Tattoos! On the wall! Oh my stars! The superficial rock ‘n’ roll trappings of Blue 13, from former Zealous sous chef Chris Curren, aren’t any more original than those at Graham Elliot or even Rockstar Dogs—the framed flash looks suspiciously similar to the wallpaper in the men’s room at Kuma’s. (Replace the skin art with skin diseases and maybe you’ll scare me.) But even if badass fine dining already seems so last month, I wouldn’t write off this little spot, housed in the former Tony Rocco’s River North. In the earlier dinner hours the vibe is dialed down, putting the focus on the food, and the kitchen’s ratio of hits to misses is not discouraging, starting with “fish and chips,” a glass of ahi tuna tartare, taro chips, and wasabi foam—finally there’s a way to enjoy foam. On the other hand, butter-poached lobster on polenta cake was overcooked, so gummy you could blow a bubble with it. And back and forth it goes: a plank of pan-seared walleye balanced on four enormous and beautiful roasted-corn-and-manchego agnolotti would have been perfect if the pasta were cooked just a bit more (usually it’s the opposite problem). A structurally frustrating pylon of icy blood orange semifreddo toppled over repeatedly, but a perfectly simple fudge brownie with coffee ice cream balanced the scale. I have to reserve highest praise for Curren’s signature “steak and eggs on acid”—beef tenderloin layered over pierogi and topped with a quail egg. A smear of wasabi between the steak and dumplings was a simple but inspired riff on horseradish that took this far beyond the realm of mere meat and potatoes—and made me think Curren just might rock harder than he pretends to. —Mike Sula
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El Veneno Mariscos 1024 N. Ashland, 773-252-7200
Tamalli 2459 W. Armitage, 773-276-1441
