Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday Night Dinner Club: The Purple Pig/Bandera
Four of my college friends-Amy, Alyssa, Neha and Meghan-and I have formed the Tuesday Night Dinner Club. Every other Tuesday, we’ll go to a different restaurant in Chicago with a rotation of who chooses each time. If you can make it, great. If not, no big deal. It’s a great way to try new restaurants.
Last night was the first meeting of the club, and all members were in attendance but Amy, who got tied up at work. It was my choice, and I picked The Purple Pig, 500 N. Michigan Ave.
The Purple Pig is one of THE hottest restaurants in Chicago right now. Bon Appetit named it one of the best 10 new restaurants in America; it was a 2011 Michelin Guide Chicago Bib Gourmand winner; and it’s been featured on numerous other lists as one of the best restaurants in the city.
Naturally, we were excited.
The Purple Pig does not accept reservations, but initially, we weren’t too worried since we were meeting at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday. City-dwellers rarely eat dinner before 7 p.m. any day of the week.
The original plan was for me, Meghan and Neha Blossom to meet for drinks at Rock Bottom before our 6 p.m. dinner. We all get off work before 5 p.m., so we usually like to have few spirits before we meet Amy and Alyssa.
But then the more I started to think about the no reservation thing, the more worried I got. So we changed plans and decided to have our drinks at the bar at The Purple Pig. That way we could either get a table right away or they would see us there and know we were serious about eating there that night.
I was the first arrive at the restaurant (big surprise). I immediately congratulated myself for having such a good idea because this place was teeny tiny. And it was already filling up before 5 p.m. I informed the hostess there would be three for drinks but eventually five for dinner. Jerk Hostess said she could only seat our full party. I told her the fifth probably wouldn’t arrive until after we had ordered (at that time Amy was still in the mix but was going to get there late) and she repeated she would only seat the full party. So I put our name down for four, hoping Amy might arrive before we were seated or that they could pull up a chair when she got there.
I parked myself at the bar, ordered the bartender’s red wine recommendation and waited for my ladies. Meghan arrived next and agreed to help cure my starvation by ordering some prosciutto bread balls. They were OK, tasted more like spinach bread balls than anything. At that point, Amy texted us she wouldn’t be able to make it.
Alyssa arrived next and then Neha, after wandering aimlessly down Michigan Avenue claiming to be lost (not seeing the big sign that said “The Purple Pig). By this time, the place is packed, but there are still seats available. We inform Jerk Hostess that our entire party has arrived and she gives a “yup” and a nod as if she’s going to seat us ASAP. After five minutes, she tells us she’s just seated everybody waiting and it would be about an hour wait for a table for us.
(Cue head explosion).
I pound my glass of wine, and we immediately left. I found the entire exercise ridiculous, considering she knew we wanted to eat dinner there, we already had a $60 bar tab and were the first to arrive among the people she seated. Sorry, Purple Pig, but we won’t be back for a club meeting. And yes, I’ve told my friends about this bad experience. I’m close to posting this entry on Yelp.
We walked over to Bandera, 535 N. Michigan Ave., which is a sleek-looking upscale Latin (I think) restaurant that overlooks the Mag Mile. The food was good but quite pricey for what they offered. I had the steak and enchilada platter, which I thought was deceiving. To me, platter means an entire platter of meat and enchiladas. What I got was a very tasty cut up filet and one chicken, cheese and spinach enchilada. That was combined with some Spanish rice and a vegetable medley tossed in a champagne vinaigrette. For $28. Too much.
So that concluded the first, lackluster meeting of the Tuesday Night Dinner Club. Here’s hoping the March 1 meeting at Gilt Bar, 230 W. Kinzie, will be better.
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I already posted negative reviews on Yelp and Metromix. Beware the wrath of Meg. I was more impressed with Bandera than you were, but I think my dinner was better (and cheaper).
ReplyDeleteBandera was good just not great. I wouldn't say "Oh you have to try Bandera." I'd go there again.
ReplyDeleteMeghan's Yelp review:
ReplyDeleteMeghan A.
Chicago, IL
1 star rating
2/16/2011
I really hate writing negative reviews, but I had an unpleasant experience here last night. I was supposed to have dinner here with 3 of my friends. Two of us showed up and were told that we couldn't be seated until our entire party was there. So my friend and I sat at the bar, ordered a couple glasses of wine, and then got the prosciutto bread balls because my friend was starving. The third member of our party showed up and the place was starting to get extremely crowded (it's very small) so we nicely asked if we could be seated now, because our fourth person was going to be there in 5 minutes. They still wouldn't seat us. A few minutes later, our fourth person arrived and we went to the hostess stand and let them know our whole group had arrived. We were told it would be an hour before a table of 4 would be available. My friend looked over her shoulder at a huge table with nobody sitting at it and said, "Why can't we sit there?" And the hostess said, "I have a party of 10 coming in soon and I have to seat THEM there." So, basically, they don't take reservations or hold tables...for most people. And they'll hold a table for 10 people who haven't shown up yet, but 3 girls out of a party of 4 can't be seated. So we left and I have no inclination to go back there. The wine and food were good, but overpriced (sorry, $13 for a decent but not amazing glass of wine is just crazy to me). I know this is a very hot restaurant and I really wanted to like it, but I was disappointed in the experience
Good Lord. Doesn't it suck how much a bad restaurant experience can ruin an evening??? Go post that bad Yelp review, woman. Post it, and post it good!!!
ReplyDeleteI do have to say, Bandera had a damn good Manhattan with blood orange bitters - tasty and strong!
ReplyDelete