Dinner Club #4

Dinner Club #4 - Birchwood Kitchen

Post snowpocalypse 2011, we made it over to Birchwood Kitchen for our fourth dinner club adventure. It is a small, low-key joint in Wicker Park that focuses primarily on soups, sandwiches, pastries, and a few deli items with an emphasis on local and sustainable food sources.

They do not accept reservations, and suggested that we arrive before 7pm to ensure we were able to snag a table for 6. Contrary to looks and location, she was absolutely correct. Though this little place is a bit out of the way, it is bustling in the evening. I arrived at about 7:10, before the crowd hit, and the woman at the counter was very accommodating - she helped me push a few tables together and brought over menus so I could start looking them while I waited for the rest of the party.

The food is served deli-style - you order at the counter, pay, and then food is brought to the table. The atmosphere is made to match - small space, little tables, art on the walls, chalkboard menu, etc). We each ordered a sandwich (sandwiches come with either chips or a mixed greens salad), a pasta salad to share, and a smorgasbord of desserts. The ordering process was a bit hectic; the line to get to the counter was maybe 15 ppl long, and took about 8-10 minutes. However, food arrived quickly and everything we ordered was delicious. We happily cleaned our plates :) Sandwiches hovered around $8 and desserts were about $3.

All in all, I would highly recommend this place. It does get a bit crowded, but I thought the food and prices were definitely worth it.

Food: 5/5
Service: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Price: 5/5

Dinner Club #2: Cafe Iberico

Cafe Iberico is a delicious Spanish tapas restaurant, as evidenced by the cheery patrons that crowded the whole restaurant. The restaurant has two floors - we were seated downstairs, which although dark, was still very festive, not only because of Christmas decorations, but because it was full of happy groups at each table. Not that I would know, but based on reviews, it seemed very authentic and I especially liked that they have creative new specials every week.

Although it was loud and the music was surprisingly out of place, the overall experience was pretty great: decent service, yummy food and fun to taste the different tapas. For five of us, we ordered 8 tapas and paella. Here's what we had:

PAELLA VEGETARIANA: Vegetarian paella with fresh vegetables.

· TOSTADAS DE PISTO: Toasted bread topped with stewed eggplant, peppers, onion, Zucchini tomato and olive oil.

· TORTILLA ESPAÑOLA: Vegetarian Spanish omelet.

· PATATAS BRAVAS: Spicy potatoes with special tomato sauce.

· CHAMPIÑONES A LA PLANCHA: Grilled mushrooms with garlic and olive oil.

· QUESO DE CABRA: Baked goat cheese with fresh tomato basil sauce.

· CROQUETAS DE POLLO: Chicken and ham puffs served with ali-oli sauce.

· GAMBAS AL AJILLO: Grilled shrimp with olive oil, garlic and wine.

· POLLO A LA ANDALUZA: Sauteed chicken breasted with green and black olives in a white wine sauce.

Although it's REALLY hard to choose, my two favorites were the Tostadas de Pisto because it was different and had a good flavor, and the Queso De Cabra - yum!

FOOD: 5/5 Stars
SERVICE: 4/5 Stars
ATMOSPHERE: 4/5 Stars

The First Ever Dinner Club: Sapori Trattoria

Sapori Tratorria 

2701 N. Halstead

Sapori Tratorria is an Italian restaurant, on the smaller side, not too crowded of busy, a cute ambiance with little white lights and super friendly service. It has lots of weekly deals (like Family Style Mondays and Wine Tasting Wednesdays) We didn't take them up on any of their specials... But we did take them up on our first ever dinner club, dinner for 8! 

The first thing I loved about Sapori was when I called to make the reservation. Ricardo was so nice and cute saying, "of course we'll take care of you!" and "ciao, ciao!" He kept asking if it was for an occasion, I heard that if it is they will make special menus for your party... which is a nice touch... of course I didn't take them up on that either.

The food was very good, everyone seemed please (see comments). Our waiter remembered our orders without writing it down (and a table of 8 I mean, thats pretty impressive). The sign is difficult to see from the outside, but we found it, and had a great time!!

I would give it: 

4/5 stars

what we learned: 

the pasta and risotto dishes are HUGE and SHOULD be shared. 

what we loved: 

the BREAD! Homemade, served warm and fresh

the service: 

Friendly and helpful... i <3 ricardo!

the price: 

 Our total bill was $210 which made it about 

$26/person... none of us had drinks

BONUS: 

they gave us free dessert... and it was delicious!

tiramisu, flan, and bread pudding... yummo!