Let`s face it. Top quality food isn`t necessarily the first order of the day when selecting a place to sit down and get a bite to eat.
Sometimes the feet shout louder than the stomach, and the closest clean restaurant is the answer.
Two relatively new restaurants–the Bristol in the Oak Brook Center Mall and Las Plumas in the John Hancock Center–have opened in prime locations. Both are ideally situated to cater to nearby business people or to those who have just finished several hours of high-powered window shopping.
Neither is a culinary master. But both provide a pleasant atmosphere to sit down, if you can tolerate slow to inept service and if you take some care in selecting food.
Las Plumas, specializing in Mexican and Southwest American cooking, has settled into the concourse level of the Hancock Center. Although the restaurant itself isn`t quite visible to shoppers or visitors strolling down Michigan Avenue, the sign is, and it directs you down the steps into an open courtyard and the restaurant inside.
Except for the Muzak, enough care has been taken with the Mexican decor so that it has the feeling of escape to a climate brighter than Chicago`s. Large, deep banquettes provide privacy.
The menu has changed slightly several times–and more changes apparently are in the works–but it generally includes a number of charcoal grilled items such as fajitas, enchiladas, chimichangas, unusual soups such as black bean or tomato and corn, salads with touches of jicama (a white, crisp vegetable that tastes like water chestnuts) and appetizers such as guacamole, fried Monterey Jack cheese, quesadillas and chili-topped potato skins.
The food tends to be uneven. The tortilla chips that arrive automatically on the table were fresh and good on one visit, overly salty on another and greasy on a third. One time the salsa was green, tasty and mild; then it was red and a bit spicy; then red and mild. Margaritas, though, were uniformly large and good.
Many of the dishes that take some finesse in the kitchen were disappointing. The guacamole consistently had too many onions and on one visit was bitter from over-ripe avocados. The deep-fried chimichangas were so tough they were difficult to cut and the crabmeat and cheese filling had a mushy texture remniscent of frozen eggrolls. Empanaditas (pastries filled with ground pork and beef) had an unpleasant, vinegary taste and dense, soggy pastry.
The best bets were soups and items from the grill. The soups are generally mildly spiced and include an earthy black bean, a mostly meat chili and unusual combinations such as corn and tomato or beef with zucchini and cabbage. Touches such as chopped green onions or sweet green pepper strips crossed over sour cream make a pretty presentation atop the soups. However, all of the soups sampled arrived lukewarm.
Perhaps the most fun are the fajitas. The individual items are common enough–marinated and charcoal broiled meat, guacamole, sour cream and a slightly sweet tomato sauce–but they arrive with soft flour tortillas so that the diner can build a custom-made taco. It`s one of those dishes where the whole is greater than the parts.
For dessert, the offerings ran the gamut from Kentucky Derby pie to Boston cream pie to flan. Again for some fun, try the fried tortilla, which looks something like a large handkerchief filled with nice bits of fresh fruit, tied into a knot and deep fried to a pleasant crispness.
The service at Las Plumas was consistently slow, with no one around to refill water glasses, obtain needed extra eating utensils, or even greet diners at the entrance.
he Bristol Seafood Grill enjoys a highly visible corner location within the Oak Brook Center Mall and appears to do heavy business at both lunch and dinner. Only a portion of the tables are earmarked for reservations, so it`s not unusual to call four days ahead and find that the only seats available for dinner are for 9 p.m.
Two of the reasons for this popularity must be the decor and the biscuits. Starting from the cocktail lounge, where diners without reservations get to park for an hour on weekends, and extending into the dining room, the Bristol has enough seaside memorabilia to service three Boston restaurants. The mix of hanging ceramic swordfish, imitation black tin ceiling, colorful glass lampshades and plenty of bric-a-brac are fun to observe. Add the pianist in the corner of the lounge and an hour goes by pretty quickly.
As soon as you do get a seat, the biscuits arrive. The warm, slightly sweet drop biscuits are baked in an open kitchen toward the back of the restaurant and servers do a fine job of refilling plates the whole evening.
The menu offers a wide assortment of fish including mesquite-grilled blue fish, shark, halibut and trout, baked scrod and fried oysters, plus several mesquite-grilled steaks.
An odd appetizer called pan roast is basically a sweet tomato soup reminiscent of Campbell`s filled with shucked oysters, overcooked shrimp or pretty good sea scallops and a big slice of soggy bread. Milk and cream-based clam chowder is very thick but tastes okay if you like that texture.
The dense, muddy colored liquid called Creole soup must be an experiment. The waitress watched to see if we would take a spoonful; and when that was the total sum missing from the bowl, graciously didn`t charge.
Fried calamari was fine; a special clams casino was marred by some less-than-fresh-tasting clams; ceviche included some good calamari but also some unidentifiable white fish laden with tough membranes.
The best bet here seems to be the mesquite-broiled fish, overcooked and then undercooked on different visits, but fresh.
LAS PLUMAS (STAR)(STAR)
JOHN HANCOCK CENTER, 875 N. MICHIGAN AVE./280-5466
Mexican
Hours: Lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Mon.- Sat. Dinner 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.;
to 10 p.m. Fri., Sat. Brunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. Price range: Appetizers, $2.95-$6.25; entrees, $4.50-$9.50. Dinner of appetizer, fajitas, beer, tax and tip: $13-$17 a person. Credit cards: American Express, Carte Blanche, Diners, MasterCard, Visa. Reservations: Yes
BRISTOL SEAFOOD GRILL
(STAR)(STAR)
OAK BROOK CENTER MALL, OAK BROOK/325-2155
Seafood
Hours: Lunch 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat. Dinner 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; to midnight, Fri., Sat.; 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Sun.; Brunch 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. Price range: Appetizers, $1.90-$6.95; entrees, $10.50-$24.95. Dinner of appetizer, salad, entree, glass of wine, tax and tip: $22-$40 a person. Credit cards:
American Express, Carte Blanche, Diners, MasterCard, Visa. Reservations: Yes. The ratings reflect the reviewer`s opinion of the food in relation to price compared with other similar restaurants in the Chicago area. Reviews are based on no fewer than two visits. More visits are made when necessary. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. All meals are paid for by The Tribune.
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Extraordinary
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2 Excellent
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Good
(STAR)(STAR) Fair
(STAR) Poor
