Hugo's Frog Bar and Fish House - Chicago, IL

We were recently in Chicago for a week and had the good fortune to experience a number of great dining experiences. Chicago has all the culinary offerings of an American "big city", but really seems to differentiate itself when it comes to Service. Maybe it's because the SoCal restaurants are much more laid back. Or maybe it's because they aren't surrounded by as much immediate competition as the restaurants in Chicago. I don't know, but in almost every place we ate dinner all week, we had our tables scraped between courses and interacted with a variety of busboys and waitstaff at our table who were all very warm and friendly. And not liek they were goign through the motions because of where we were eating. I can go to any upscale restaurant and expect the service to be prompt and polite, but too often it comes off as stuffy or cold. In Chiago, it was like we were regulars everywhere we went, even though we had never been to any of these places before.

Now, I had always heard from friends and colleagues that Chicago has a great dining scene. Everyone has their "don't miss" spot, be it a hole-in-the-wall joint that it seems only "locals" know about, or it's one of the highlights of the city's downtown restaurant scene. In Chicago, it's agood bet that either will deliver on the expectations. But sometimes the best dining experiences can come when you least expect it. I'm talking about the times when you expect a place to be good, but it suprises you by being rip-the-rug-out-from under-you fantastic! Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House overwhelming gave us this enchanting dining experience.

Located directly next door to and owned by the same guys who own Gibson's Steakhouse, Hugo's menu features fish, steak, and chops (overall leaning slightly more towards seafood - which shouldn't be a surprise given the name of the establishment.) It's on-par with pricing for other upscale restaurants in this North River neighborhood, but the portions are giant (more later) and the service a notch above Chicago's already high level of table service. Most of the meals are served by themselves, with sides ala carte. But our waiter warned us that the sides, which were reasonably priced (starting at $5.50) serve two people. I can see that with mashed potatoes, Crawfish mac 7 Cheese, or the various veggies, because that's not uncommon at other higher-end steak houses. But I figured at $5.50, the baked potato or sweet potato would be an average size, which is normally a perfect portion for us.

it was freezing out that evening and we definitely wanted something to warm us up. Our waiter recommended we try the Bookbinder's Soup, which they make from scratch everyday. Neither of us knew what it was. And darn if I can remember everything he said (he was very well-informed about the preparation of items on the menu), but I can tell you it is a tomato-broth based soup with green (and red?) peppers, celery, carrots, and whitefish. I think he could tell we were uncertain still and he told us that whenever he's served it to someone trying it for the first time, they have always told him they really enjoyed it. We were feeling a little adventurous to try something new, so we tried a bowl. Really good. Wow! I have no other Bookbinder's Soup to compare it to, but can honestly tell you I will look for it in other restarants now.

After also splitting a house salad, we ordered the blackened salmon sandwich on ciabbata roll for our entree (in the picture below). It normally comes with fries, but we asked to sub a baked sweet potato instead. Imagine our suprise when the waiter brought us this:

It was whole when he brought it, but, man was this yam huge!. There's a little bit of enlargement due to the angle of the camera, but let me point out a few things here.

(1) That is a full-size steak knife jammed to its hilt in HALF of that potato.

(2) That is not a bread plate. That plate is the same size as the one behind it with half of the salmon sandwich on it. And you see how far the yam stretches across it, right?

Did I mention the sweet potato was huge?

Anyway, our wait offered us butter or brown sugar, which he fetched and returned to the table with in separate containers. Normally, they leave you with these items to do with as you please. Not the waiters at Hugo's Frog Bar. Our waiter dumped the brown sugar into the melted butter and stirred and swirled it with a fork until the mixture was evenly blended. Then he drenched the potato in the rich buttery sauce. Now, that's the kind of service I'm telling you differentiates Chiacgo from some of the places I've been.

Unfortunately, we were too stuffed to try any dessert, but you bet we'll be thinking about it when we are in Chicago again. In the meantime, we highly recommend you taking in a meal or two at Hugo's the next time you are in Chicago.