Porto - Galician seafood in West Town

Anyone been? There's been a lot of hype, so I'm curious.

=R=

1600 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 600-6338

We went! It is curious and interesting. Two full menu pages of imported tinned seafood served straight in the tin; plus two pages of composed dishes featuring fresh seafood, house cured seafood, and tinned seafood.

We ordered composed dishes: uni toast, galician stew, razor clams, hake rillette, baccalao dumplings, roasted romanesco.

While there is some cleverness and some tastiness, with 1 exception (rillette, which was excellent) the dishes were just unbalanced - not enough brightness, not enough texture. The uni was drowned out by soft brioche and (unpleasantly cold) cauliflower puree. The galician stew was one note and uniform texture. The razor clams were fine but served atop seriously mushy canned white asparagus. The baccalao flavor was muted to begin with, and then served in a rich egg yolk cream. It is a funny concept: a pricey, fancy place centering canned food - and there just needs to be greenery and citrus and crunch to liven things up.

Notably, there is only 1 vegetable dish on the entire menu (no sides of veg, no salads), and it was cooked to almost mush and in a very oily preparation. The menu desperately needs a bright, acidic, crunchy salad, but the individual dishes also need balance.

Our tab with these dishes, which is 5 starters and 1 main, and 4 drinks, was $225 pre tip, so not cheap either.

The place was pretty busy, and the decor is over the top, so it is kind of an experience.

annak wrote:We went! It is curious and interesting. Two full menu pages of imported tinned seafood served straight in the tin; plus two pages of composed dishes featuring fresh seafood, house cured seafood, and tinned seafood.

Thanks, for the detailed notes. I appreciate them. The focus on the tinned seafood kind of reminds me a wee bit of Quimet y Quimet in Barcelona, though, Q&Q is masterful at it and famous for it.

Made a reservation for later this month and am deciding whether to see it through or nuke it. I haven't been impressed by any of their other spots, so that's factoring into this decision, too. But again, the details you've provided here are really helpful. Maybe a drink and a bite or two -- rather than a full meal -- is the best way to proceed. Gonna mull this over for a bit. Thanks again.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Made a reservation for later this month and am deciding whether to see it through or nuke it. I haven't been impressed by any of their other spots, so that's factoring into this decision, too. But again, the details you've provided here are really helpful. Maybe a drink and a bite or two -- rather than a full meal -- is the best way to proceed. Gonna mull this over for a bit. Thanks again. =R=

In the same, uh, boat as you, Ronnie: later-this-month reservation, skepticism given middling meals at other restaurants in the group. It was Mike Gebert's profile on Fooditor that nudged me towards that reservation: the chef is drawing from Josh Niland's techniques and seems to be committed to sourcing preparing seafood at a high level. We'll see.

Wixter stocks a decent selection of tinned items for a make-at-home version:

https://www.wixtermarket.com/product-category/tinned/

annak wrote:Our tab with these dishes, which is 5 starters and 1 main, and 4 drinks, was $225 pre tip, so not cheap either.

Wowee!

We had drinks and apps at Beatnik maybe a couple years ago. I loved the interior, my wife thought it was a bit much. Really liked some cocktails, others just OK. Thought the apps were just OK. Didn't think the tab was commensurate with what we received, but they have a lot invested there. FWIW this wasn't recent, things may have really improved. We live not that far from here and pass by frequently and they seem to be doing well, weekends are hopping.

The Yelp reviews are all over the place....

I second Wixter for premium tinned conserves. Excellent selection.

spinynorman99 wrote:Wixter stocks a decent selection of tinned items for a make-at-home version:

https://www.wixtermarket.com/product-category/tinned/

I believe that's the same brand that Fahlstrom's sells, both for dine-in and retail.