Mon Ami Gabi Chicago? Opinions? Other Recs for DH's bday?

I heard Mon Ami Gabi in Vegas was good. We didn't get there when we were there last week (we did get to LOS, YUM!). I was searching for Everest online and found that there are 2 Mon Ami Gabi's in the Chicago area from the LEYE site. I have not read about them on here...are there any opinions?

My cousin says it is the best steak she has ever had (take that with a grain of salt, as I do not think she even knows places like Moto exist). Dinner for 2 with a glass of wine each is estimated at $50-75 total for two. Sounds like a great deal. Their steaks are all prime with the exception of the filet which is choice.

I am considering making a reservation for DH's birthday. We did Roy's tasting menu last year. I looked over many menus including MK, North Pond, One Sixtyblue and NoMi. I don't think Arun's is in the budget this year, plus I just read on another thread that it seems to be going downhill. I don't think the menus I checked out are on par with DH's meat and potatoes palate...He does like fish and is open to new things, he likes tasting menus, but isn't a fan of all veggie courses, or tasting menus without at least one beef course.

Can anyone recommend Mon Ami Gabi, or have something in the $100-150 total for two price range that seems on par with DH's tastes? All recs will be considered, also remember that we're trying to go out Saturday evening.

Thanks!

Christine

An earlier post of mine on Mon Ami Gabi can be found here. I highly recommend the one on Lincoln Park West.

Jesper

I have always had good meals at both Mon Ami Gabi's (the skate wing is one of my favorites. But for atmosphere, the Lincoln Park location blows the away the Oak Brook Mall occasion, and the Lincoln Park site is even better when it's a nice evening and you can eat outide.

I'm a big fan of Mon Ami Gabi, and I've also been to the one at Paris in LV.

Their steaks are done well (almost wrote well done instead ), the ambience is nice and service is adequate. If it's available, their lobster bisque is fantastic.

I like Mon Ami Gabi well enough, and think that maybe it's just the ambience that puts itself ahead of say, Brasserie Jo. The food is executed well in both places, but Mon Ami Gabi is... how do you say... more romantique.

However, I HIGHLY recommend MK. We just celebrated my parents' anniversary there and it's probably one of the finest meals I have ever had the pleasure of eating. I finally understand what all the fuss over truffles (and truffle oil and truffle cream) is about!

I just ate at MK as well last week, and I would recommend it as well. However, I ate at Spring the following night, and felt that was quite a bit better. You won't go wrong at any one of the three, although the price points are different, with Mon Ami the lowest and Spring the highest.

I find Mon Ami Gabi to be okay, though my preference is to only go for oysters at the bar, and have a crisp Loire white with them. The other food is not so special, IMO, though not bad. Value is not so great.

Similar food, done better when last I visited, is at Marche. There is a way to get a coupon for $25 off a meal by signing up at this web site:
http://www.marche-chicago.com/frequentdiners.html

Having said that, there are a multitude of places I would choose ahead of Marche, and way ahead of Mon Ami Gabi for a celebration dinner. In recent threads asking similar questions (best splurge meal for $200 or less), I think the current favorites are probably Blackbird and Chilpancingo and/or Topolobampo.

Delightful food at all three, and darned good value for what one gets. For bistros, I admit that everyone seems to have their favorite, but you might consider Le Bouchon, or Le Sardine, in addition to my suggestion of Marche.

If you search on any of these, you should find fairly recent and detailed reviews, I believe.

Enjoy, and let us know what you choose.

My experiences at Mon Ami Gabi have been quite disappointing. As far as the "best steak ever", well the steak I had tasted very much like liver. I'm sure someone else at LTHForum can explain why, but I can just say definitely not "best steak ever" - I understand that you took that comment with a grain of salt. Are you looking for a great steak place or perhaps a great French place? Also, what sort of budget do you have? The more specific your request is, the more accurate your response can be. My favorite steak in Chicago is the Filet Mignon at Gene and Gorgetti http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/sear ... 8830.venue (but I prefer to go there on cold winter nights). However, if you are looking for a cute outdoor patio as well as a GREAT meal, I would recommend Meritage. http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/sear ... 0799.venue I just ate at Meritage tonight. We shared a bottle of Neyers Chardonnay, started with a tempura battered soft shell crab, followed by entrees -(1) buffalo with antense berry emulsion sauce, root vegetables, white asparagus, and cheesey potato square - (2) Wahoo fish with three different dumplings and a lobster sauce and baby bok choy. We finished with espresso creme brulee, and 2 glasses of sambuca. Also, the butter was wonderful, too. One scoop of sweet thai chili butter and one scoop of herb butter and really fresh sour dough bread as well as plain bread. Meritage is consitently great.

Are you looking for a particular neighborhood?

Please forgive me if I am too tired to be writing well!

OH I am so sorry - you did give a price range! I am too sleepy! Our dinner at Meritage with the $50 bottle of wine and 2 glasses of sambuca was $ 157.00 before tip. Meritage has a much better energy than a Jerry Kleiner restaurant (Marche) or a Lettuce restaurant. Meritage has a more hip neighborhood feel.

mary60614 wrote:Meritage has much better energy than a Jerry Kleiner restaurant (Marche) or a Lettuce restaurant. Meritage has a more hip neighborhood feel.

Ah well, if we are judging by what place has the best energy or the most hip neighborhood, I admit to being out of my depth, tho I do remember that the last time I went to Meritage all the clientele except me were in black. That probably is not what gives it a hip neighborhood feel or good energy, but it is what I remember. (Point of reference - Gwiv always wears black, and I am pretty sure he is not hip, no offense meant, Gary.) As to the food, it was decent, and better than Mon Ami Gabi, I agree, though my visit was some years ago, so things may well have changed. Fun wine list, too.

A while back someone published some form of hip-o-meter that would allow those of us who are terminally not-with-it to determine how cool a place is. Mary, if you could provide an updated version of such guidelines, it might be helpful, tho I imagine I would still be ill qualified to use it .

dicksond wrote:A while back someone published some form of hip-o-meter that would allow those of us who are terminally not-with-it to determine how cool a place is.

D,

That was me, G Wiv, the guy you are 'pretty sure is not hip' I was the inventor of the Shannon/Critical1 Hip-O-Meter scale. Who's the hip-cat now?

Enjoy,
Gary

mary60614 wrote:My experiences at Mon Ami Gabi have been quite disappointing. As far as the "best steak ever", well the steak I had tasted very much like liver.

Was it the hanger steak? I used to work at both the Oakbrook and Lincoln Park locations, and this was a common comment downtown. The hanger steak definitely has a unique flavor. Otherwise, the ribeye and strip are prime wet aged beef. The steak frites are made with choice beef.

Flip

Flip wrote:The hanger steak definitely has a unique flavor. Otherwise, the ribeye and strip are prime wet aged beef. The steak frites are made with choice beef.

I was at Mon Ami Gabi in Lincoln Park in March and liked my hanger steak very much. It tasted like good beef. I enjoyed my meal, though I like Brasserie Jo a bit better, mainly because its menu is broader and I prefer the openness of its dining room.

However, since it appears you're not looking for French, specifically, but for celebratory meat and potatoes at about $50, let me point at you at some reasonably priced steakhouses:

Carmichael's, in West Loop Gate, serves Certified Angus (high-end choice) steaks that impressed the heck out of some recent visitors from Seattle. We wound up there because all of the other steakhouses I tried were booked at short notice, but we all had excellent steaks -- the difference to prime meat was not noticeable. (I admit to a fondness for dry- over wet-aged beef, a difference which was noticeable, but so was the lower price.) Carmichael's also does a delectably classic version of shrimp de Jonghe, and has one of the nicest outdoor dining areas downtown.

The Saloon Steakhouse in Streeterville also does a great job with high-end choice beef, as well as some wagyu. They have a particularly good bone-in filet mignon.

For something different, you might try Golden Budha, Alfred Hsu's new place in the Loop. The former proprietor of Szechwan East is combining prime steak with Chinese sauces in sometimes surprisingly good dishes, paired with sides like spiced potato strings or wasabi-laced potato balls. There's also a 100-item, something-for-everyone menu of somewhat Americanized Chinese food. The "Great Wall of Chocolate" dessert of chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, fresh strawberries, chocolate-dipped Pocky sticks and whipped cream, sized to share, is definitely celebratory.

Mon Ami Gabi
773/348-8886
http://www.monamigabi.com
Belden-Stratford Hotel
2300 N. Lincoln Park West
Chicago IL 60614

Brasserie Jo
312/595-0800
http://www.brasseriejo.com
59 W. Hubbard St.,
Chicago, IL 60610-4603

Carmichael's Chicago Steak House
312/433-0025
http://www.carmichaelsteakhouse.com
1052 W. Monroe St.
Chicago, IL 60607

Saloon Steakhouse
312/280-5454
http://www.saloonsteakhouse.com
Seneca Hotel, 200 E. Chestnut St.
Chicago, IL 60611

Golden Budha
312/609-0000
312 W. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60606

Quite simply, I prefer to fo to dining establishments where the owner may be present and you know what city you are in! The exception to this rule for me is Nobu and Matsuhisa as well as many others. However, I don't like Rich Melman - he was rude to me when I was looking for the last seat available at a Corner Bakery. I asked the staff who was the guy taking up two tables for 2 people? They told me it was Rich Melman. I had to stand and eat. I prefer places where they know me and get me a table! I like places where they do not know me, but treat me as if I matter. Now, Mon Ami Gabi staff is nicer than Rich. And what did he do to Vong - the real Vong - he's just all about the bottom line.

I think Gary is cool, but perhaps not hip. Cool is eternal, hip is more forward and on-the-edge. And of course, to be either, you have to not be seeking to be either. Gary is cool (and possibly hip, though I don't think so) precisely because he isn't striving to be cool.

Well, we went for DH's birthday to the Oak Brook location. We had a reservation and still waited 20 minutes.

"You know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to keep the reservation."

We had an ok waiter who could not accurately describe the entrees (I thought I was getting a pile of sauteed mushrooms with my steak and wine sauce on the side, instead I got a mushroom wine sauce on the side), nor did he seem on the ball about timing (we were done with our soup before he ever took our dinner order). He also poured me a very scant glass of $8 chardonnay (the waiters pour from the wine cart themselves vs. at the bar). I noticed others in the place with much, much fuller glasses of wine.

I am a picky steak eater. I don't like rare and I don't like medium rare. I like a really red, juicy mostly warm center (between the two, apparently). Which I can achieve at home, but most restaurants seem to fail here. This I do not understand. Most places rare is so underdone that is has no hint of warm or juicy, but medium rare is done too much, generally it is more pink. Their idea of red and my idea of red are two different things. I once got in a fight with a waiter about 'red'. (I think this was at Cheesecake Factory at Woodfield. They then brought out basically a raw steak (seared maybe 1 minute on each side), which I then had to send back again, of course. I think the manager was just being a dick on that one.)

Honestly, I hate to admit it, but the local Outback knows how to do it perfectly. For $20, it is the best bet for my money. Probably the best bet for even up to $50 from most places I have been. They know how to do my kind of medium rare.

Overall Mon Ami Gabi was ok, but my steak was ordered medium rare, and IMO, was overdone. DH enjoyed it, which is what really matters.

Christine

Christine, I think your kind of Medium Rare is what Medium Rare is supposed to be. I think Medium is pink in the middle, Medium Rare is reddish pink.

Apparently, Medium Rare is defined as "very pink"
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Informat ... eChart.htm

Pictures at
http://www.txbeef.org/cooking_it_right.php3
(note that different monitors can show colors differently)

I like the exact same temperature range. I generally, if I care enough, ask for "a little bit less than medium rare" and they seem to get the idea.

I really want to go to Bern's in tampa, where there are something like 9 degrees of doneness, including one smack dab in the middle of rare and medium rare. Plus, it sounds like a great steakhouse.

-ed

http://www.bernssteakhouse.com/bs_frame.htm

What is weird about all the online guides is that when I use the AB (Alton Brown) method of cooking steak, I measure it between 110 and 120 and it is perfect:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes ... 99,00.html

I really need to keep a spreadsheet or something about what rareness I order where and which one I prefer at each place.

My grandmother who has worked in the restaurant business for years told me that sometimes when people ordered their steaks well done, they would put them in the deep fryer. Poor people...

Christine

Since there's no thread about Marche, I'll mention this here:

Marche now has a $25 prix fixe deal on Mondays. Any app, entree, and dessert for $25. Not sure if this includes specials of the day. It's slightly more expensive than the prix fixes at other chicago bistros -- sister restaurants la sardine and le bouchon are both $22, etc -- so who knows. But it's a nice space*, and the food is good, if not great.

They're also offering half-priced-wine sundays.

Oh, and the email announcing this described it as a "prefix" menu. I can't wait for the "suffix" menu, which I imagine appends "-gate" to every dish. Here comes soufflegate.
* Most people find it nice. Count me in as someone who thinks the atmosphere at most of jerry kleiner's restaurants is a bit overdone. Marche is the worst to me. It's just so manufactured...