An arousing aroma intermittently haunts Ukrainian Village’s Ruxbin, though I was never able to identify it, even after working my way through most of the concise menu. At one point I was certain it was coconut vapor rising from the heaping bowls of mussels and togarashi-sprinkled frites that regularly descend into the dining room from the loft kitchen—but I was assured there’s nothing remotely tropical in that garlicky white-wine broth. Whatever that irresistible smell is, it’s almost too much for the snug room to contain. I have the feeling that in time we’ll be saying the same thing about the team behind the place—it has an ineffable but definitely likable quality that makes it seem like a way station en route to bigger things.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Chef Edward Kim—who trained at the LA Cordon Bleu and externed at Thomas Keller’s Per Se—and his front-of-the-house partners Vicki Kim (sister) and Jenny Kim (unrelated), engaged the salvage design team Alter Ego Form (Simone’s, the Boiler Room) to construct an interesting but ultimately distracting environment from seat-belt-strap banquettes, repurposed church pews, a photography-light-table-fixture looming overhead, and a darkroom door leading into a water closet papered with rock-show flyers. If that all sounds capricious or immaterial, the ceiling is covered with cookbook pages, and Kim’s favorite tomes are mounted on the walls like museum pieces—just in case you can’t tell where he’s coming from by what arrives on the plate.
Here’s gentrification at its best: an old-man bar rehabbed into a friendly, unassuming little gastropub. The delicious duck-fat fries at The Portage were much crunchier than the ones made famous by a certain north-side hot dog joint, so no infringement suits are necessary. The bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese were fine, as was a bubbling starter portion of mac ‘n’ cheese. A salad of roasted organic beets with goat cheese and Marcona almonds was summer on a plate.
Openers were similarly artless. Grilled seafood—beautifully cooked sea scallops, overdone shrimp, slightly chewy squid—was simply served with a wedge of lemon and a little spiky arugula. Efforts to dress up an incongruously Asian-seasoned tuna tartare, a $16 cold plate, consisted of sticking thin radish slices around the shaped disk, putting a halved cherry tomato stuffed with two olives in the center, and ringing it with wedges of “pizza crostini” that tasted like stale, salty pita. Most of the listed desserts were unavailable, but the vulcan cake—a warm chocolate mini-Bundt cake with orange-Cointreau ice cream and chocolate sauce—at least surpassed the sour tiramisu.
The Portage 3938 N. Central, 773-853-0779, theportagechicago.com
Donatella Mediterranean Bistro 1512 Sherman, Evanston, 847-328-7720
