There are really only two kinds of diners - those who eat out on a regular basis and those who don't.
As one of the former, I can't claim a perfect understanding of those people who only venture into restaurants to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries or graduations, or on New Year's Eve or Mother's Day (annual occasions fondly referred to by restaurant pros as "amateur nights"). But I know we share at least one thing in common: a desire to find the perfect place on those special nights when we want to celebrate to our wallet's utmost, to experience pull-out-all-stops event meal grand enough to match the magnitude of the occasion.
Certain kinds of event meals tend to be cuisine-specific. A good example is bachelor parties; when you're kicking off a long night of testosterone-fueled celebration, what better way to stoke the engines than with a high-protein gorge at one of the city's super-premium steakhouses? The newest of this elite group is the New York import Smith and Wollensky, which opened last summer in the shadow of Marina Towers. Party-ready carnivores eager to blow their bankrolls on primo feed won't be disappointed. The monstrous cuts of beef are all dry-aged prime, the butcher-aproned waitstaff appears to have advanced degrees in livestock agriculture, and the plushly appointed rooms, looking out over the river and the Loop beyond, are all turned out to the perfect degree of manly opulence. It's a worthy addition to the esteemed ranks of top Chicago steak joints.
Sometimes, though, a steakhouse just doesn't have the right tone for the particular milestone you wish to mark. I find that there are two key factors - beyond good food, service and all the other things you look for in a restaurant - that make the difference: glamour and luxury. Most of us have all too little access to these qualities on a day-to-day basis, and a big event meal at the swankiest restaurant you can afford offers the opportunity to goose your otherwise quiet life with a tasty jolt of dazzle.
For anyone who appreciates the timeless appeal of old-school glam, hope springs eternal at the Pump Room. This legendary Gold Coast stalwart has been resurrected yet again - though how it failed to find enduring success in its previous incarnation, under dining mastermind Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You umbrella, may not bode well for its future. So enjoy while you can this decades-old icon of event-dining, with its walls of photos of celebrities being celebrated in the legendary Booth One, and where gentlemen are never welcome without a jacket. But maybe the time is right for the Pump Room to enjoy a renaissance. If martinis and swing can come back, what better place to invoke the spirit of the big nights out of yesteryear? And who knows who you'll bump into? The first time I was at the Pump Room, a limo pulled up as we were leaving. I lingered discreetly to see who would emerge, and out climbedÉMongo McMichael, former Bear turned pro wrestler, accompanied by (the now former) Mrs. Mongo. Not quite the brightest of star wattage, but they played it to the leather-bedecked hilt, strutting up to the door without a sideways glance.
If a retro-glitz standby like the Pump Room doesn't do it for you, then glam-hounds are left to discern which new restaurants are likeliest to give off most of that special of-the-moment heat. This can change on a weekly basis, but every now and again you strike gold in your quest to nail down the hottest of hot spots. Early last summer I enjoyed a late dinner at onesixtyblue, which had opened a few months earlier on the bleeding western edge of the ultrasharp Randolph Street market district. The gorgeous, Adam Tihany-designed room was humming, the food and wine were excellent, the service exquisite. But the highlight of the evening was the oh-so-low-key entrance of the place's "rumored" silent partner. Fresh from his latest star-turn in the NBA finals, Michael Jordan took a regular table near the center of the dining room - and nobody in the place gave him more than a discreet glance. When the most famous man on the planet walks in to absolutely no fanfare, you know you've lucked into the still eye of glam central.
Other times, though, nothing but sheer luxury will suffice. That's when it's time to bust open the piggy bank for a dinner at one of the city's few fabled four-star eating establishments. When price is no object - when you're ready to drop more on dinner for four than you pay in rent each month - many will make the climb to Lincoln Park's lofty culinary peak, Charlie Trotter's. It fully deserves its heavyweight rep as a temple of gastronomy, with Chef Charlie as high priest.
But at Charlie Trotter's, the food really is the center of the whole experience; if you're looking for more than just the best meal you might ever eat (and a recent dinner there topped my own personal short list), consider Everest. This quiet suite of rooms looking out from the fortieth floor of a South Loop office tower is the epitome of big-city cool. The food is superb, of course, but more importantly, it has a way of seeming like a stage on which you and your party are the leading players, where the staff, the guests and the setting all meld into an experience of peerless urbane luxury. For my money, there's no bigger night out.
(Doug Seibold)
- Smith and Wollensky, 318 North State, (312)670-9900
Pump Room, 1301 North State Parkway, (312)266-0360
onesixtyblue, 160 North Loomis, (312)850-0303
Charlie Trotter's, 816 West Armitage, (773)248-6228
Everest, 440 South LaSalle, (312)663-8920
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