Joe's Steak and Seafood--long

I've searched to see if there's an existing thread about this spot and didn't have any success, please forgive if I somehow missed it.

So last night we went to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary at Joe's. I know this board in general aren't great fans of LEYE spots, but we typically find them pretty satisfying. Wanted someplace nice that would be "safe" for their various dietary/mishegos food issues. Needn't have worried at Joe's, they ate everything! LOL

The evening started at a mildly rocky level. Though our reservations had been made by my brother a month ago (still stuck with the 6:30 time, probably not a problem with the folks anyway), with the special occasion noted, the 7 of us were seated smak in the middle of an extremely tight section at a table suited for 6. Though we always tease my mom for wanting a different table, this really was an awful choice...at least 3 of us would have had our asses in someone else's table! Took a few minutes but they got us a table toward the back that was quite comfortable. Crisis averted, though my brother was clearly now "on guard" sort of looking for trouble.

We ended up ordering cocktails rather than champagne, all were satisfactory other than the fact they could not make my mom an apricot stone sour. LOL LOL But seriously, why would this place not have apricot brandy?? Anyway, the other cocktails, all name liquors, were quite good. I did not partake of the bread basket but the others really loved the various crackers and breads, especially a cheese covered flatbread of some sort.

We started with shrimp cocktails and a few orders of the large stone crablegs. It's not really stone crab season yet, so they didn't have all the sizes, but they were quite tasty. I believe a 5 piece serving was $50 . Quite delicious.


Everyone ordered either a blue cheese/tomato/onion salad OR the crab bisque. The salad eaters loved their salads, the bisquers loved the bisque, though all agreed the bisque temperature should have been hotter. We all looked at each other debating about whether to ask them to bring hot soup, then decided against it, just one of those things. If it was just me and my husband I'm sure we would have asked, but with a brig group, well we just didn't.

Entrees were excellent. King crab legs, first of the season, were outstanding. Cooked perfectly and chilled, this was some incredibly tender and delicious crab. I believe the portion (1.5 lbs) was $35. SIL ordered a special chilean sea bass that was cooked with truffle oil, topped with black truffles, maybe a cilantro side sauce of some sort, it looked nice, she's a big truffle fan and enjoyed it a lot. Bro ordered a very large lobster tail, $65 but he said it was great. There was a seared ahi, crabmeat-stuffed sole for dad, and I did a petite filet and lobster tails which were quite tasty. Shared the steak with my hubby and my dad, traded the hubby a lobster tail for a crableg. LOL Our sides were a cauliflower polonaise I think, tasty if nothing excitin, lyonnaise potatoes which were delicious, creamed spinach which was supposed to be garlicky bt were just regular, still very good, and cottage fries (husband's choice). And someone decided they wanted fried asparagus. What a way to destroy asparagus, though it was actually pretty tasty. I just love plain steamed aspar, so I was annoyed.

For wine, my brother is a huge alsatian fan, my husband likes stuff that's easy and my parents are kind of old school, so we had a big spatlese that was sweet but beautiful. It was like drinking nectar, not something I'd keep in the house I suspect but we went through a couple bottles and every sip was really a treat.

Did coffees and desserts, key lime pies for all but my husband who selected boston cream pie that was oustanding. As a part of the anniv gift, my bro ordered a bottle of a 1957 armagnac that we all sipped and let my parents bring the rest home. I thought it was a little sharper than I expected but awesome with the coffee. We offered a glass to the waiter who declined, but asked if we'd consider giving his portion to the sommelier. We agreed of course, but it took the guy a long time to get over to the table, he thanked us but took the glass aside so we didn't get to see his reaction.

Overall it was a terrific meal, not a clunker in the group and everyone was quite pleased. Its a little loud, but it's incredibly busy so it comes with the territory I guess. The manager did finally come to the table, I think we all thought he'd stop by earlier due to the special occasion but he said he'd been watching and saw things were fine. Not used to a $1000+ dollar meal, we were going to split the bill but they wouldn't give the LEYE frequent diner points to one card. Took the points so we can give the folks the certificates when they arrive and thus buy them a few more dinners with the gift. Also noted they added the tip into the bill, I thought that was done routinely with parties of 8 but they did it for 7. We of course supplemented to 20%, our server was quite good and very responsive.

So that's my story, sorry there's no pics, the hubby frowns on that.

http://www.icon.com/joes/Chicago_home.html

If there is a better steak experience in Chicago I have yet to find it(& I have eaten at most of the top steakhouses in the city,pretty much the only one I have missed is david Burke's & they are at the top of the list of would be contenders from what i have heard). My wife, one year old daughter, and myself went for a return trip to Joe's last night, and came away as impressed as ever. Excellent service, and excellent food.

The stone crab bisque is probably the best soup I have ever eaten, rich broth excellent flavors. We went for the 2nd Mortage for an appetizer, and enjoyed the medium stone crab claws, the lobster tail, and shrimp cocktail. The scallop and shrimp ceviche was ok, but I am not a fan of ceviche in general. Since I did not get enough of the stone crabs(I never can), I went withe the 8 oz filet(medium rare), paired with 3 select stone crab claws. the steak was perfect, perfectly cooked, and as tasty as a filet, or a steak not on the bone can be. The select stone crab claws were better than the medium ones on the appetizer platter, and I could have eaten many more than 3. My wife went with the grouper which she enjoyed, I couldnt talk her into getting a steak, but I tried. Tab for dinner, 4 beers, 4 Sauza tres generaciones neat, and an amaretto stone sour with tip was a little over $250. A small price to pay for perfection.

Luckily there was no driving home, we stayed at a friends condo a few blocks away, and hit Greektown for a breakfast of gyros and eggs before returning to our house in the country. I have lived in the Chicago area almost 38 years, and this was probably only the 2nd or 3rd night we have slept downtown. we typicall prefer to get in and out of the city. I love to visit, & work there, but would never live in Chicago.

For those looking for it:

Joe's Seafood Prime Steak
http://www.icon.com
60 E Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 379-5637

I had thought Joe's was still part of the LEYEmpire. But clicking on that icon.com thing reveals that it's now part of some outfit called IConcept, the other holding of which is Krispy Kreme.

If the quality is as high as you say, that may be the reason. Like many LEYE places, Joe's was great at the beginning and steadily marched toward mediocre as time went by. Perhaps IConcept kicked Joe's back up a notch when it bought the place.

eta: Further exploration of the Icon website reveals that Icon owns LEYE! Who knew? (Well, at least, not me.)

riddlemay wrote:eta: Further exploration of the Icon website reveals that Icon owns LEYE! Who knew? (Well, at least, not me.)

I don't think ICON owns LEYE. I think they partnered with them to franchise the Joe's Stone Crab brand.

ICON website wrote:Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab is a partnership between ICON® LLC, Lettuce Entertain You® Enterprises, and Joe's Stone Crab. “ICON was formed to establish partnerships with restaurant icons,” says Gerard Centioli, President of ICON® LLC

I think ICON simply markets concepts and established branding to restaurant management companies.

riddlemay wrote:eta: Further exploration of the Icon website reveals that Icon owns LEYE! Who knew? (Well, at least, not me.)

ICON lists LEYE as a "partner" which is always a pleasantly vague way of describing a business relationship. Hoover's lists LEYE as an independent private corporation.

But here's where it get more complicated. Apparently, Rich Melman is one of 3 founders of ICON and is listed as Founder and Chairman of the Board (the same titles he holds at LEYE). LEYE and ICON also both have the same mailing address on Sheridan.

I don't know, if anything I think it looks like LEYE controls ICON as opposed to the other way around.

jesteinf wrote:But here's where it get more complicated. Apparently, Rich Melman is one of 3 founders of ICON and is listed as Founder and Chairman of the Board (the same titles he holds at LEYE). LEYE and ICON also both have the same mailing address on Sheridan.

Yeah, it seems that Rich Melman, Gerard Centoli and their corporate lawyer formed ICON for the purpose of obtaining certain brand names and concepts from established restaurants. I am sure there is some legal purpose for its existence. I wonder if LEYE plans more such "partnerships". I had no idea they owned the Krispy Kreme brand.

We had a fabulous meal there in October, http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... joes+steak

HI,

Both posts are now merged.

Regards,
Cathy2 for the moderators

d4v3 wrote:Yeah, it seems that Rich Melman, Gerard Centoli and their corporate lawyer formed ICON for the purpose of obtaining certain brand names and concepts from established restaurants. I am sure there is some legal purpose for its existence. I wonder if LEYE plans more such "partnerships". I had no idea they owned the Krispy Kreme brand.

A closer reading of Icon's website notes that neither Icon nor LEYE "owns" the Krispy Kreme brand, which is owned by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. As described there, Icon forms joint ventures with existing brands. For example, Icon and Krispy Kreme established a joint venture called Kremeworks which operates a dozen donut shops under that brand name. Similarly, Icon and the family that owns Joe's Stone Crab established a joint venture called Joe's Stone Crab Development Company to develop non-Miami locations of the restaurant.

There are lots of ways in which business relationships can be structured, including ownership, rights to brand names, cooperative marketing and operating relationships, etc. For example, the Maggiano's Little Italy restaurants were sold by LEYE to Brinker International (owner of Chili's), yet Maggiano's still accepts LEYE gift cards, and still appears in the list of restaurants on the LEYE website.

Yeah, I think this is an important point to clear up. Krispy Kreme is an publicly traded company currently traded on the NYSE under the symbol KKD.

nsxtasy wrote:A closer reading of Icon's website notes that neither Icon nor LEYE "owns" the Krispy Kreme brand, which is owned by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc

OK, so they have "licensed" the Krispy Kreme brandname. Regardless, before now, I did not know that LEYE was associated with Krispy Kreme in any way. It is interesting. Likewise, I also did not know that the LEYE version of Joe's was actually licensed by the Florida original, since, besides the stone crab, they are such completely different types of places.

d4v3 wrote:OK, so they have "licensed" the Krispy Kreme brandname.

Not exactly that, either. Icon and KKD Inc own a joint venture which has a license agreement to use the Krispy Kreme brand name. Just as, if you come up with the franchise fee and business plan to open a Krispy Kreme location, you too could have a license agreement to use the Krispy Kreme brand name.

d4v3 wrote:Regardless, before now, I did not know that LEYE was associated with Krispy Kreme in any way.

They don't. Icon and Krispy Kreme have a relationship, not LEYE. As far as I can see from what's been stated and what's on the websites, Icon and LEYE are separate legal entities, with certain individuals holding major ownership and management roles in both. According to the website, Icon and LEYE are partners of some sort; all that means is that they have an unspecified business arrangement. My guess is that Icon and LEYE will set up a joint venture to run non-Chicago locations of existing LEYE restaurants, the same way Icon and the Weiss family have done for Joe's.

d4v3 wrote:I also did not know that the LEYE version of Joe's was actually licensed by the original.

I assumed that. You can't just open a restaurant using the menu, concept, name, and other proprietary property of an existing restaurant without some kind of legal relationship, usually involving a licensing agreement of some sort.

nsxtasy wrote:Not exactly that, either. Icon and KKD Inc own a joint venture which has a license agreement to use the Krispy Kreme brand name.

Whatever. You know what I meant.

nsxtasy wrote:They don't. Icon and Krispy Kreme have a relationship, not LEYE. As far as I can see from what's been stated and what's on the websites, Icon and LEYE are separate legal entities, with certain individuals holding major ownership and management roles in both.

Again, you know what I meant. Icon only exists as an adjunct to LEYE. They share the same officers and the same offices. Functionally, if not legally, they are the same thing.

nsxtasy wrote:I assumed that. You can't just open a restaurant using the menu, concept, name, and other proprietary property of an existing restaurant without some kind of legal relationship, usually involving a licensing agreement of some sort.

I have not been to Joe's in Miami for 20 years. I honestly did not realize the relationship.

d4v3 wrote:Icon only exists as an adjunct to LEYE. They share the same officers and the same offices. Functionally, if not legally, they are the same thing.

I don't have any personal knowledge of the arrangements between the two, but they can operate as separate companies, using shared office space. It is not the same thing. Not at all.

d4v3 wrote:I have not been to Joe's in Miami for 20 years. I honestly did not get the relationship.

The involvement of the Weiss family in the development of Joe's Steak and Seafood in Chicago was well publicized in the media at that time. (No big deal if you missed it at the time.)

nsxtasy wrote:

d4v3 wrote:Icon only exists as an adjunct to LEYE. They share the same officers and the same offices. Functionally, if not legally, they are the same thing.

I don't have any personal knowledge of the arrangements between the two, but they can operate as separate companies, using shared office space. It is not the same thing. Not at all.

Well, there's really no way to be sure who is right here since we're talking about two private companies. Any speculation about the ownership structure or relationship between the two is just that, speculation.

They might very well be functioning as one company, just set up as two for some reason (legal or otherwise). Or, they could really be completely independent of each other (which I doubt, but again, we just don't know).

I dont really care who is the controlling ownership group in Joe's, all I know is they are one of my favorite places for steak in Chicago.

I will have to go back, since (sorry for repeating myself) the food was no better than OK the last time I was there, two or three years ago. (Whereas it had been very good on the times before that.)

On a related (but still Joe-centric) note, I was mildly distressed the last time we were there (which was summer of whatever year it was) that some customers were wearing polo shirts and shorts. I know it's snobby of me, and I know that dress standards are becoming more casual nearly everywhere, but I don't think that's appropriate for a place like Joe's, and I don't think a place like Joe's should allow it. By allowing it, they redefined what kind of place they are, and not to their advantage. I think they would be smarter, from a long-term business standpoint, to turn away some short-term business in the name of maintaining a general decorum at least somewhat congruous with the ambitions of the food they serve.

Give it another shot, I have had a few great meals this year there, and for comparison sake I have been to Morton's, Saloon, Gibsons, Capital Grill, Keefers, Gene & Georgettis, & Chop House. My top 3 spots for steak are Saloon, Joes, and Mortons. With the above said people are different, and have different tastes, etc. I just know I enjoy it.

I have to agree about a dress code of some sort. I went in the spring, and summer, and ran into the jeans, and shorts wearing crowd. On Saturday there were people with jeans on as well. I myself could, and would never go out to a place like Joe's, or other spots where you are dropping over $100 per person wearing jeans.

jimswside wrote:I myself could, and would never go out to a place like Joe's, or other spots where you are dropping over $100 per person wearing jeans.

Yeah, but some of those jeans may have cost more than your meal.

jesteinf,

good one..

I wouldnt know about that. My jeans are levis, and I wear them to mow the grass, & do work around the house, not go out on the town...

According to their listing on Opentable, the dress code at Joe's is "business casual", which is widely interpreted (at least, in the business world, where it is often defined explicitly) to mean long pants that are not blue jeans (or, for women, skirts/dresses), shoes that are not athletic in appearance (closed toes for men), and, for men, a shirt with collar. Polo shirts are fine under that definition. Shorts and blue jeans are not.

That being said, I sympathize with restaurant owners/managers who have to decide whether to turn away business based upon attire/appearance. It's one thing in a place where a jacket is required for gentlemen, because that is usually stated on their website and information and, nowadays, often mentioned explicitly when making a reservation over the phone. But enforcing a business casual standard is a lot more difficult. (I'm not excusing the individuals who arrive dressed below that standard, and I'm not saying the restaurant should permit "anything goes". I'm just saying that how they go about this issue is tricky and delicate.)

Unless a restaurant expressly requires jackets for gentlemen, then it seems as though the dress code pretty much is interpreted as being "anything goes" (regardless of what it says on a restaurant's opentable.com profile). I'm not saying that it's right, but the line between what is considered business casual (polo and rumpled khakis) and not (polo and bermuda shorts or nice jeans) is blurry enough that few proprietors will ask a paying customer to go home and change.

Anyway, getting back on topic, I seem to keep hearing good things about Joe's (from swsidejim -- on this board and CH -- but also from others). I was wondering if anyone knows how much longer the stone crabs are "in season."

jimswside wrote:I have to agree about a dress code of some sort. I went in the spring, and summer, and ran into the jeans, and shorts wearing crowd. On Saturday there were people with jeans on as well. I myself could, and would never go out to a place like Joe's, or other spots where you are dropping over $100 per person wearing jeans.

There are jeans and then there are Jeans, some of which cost significantly more than some mens suits. I almost always end up wearing jeans to Moto and our bill is far over $100 per person, though that said, I'm not sure I could sit for the tour in a full suit.

Ron A.

Stone crab claws are in season Oct 15th through May 15th. After that Joe's will serve frozen ones as opposed to the freshly flown in variety.

Marekt price was:

Medium (7) claws for $ 26.95
Select (6) claws for $38.95
Large (5) claws for $51.95
Jumbo (3) claws for $ 64.95

jpschust wrote:

jimswside wrote:I have to agree about a dress code of some sort. I went in the spring, and summer, and ran into the jeans, and shorts wearing crowd. On Saturday there were people with jeans on as well. I myself could, and would never go out to a place like Joe's, or other spots where you are dropping over $100 per person wearing jeans.

There are jeans and then there are Jeans, some of which cost significantly more than some mens suits. I almost always end up wearing jeans to Moto and our bill is far over $100 per person, though that said, I'm not sure I could sit for the tour in a full suit.

Agreed. I think in a lot of cases if a restaurant defines their dress code as "business casual", nice jeans with a nice shirt/sweater and potentially a jacket is perfectly acceptable attire. If I'm not sure I just call the restaurant. A hostess can usually give you a better idea of the "real" dress code of a restaurant than Opentable.

So how much do jeans have to cost before they are acceptable?

teatpuller wrote:So how much do jeans have to cost before they are acceptable?

If you have to ask, then it's more than you paid for yours.

I suspect a fair number of customers at Joe's are people shopping in the area and decide to eat there at the spur of the moment. Hence, jeans.

Plus, Joe's is a big tourist destination, and sometimes tourists don't follow the typical dress of a restaurant.

In my experience, you don't see too many of the hipsters wearing $150 jeans at Joe's, as you might at, say, Moto.

^ I'm not sure that the cost of a clothing item, like jeans, is as relevant as whether the wearer looks hip, fashionably dressed and attractive or comes off looking like a slob.

Yes, this thread is way off topic...