Has Pasteur really re-opened?

Yesterday I noticed a big banner saying "Grand Opening" above the door of the old Pasteur restaurant at 5525 N. Broadway. The restaurant, which was closed several years ago and had been unoccupied, was in a reconstruction process for the last 4 months.
Does that mean that it is now officially back in business.
That would be good news.

According to the Edgeville Buzz, a neighborhood blog, Pasteur has reopened.

http://www.edgevillebuzz.com/news/welcome-back-pasteur

It took them long enough, considering that it was talked about a year and a half ago in Chicago Magazine.

So are they running both the place on Lincoln and the new one? (I always forget the Lincoln Pk. place's whimsical name...oops. Sorry.)

Urban Daddy ran a piece about the re-opening yesterday.

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mrbarolo wrote:So are they running both the place on Lincoln and the new one? (I always forget the Lincoln Pk. place's whimsical name...oops. Sorry.)

Called Simply It and, yes, as of last Friday, they were very much still in business

I really loved Pasteur and went there fairly often, but before it closed, the price of a meal got pretty stiff. For me, it went from an occasional evening out to a special occasion restaurant. In other words from once every couple of months to a couple of times a year. This was true especially when I considered how many good Vietnamese meals could be had just a few blocks south for the cost of one meal at Pasteur. I always figured that they closed because they priced themselves out of the neighborhood. I think they saw how much Le Lan and Le Colonial were charging, and figured they could get away with similar pricing in Edgewater. Then again, it has been five years, and the cost of dining out has gone up quite a bit since then. I looked it up on Metromix which lists the entree prices as $9-$15, which I just don't believe (but would be nice). I think those prices are probably from 15 years ago. Has anyone seen a menu?

I may be wrong, but I think that David Tran, proprietor/owner of Dung Gia by the Des Plaines train station on Northwest Hwy., used to cook at Pasteur way back when.

Prices around there used to be dirt, dirt cheap. Best deal I ever got was at the SE corner of Broadway & Argyle, at Mekong Restaurant, for their luncheon special. Thin cigar-like egg roll, spicy, saucy lemongrass chicken on a bed of romaine (still haven't had any better-tasting renditions), piping hot rice, and a pot of jasmine tea, all for $2.95. But this was early 1980's.

I tell that to my kids and they say, "...and you walked 10 miles to school, uphill both ways too, Dad!"

d4v3 wrote:it has been five years, and the cost of dining out has gone up quite a bit since then.

In some categories, prices have gone up, but in others, they have held steady or even gone down. For example, there are way more places where you can get delicious food from creative chefs for $30-60/pp now than there were five years ago.

Don't laugh, but in our takeout menu drawer are duplicates from years ago for the same places. Our favorite pizza place charged $15.95 seven years ago for 18 inch pizza. Same pizza in 2012, $16.95.

Mr. X and I had dinner at Pasteur the other night. It is a beautiful space and nicely air-conditioned on a hot summer night. We shared the Bahn Xeo and chicken dumplings to start. I thought the crepe was very well executed. The dumplings were what I expected and wouldn't order again. For my entree, I had the Bo Xao Lan (curry beef, tender beef marinated and sautéed in a light coconut curry sauce with wood-ear mushrooms, angel hair noodles, baby okra. topped with ground peanuts and fresh kaffir lime leaf) and Mr. X had the Com Tay Cam (claypot chicken fried rice, ginger fried rice with chicken, straw mushrooms baked in a clay pot topped with grilled chicken). We both enjoyed our entrees. For drinks, we started with cocktails that I don't recall the names of: something with muddled strawberries for me and a bourbon drink for him. We each had a glass of sparkling wine with dinner.

They should be opening their back patio very soon. Our waiter said it would seat 135. If it is appointed as nicely as the inside, it will be a great place to enjoy a meal. (Beats the sidewalk dining they have on Broadway!)

I suspect you can order a similar meal at Nha Hang Viet Nam Resturant on Argyle, where I am embarassed to say I haven't been yet. Pasteur is elegant and has a nice cocktail and wine list. There are times I'll want the atmosphere of Pasteur and other times I'll want Nha Hang Viet Nam.

GP:

In light of Eric Aubriot's departure, have they dropped the purely French part of the menu, such as the foie gras torchon? We were there a few months ago, prior to Aubriot's leaving Pasteur, and at that point, one could construct an entirely French dinner - NO Vietnamese influence whatsoever - from appetizer through dessert, which I found a little odd.

The space is lovely, isn't it?

sundevilpeg wrote:GP:

In light of Eric Aubriot's departure, have they dropped the purely French part of the menu, such as the foie gras torchon? We were there a few months ago, prior to Aubriot's leaving Pasteur, and at that point, one could construct an entirely French dinner - NO Vietnamese influence whatsoever - from appetizer through dessert, which I found a little odd.

The space is lovely, isn't it?

I don't recall any French dishes on the menu. (I say this with the caveat that I wasn't looking for French dishes.)

At Pasteur last night. Was actually on my way to Loving Hut (BEST vegetarian in Chicago IMO) but it was closed for some reason, so decided to stop by Pasteur on the way down Broadway. I used to be a big fan many moons ago (before original closing.)

Room still has lovely decor, but food was sadly dissapointing.

Ordered Vegetarian spring roll. Had maybe half of the ingredients listed on the menu. Not bad, but nothing special. Dipping sauce was very strong on the fish sauce.

Papaya Salad was actually pretty good. Very fresh. Nice flavors. Shrimp cooked just right.

Tamarind Hot/Sour soup was really really sour. Could have been lemon soup. Tried to temper down the taste by adding some seasoning, but generally not very good.

And that's all we ordered. Maybe just ordered the wrong things, but what we had was really not satisfying.

Only French dish I recall on the menu was a Bouillabaisse.

In-laws are coming for a visit in a couple of weeks and have requested a meal here. They remember a fantastic dinner we had at the former location 15 years ago when we lived in Andersonville, were able to walk to the location, and were semi-regulars.

We've moved further west, haven't been to the newer location, and just feel like there are so many other places that would be better choices. I think they are going to be disappointed because it won't live up to their memory.

Anyone been recently that can either confirm or refute my position on this?

We've moved further west, haven't been to the newer location, and just feel like there are so many other places that would be better choices. I think they are going to be disappointed because it won't live up to their memory.

I'd give it a go. The food is very good, as is the service, and it's absolutely drop-dead gorgeous inside.

Thanks, sundevilpeg for your response.

We did go for dinner this past Wednesday evening. As you stated, the room is lovely and the service was excellent. However, we found the food pretty average. Maybe we ordered wrong. My MIL loves rice paper rolls so as appetizers we got a few varieties to share along with the shrimp paste/sugar cane skewers. The latter used to come with roll-your-own rice papers, rice noodles and tons of fresh herbs. These came simply with some lettuce and a couple of veggies. I thought the rolls were a tad dried out. The plum sauce helped.

My entree was perhaps a bad choice on my part but I am a pescatarian who was not in the mood for seafood so I tried their tofu sa te. It was dry, not particularly flavorful, and consisted mostly of sliced onions and green bell pepper. Others enjoyed their entrees more than me, but nothing was really deemed particularly interesting or special.

In the end, I felt like if they REALLY wanted French Viet cuisine we should have just shelled out the cash for Le Colonial where we've never been disappointed. Or just BYOB'd at any number of quality Thai joints.

They do have a nice wine list and I could see how it would be enjoyable, especially in warm weather, to relax with a drink in that space.

We had an enjoyable meal last night on Pasteur's lovely back patio. We shared shrimp spring roll, Saigon crepe, shrimp papaya salad, ginger chicken clay pot and Cochinchin noodles (thick rice noodles, with shrimp, chicken, scallions and bean sprouts). We enjoyed the ginger chicken the most. Excellent flavor. The noodle dish was also tasty. The apps were decent, but nothing outstanding. I thought it interesting that all bottles of wine (except for the sparklers) were priced at $35. The online menu does not reflect that.

I'm interested if others have been recently. This is our second visit in the last couple of months and we've enjoyed it both times. It's a higher price point than other Vietnamese spots, but it's also fancier than others. That's been okay with us.

any recent visits/feedback?

Pasteur in Edgewater has permanently closed.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... ater&ifg=1

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ronnie_suburban wrote:Pasteur in Edgewater has permanently closed.

Not so fast. I think they have taken on another life. Their website now references Simply Pasteur, which corresponds to signage that I've seen in passing. I'll try to get the dog to walk that direction so I can take a photo.

https://www.simplypasteur.com/menu