Ah, the peculiarities of Loop (or, in this case, West Loop) restaurants. Lunches are always packed. The after-5 cocktail crowd can be considerable. The early dinner hours (when the pre-theater crowd swarms in) are busy and hectic.
These are the times when you need reservations or need to arrive early for a good table. But dinner at 8 on a Saturday night? Just walk on in. Plenty of good seats available.
That’s pretty much how things were going on my visits to Rivers, an attractive, ambitious restaurant that’s good enough to be more than a place you stop by on your way to someplace else.
Rivers sits on the first floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, just steps away from the Civic Opera House. We remain hopeful that there will be an opera season this year (the Lord and union negotiations willing), but Rivers’ executive chef, Lawrence London, is presumably fervent on the issue. Rivers gets its share of pre-theater diners, but the opera crowd really makes the cash register ring.
The restaurant’s full name is Rivers Euro-American Bistro, an awkward handle that, happily, almost nobody uses. The name does give the diner a sense of what to expect on the menu — Mediterranean-influenced American food with an emphasis on fish — although bistro doesn’t accurately reflect the upscale decor or the slightly-beyond-bistro prices.
First to the table is a pretty, copper-wire basket of wonderful, soft breads, perfect for munching (try to take it easy on the addictive sun-dried tomato butter) while mulling your dining options.
The menu gives scant attention to appetizers, offering but four. Crabcakes with orange-fennel mayonnaise are good, accompanied by a petit salad, and a free-form seafood ravioli presents bite-sized shrimp, scallops and salmon pieces between sheets of pasta, coddled with a sherry cream sauce.
The crab and asparagus empanadas were something short of wonderful, though I very much liked the lively grapefruit relish that accompanied them. Chicken satay was disappointing: four scrawny skewers with a guava barbecue glaze I couldn’t taste and a peanut dipping sauce that tasted mostly of chicken stock.
Though appetizers can be hit or miss, soups and salads are invariably first-rate. A richly flavored roasted-corn soup arrives piping hot, its surface decorated with squiggles of red pepper cream and, in the center of the bowl, a clever roasted-tomato and onion confit. Shellfish minestrone is a lobster-tomato broth with rock shrimp, a plethora of still-firm vegetables and a bit of pesto sauce.
The Caesar salad is a mild version, one that benefits from the ground pepper that is offered. Large pieces of romaine lettuce, judiciously dressed, are topped with wide shavings of parmesan cheese.
The house salad is a keeper, too, mixed baby greens tossed in an herb-tomato dressing and served with red onions, decent-quality tomatoes and crumbled goat cheese.
Florida grouper is one of the menu’s signature dishes, and the pan-seared fish is excellent, helped along in no small measure by a red-grapefruit beurre blanc that adds buttery richness and a little tang, and an accompanying “hash” of rock shrimp and roasted hash. This is a star-quality dish.
Wood-grilled seabass is another winner, coated with a peppery tangerine glaze and perched atop a savory pancake of fried lo mein noodles, shredded zucchini and carrot. A citrus butter with curry oil adds delicate flavor notes, and some bok choy provides texture.
Sweet-pea ravioli, pasta pockets filled with firm peas, pearl onions and corn, comes with a roasted-tomato beurre blanc and a hefty handful of crawfish. Crawfish season is winding down; get this dish while you can.
Grilled rack of pork is generous in size, two hefty chops topped with a brandy-peach jus (a bit thick for a jus but tasty), served with vegetable-studded couscous. Even something as simple and sensible as sauteed chicken breast, rolled around Gulf shrimp and spinach with couscous and red-pepper sauce, manages to be memorable.
Heading the list of desserts is the sensational summer pudding, a firm, cylindrical piece of dense bread pudding soaked in fresh berry juices. The striking visual appeal of this purplish pudding, decorated with white ribbons of creme anglaise and fresh berries, is secondary to its fine flavor.
Make room, too, for the creme brulee, a near-flawless version with rich cream (hiding a few fresh blueberries) and a perfectly glassy, caramelized sugar crust.
The wine list is compact but thorough, divided among New World (us) and Old World (French and Italian) vintages. More than a dozen wines are available by the glass, including one sparkler.
Service is uneven. One night our waiter couldn’t have been more on the ball, and the meal went smoothly; on a followup visit, our waitress was so distracted (by what, we can’t imagine; the place was less than half full) we had to resort to hand-waving to get everything from replacement flatware to wine refills. Lunch service is very efficient, at times a bit rushed, but nimbly accommodates those Loop workers who have but an hour to dine.
The mahogany-trimmed dining room has a curvy design and linen-topped tables (topped with butcher paper at lunch). Just past the dining room is a spacious outdoor terrace, equipped with its own bar, that overlooks the Chicago River. It’s one of the nicest outdoor-dining spots in the city and, for the Friday after-5ers, one of the liveliest.
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Rivers
(star) (star)
30 S. Wacker Drive
312-559-1515
Open: Dinner Mon.-Sat., lunch Mon.-Fri.
Entree prices: $11.95-$26.95
Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V
Reservations: Recommended
Other: Wheelchair accessible; 2 hrs. validated parking; open Sun. for opera performances
Rating system
(star) (star) (star) (star) Outstanding
(star) (star) (star) Excellent
(star) (star) Very Good
(star) Good
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Reviews are based on no fewer than two visits. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
