But they’ll stop complaining once they start -x7b3mp:disabled. Join Facebook to connect with Beatrix Mei and others you may know. Purists will inevitably complain that nothing at this restaurant makes any sense. But as I slowly eat a piece of the most decadent caramel pie I’ve ever put in my mouth, I think-just go with it. “Neatloaf?” “Cute banana split?” “Tall, dark and handsome” chocolate cake? These kind of sound like they belong in a mall restaurant. Pretty, large-lettered signs advertising coffee drinks and breakfast pastries line the walls and some menu descriptions are a bit too precious. There are a few obvious tells that you are sitting in a Lettuce restaurant. If that’s not your thing, stick with the all-American wine list or the small, well-curated selection of local craft beers. Cocktails are delicious but universally sweet and fruity.

It’s filled with hanging plants and has a huge open wall, which lets guests enjoy a drink “outside” without actually being bombarded with the diesel fumes coming off Clark Street.īefore you sip, though, be aware: The cocktail program does more to feature the extensive fresh juice program than to provide diners with inebriants. The wine bar, tucked away in a corner, is likely to become one of the most sought-after late summer spots in the city. The pasta with poached farm eggs and truffle is decadent, creamy and utterly non-challenging, the perfect dish after a hard-fought day at work.īeatrix is a cavernous space, complete with two bars, one for cocktails and the other for wine. Even the not-quite-Mexican chili and chocolate glazed salmon, served with corn tortillas and a refreshing smoked almond slaw, has me tearing it apart and building tacos after the first bite. Who cares if every restaurant has them? Order them anyway. The potato salad deviled eggs, blessedly devoid of anything resembling an overbearing truffle, take you back to the summer picnics of your childhood in a single bite. The whole thing comes complete with a shot of one of the restaurant’s signature juices, and if it weren’t so delicious I’d be laughing at its health-food jet-setter tone. The leaves are mixed with celery, mint, romaine, and, in an unlikely-sounding but successful combination, pineapple. Instead of the tired, obligatory kale dish that’s on every menu in Chicago at the moment, this kale salad is fresh and crunchy. Take that kale salad, called the “Emerald City Salad” in Lettuce-speak. Beatrix is a neighborhood coffeehouse, restaurant and meeting place in Chicagos River North, Loop, Streeterville, Fulton Market and Oak Brook neighborhoods. Even better, each dish has a spin that makes it seem a little bit new. Kale salad! Deviled eggs! Vaguely Mexican flavored fish! Savory bread pudding! Quinoa! Each craze has swept the restaurant world in the last few years, and they’re all together at Beatrix, like an awkward family reunion of has-beens.īut as I dig into each dish, I realize that there was a reason that each trend became, well, a trend. These orphans were so delicious that Lettuce boss Rich Melman decided to create a place just for them.ĭespite the restaurant’s slogan, “taste over trend,” in reality each dish could come straight from a food trend roundup.

The latest offering from Chicago restaurant empire Lettuce Entertain You, Beatrix builds a menu mostly of dishes from the Lettuce test kitchen that couldn’t find a home. Could a menu that just seems cobbled together from every food trend of the past five years possibly be good? Hummus (served with naan, rather than pita) is coming out of the same kitchen window as a hamachi crudo with citrus that looks like it’s straight from a sushi bar. Chili-chocolate salmon with corn tacos butts up against a snack of potato salad deviled eggs. When I first glimpse the menu at Beatrix, I’m confused and, frankly, a bit skeptical.

Beatrix on the river