The physical rehaul of the Eckhart Park public library branch impressed everybody when Branch 27 opened last spring. That was in contrast with chef Bob Zrenner’s opening menu of American bistro standards, which Reader reviewer Martha Bayne found “safely unremarkable in both content and execution.” But in early December Zrenner decamped (ending up at Jerry Kleiner’s 33 Club), and owners Howard Natinsky (Fat Cat, Five Star Bar) and Cary Michael (ex-Rockit Bar and Grill) executed a shrewd play in replacing him with John Manion, who’s been a ronin chef since his terrific Wicker Park nuevo Latino restaurant Mas closed in 2007. His last assignment—to deliver a kick in the ample ass of the faltering Goose Island Brewpub—was an interesting experiment. I loved the direction he took it, challenging its nacho-and-chicken-wing-loving constituency with local sourcing and a snout-to-tail ethos that at one point put a sweetbread BLT on the menu. I was less impressed with the execution than the concept, but nonetheless Manion left the brewpub in better shape than he found it.
This Evanston space has seen its share of stars—from Rick Tramonto, Gale Gand, Shawn McClain, and Grant Achatz in the days of Trio to Dale Levitski in the Trio Atelier era—but since it morphed into Quince in 2006, the respectable talents of neither chef Mark Hannon nor the short-lived Pete Balodimas managed to make this high-end spot in the dowdy old Homestead Hotel a destination again.
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Little touches—like the scallion-walnut rolls included in the bread service, or the finger-size chard-and-Parmesan-stuffed cannelloni served with a combo of sliced duck breast and duck thigh confit—make a big impact. The only thing we found less than transcendent was a dessert of deconstructed pumpkin mousse, little orbs surrounded by swoops of blood orange sauce and puddles of banana foam, all studded with odd matchsticks of curried brioche sticks: the mousse itself was so good I would have preferred a simple ramekin of it. That was ameliorated, however, by a pairing with a stellar dessert wine, Australia’s Noble One. Complimentary thimble-size red velvet cupcakes finished the meal. —Kate Schmidt
All items on the once-minimal menu remain—shawarma and kebab entrees (downsizable to sandwiches), variations on chickpeas such as fatah and mossabaha, and an organ trio of liver, heart, and kidney sauteed with onions and lemon—and still arrive as nearly insurmountable heaps of food, accompanied by bright pink radishes and preceded by a teaser of superbriny olives. There’s still fresh-brewed mint tea, fresh-squeezed orange-carrot juice, and rotating specials including grape leaves, zucchini, massef (a soup traditionally accompanied by lamb and rice), and a Sunday wild card that ranges from string beans to Cornish hen. But the menu’s expanded along with the space and now features more Arabic dishes, including spinach pies, house-made labneh, and a few of the tomato-onion sautees known as kalaya. But the ominous addition of generic fast-food items—chicken wings, gyros, burgers, rotisserie chicken, and fries—makes my heart hurt. —Mike Sula
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Quince 1625 Hinman, Evanston, 847-570-8400, quincerestaurant.net
Salam 4636 N. Kedzie, 773-583-0776
Sun Wah BBQ 5039 N. Broadway, 773-769-1254,
sunwahbbq.com
