TNDC: Currents on the River

Maybe the chef was out of town. Maybe, like the menu billed, he was cooking dinner for Van Halen or Madonna. Regardless, whoever was in the kitchen made crappy food.

TNDC was Meghan’s pick this week, and she chose Currents on the River, at Adams and Wacker. We thought it a lovely choice given a possible opportunity to sit outside on the river, the menu looked great online and you can’t beat the atmosphere. All wrong.

Prior to our arrival, we discovered the restaurant closed at 7 p.m. Very odd. But we were fine with it because I like to catch the earlier train the better, and Alyssa was leaving for a conference in the morning so she wanted to get home to pack. Neha was traveling again (South Carolina), and Amy was at the Cubs game, so it was just me, Meggie and Al.

Meghan and I met there for our obligatory cocktail, and the restaurant looked like a Holiday Inn lounge. Pretty pitiful décor, green carpet, standard-issue chairs. The restaurant was in the basement of an office building so we were eye-level with the river. No outside patio. But basically we were face-to-face with one of the boat tour boats, which apparently launched from the restaurant. And that’s when we realized we were possibly frequenting a tourist trap.

Al showed up around 5:30 p.m., and the bartender told us to sit anywhere. The restaurant was empty except for a going away party in the back so we took a table by the window so we could look at the river. About seven or eight minutes went by before anyone came over with menus or water. It wasn’t until Alyssa called the waiter over that he acknowledged us.

The front of the menu says the chef used to be the personal chef for Van Halen, The Eagles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson and Madonna. So regardless of the sub-par atmosphere, we were looking forward to some good food.

Alyssa had eaten a late lunch so she just ordered a chopped salad. Didn’t hear any complaints there. Meghan ordered the Tuscan tortellini, which had grilled chicken, Italian sausage, roasted garlic, parmesan and a chicken veloute sauce. No immediate complaints or accolades awarded. I ordered a steak sandwich and made my opinion well known. The steak was cold. Not cold like it was supposed to be served cold. It was cold like it had been sitting there for awhile cold. It was supposed to have a mango chutney sauce on it and it seemed more like mango marmalade. So picture a steak sandwich with jelly on top. And nothing else. No tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese. It was nasty. Below is a picture of what I thought mango chutney looked like.

Post-nastiness occurred last night with Meghan, who was sick from her meal. “Epic restaurant fail,” she reported this morning.

Don’t go here. Even if you do the architectural tour on the river (which I highly recommend) find another restaurant.