Landmark Grill & Lounge

Landmark Grill & Lounge
1633 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL
(312) 587-1600

We had dinner at the Landmark before the show at Steppenwolf (reserved it through OpenTable). It's a happening kind of place (very trendy) opened up by the same guys who made Boka (just down the street) a success. We wound up on the catwalk level (there are multi-levels to the place, with a different look for each one). Since we were there early (pre-theatre dinner time) it was pretty quiet. By the time we were leaving you could see the crowd starting to gather.

The food was all very good, though I found the dinner portions to be just a tad too much. That might have just been the particular meal I ordered (a pork chop) -- it was literally a Fred Flintstone size hunk o' meat with a bone. But Tony's short rib plate was pretty big too, so I'm guessing they are all pretty big.

The service was great and very accommodating. When I couldn't decide between the wild mushroom risotto and the pork chop, he suggested I get a half order of the risotto as a starter, even though it isn't listed on the menu as an option. The risotto, by the way, was just lovely...creamy, earthy, and with just the right dash of white truffle oil on top.

All of the servers, including the new guy who mostly seemed to be doing water service, were all very nice and friendly. They were also knowledgeable -- after Tony asked for some wine notes on a particular bottle and the waiter responded with a full description, Tony sighed "We're in a real city now."

For dessert we tried one of the signature dishes -- a giant chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce. We were expecting maybe a giant platter o' cookie, but it turns out to be more like a cylinder of cookie (probably about a can of soup size). Oh man, was it ever yummy. Moist. Like chocolate cookie squared. It'll be hard not to order that again, even though they have more fancified desserts. There's just something about comfort food from childhood.