?

I chose Public House because I wanted to take our celebrity-capturing photographer Christian Soto and his wife Lindsay out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. We had meant to do it two weeks prior, but that Snowpocalypse/Snowmageddon/(insert any other media-conjured silly name you heard it called here) hit and we chose to reschedule. We’ve done a lot of work with the team over at Twilight Traffic Control that own Public House and have a weekly Thursday residency at their other spot across town Bull & Bear. So I’ve been wanting to try their food since the place opened and I’ve been hearing good things.

I showed up with my right-hand-girl Jess, and we were immediately greeted by two friendly young ladies at the hostess stand. Whenever you walk into a bar slash restaurant, you never really know how the service is going to shake out. A lot of places in Chicago serve food as a way to get their Tavern license but they’re essentially just a bar that will reheat some stuff for you in back and couldn’t focus less on customer service. So we were off to a good start…

We were seated at a nice booth on their upper level near the back of the restaurant. No, they didn’t Rosa Parks us. This is actually the best spot in the house for group dining and bottle service (after dinner hours). One of the first things I notice was their menus. The menu cover was made of of soft, but rugged-looking leather that almost resembled a journal you might have expected to see at the turn of the century. Or something crafted by a blacksmith. I dug the juxtaposition between the modern and stylish design of the venue and the rough, unique presentation of the menu.

Christian and Lindsay had got caught up trying to calm down their little boy Xavi in an effort to get out of the house, so Jess and I were left waiting for a few minutes before they arrived. For some reason I couldn’t possibly fathom, at some point in her past, Jess had not only eaten fried pickles but liked them as well. I didn’t even know that shit existed and was a little turned off by the prospect of putting that in my mouth.

But I could tell she was excited, so I ordered her some while we waited. A few minutes later, the fried pickles arrived and, from the expression on Jess’ face, you would have throught they’d brought her an expensive caviar.

She bit into her first fried pickle slice and looked up at me only to say, “The fried pickles are better at Hooters.” I almost spit up my water laughing. Quite the fried pickle connoisseur, this one.

Christian and Lindsay joined us and we all ordered appetizers AND entrees because I was starvin’ like Marvin at this point. We got a dozen oysters for the table to split and Lindsay got a smoked beet salad (yes, I said “smoked beet”). For our entrees I ordered the ahi tuna, Jess got the pulled chicken salad, Christian got the beef brisket, and Lindsay got the pulled pork sandwich.

While we waited, we noticed a tremendous amount of green, empty beer bottles adorning the walls surrounding our table. Jess commented that she had read somewhere that they had actually put 100 bottles of beer on the wall. We all laughed. Then, upon further inspection, and about 5 sections of counting, realized there was WAAAAY more than 100 bottles of beer on the wall. Fun in theory, I suppose.

After some more friendly banter, our oysters and Lindsay’s smoked beet salad arrived. The oysters came with a Tobasco-like hot sauce, an Asian-inspired sauce, and a traditional red sauce (I’m sure there’s a proper name but I don’t know it). Around the oysters was a bunch of actual kelp which was kinda cool. Of course, Christian and I had to eat it to see what kelp tasted like. It tasted like nothing. You’re not missing out. They oysters, however, tasted fresh and delicious. That’s really all you can ask for from raw seafood.

Lindsay’s salad came with, you guessed it…smoked beets. I kid, I kid. It came with a lot of good stuff (see photos below). After a few bites and exclaiming how delicious it was, she told me I *had* to try it. Lindsay looks kinda tough, so I said ok. The smoked beets were actually really good. Rustic and smokey as you would expect. But the flavor was deep. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve had it yourself but it tasted like the beet had been smoked all the way to it’s core. Like someone took their sweet time smoking that little beet. And I, as the recipient, appreciated their labors.

Out of all 4 entrees that came out, they all looked great…except mine. The ahi tuna. It was brought out in a giant white bowl that looked like an upside down Chinaman’s hat (that may not be P.C. and I apologize if I offended anyone) and the portion appeared particularly small. Whether that was an optical illusion resulting from the massive size of the bowl or an accurate assessment, I cannot say. But it was significantly less food than my other 3 comrades at the table. Ironically, I was the largest human. Oh well, I was starving and enough thought had gone into wishing I ordered two entrees. It was time to dig in.

I like my ahi tuna damn near rare. And it was cooked perfect. I dug in. What the dish lacked in presentation and quantity, it made up for in flavor. The brownish sauce that just minutes ago had turned me off, now had my taste buds singing to the Gods of culinary goodness.

Everyone else was enjoying their meals too. As Christian bit into his beef brisket, soaked in au jus sauce, he made a face that probably made his wife Lindsay a little jealous. But she quickly got right back at him by delving into her gigantic pulled pork number.

While all this was going on, Jess was quietly enjoying her pulled chicken salad. I think she felt a little bad about the size of my ahi tuna entree and started a little Anthony charity plate where she would put a bit of her salad now and again for me to eat. Mama bird.

After dinner, we were all stuffed. But since we were celebrating Christian’s big day, we couldn’t skip dessert. He chose a little ditty that involved a bunch of gooey, home-baked chocolate chip cookies and a glass of liquor-infused milk-like concoction to dip them in. Man, did I butcher that description. We were all so eager to get into them that we started cutting the cookies before we remembered we hadn’t got a picture for the review…oops (see cookie shot below).

To be honest, I went into Public House expecting something similar to Bull & Bear. I think the food at Bull & Bear is good. I thought the food at Public House was great.

After dinner, we got a few bottles of vodka and ended up partying into the late hours with Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls and Tony Parker of the Eva Longoria

So, there you have it. My first ‘Chicago Insider Review’ of Public House. If you’re actually still reading at this point, kudos. You’ve got a better attention span than I, my friend. Until next time…

See you out,

Anthony DiClementi