Good Eats For Cheap

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Finding a good place to watch the big game can sometimes be a challenge. The challenge is finding a place that has a good crowd, plenty of televisions, but most importantly great food and drinks. Chicago has a lot of those places to choose from, but if you just head a little north of downtown, O'Donovan's Pub & Restaurant is the place to be.

O'Donovan's, located in the North Center neighborhood, can attract a large crowd. However, the venue is spacious enough for everyone to get a table or a seat. The food tastes much better than the average pub in town and the cocktail specials are just what you're looking for in this economy. Their menu consists of burgers, sandwiches, paninis, wraps, soups, salads and a variety of appetizers. But they also have hearty entrees such as "Prime Rib", "BBQ Baby Back Ribs", "Brick Chicken" and "Chicken Marsala". The mashed, baked and au gratin potato side dishes alone will have you salivating. O'Donovan's has weekly drink specials. Depending on the day, you can enjoy five dollar martinis, five dollar champagne cocktails, or half off a bottle of wine. There is also a thirty cent wing and two dollar burger and fries night. Their Sunday brunch features an all you can eat buffet for $13.95 that includes an omelette and waffle station. O'Donovan's Easter brunch will increase to $15.95 per adult and $7.95 per kid.

A nice touch that also adds a little entertainment to O'Donovan's is Al James the magician. Al provides 'table-side" magic for guests that includes card, coin and rope tricks. He creates images with balloons for kids, which makes the restaurant family friendly. O'Donovan's outside cafe and beer garden makes it the perfect hangout place during the summer months, which keeps north-siders coming back again and again.

O"Donovan's is located at 2100 W. Irving Park Road. For more information or to make brunch reservations call (773) 478-2100 or log onto www.odonovansbar.com. For more restuarant reviews and to get an inside look at the newest and best Chicago restaurants, watch Fete Select TV on www.efete.net.

Labels: cheap dining, chicago dining, chicago restaurants, cocktails, dc crenshaw, fete select tv, irving park road, o'donovan's pub, sports bars

The Real Deal on the New River North Sports Bar Bull & Bear

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Upscale tends to be the trend in sports bars these days. Or at least the hope is to attract a more sophisticated and trendy crowd that would typically choose a hipper environment to spend their Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights. The new River North sports bar, Bull and Bear, not only lures the hipsters, but attracts businessmen and women during the lunch hour.

The name Bull and Bear obviously recognizes two of Chicago's major sports teams, but also refers to the financial world and appeals to the CBOT crowd. The restaurant has a nice layout and designs, but can get a little too close for comfort when crowded. After talking with a few friends about the menu, I wanted to see if their food matched the upscale vibe. Well, let's just say that it didn't measure up.

The Bull and Bear menu has a ton of starters, salads, main courses, sides and short order options. There are a plethera of burgers and sandwiches to choose from as well as a few non bar food entrees. The "Onion Tower" and "Sweet Potato Fries" were typical. Nothing great, but nothing bad about either dish. The “Lobster Bisque” was deemed to be a signature item and would have been if it wasn't served luke warm. The "Double Cut Grilled Pork Chop" was a little dry and didn't live up to the waitresses billing, but my dining guest really enjoyed his "Pulled Hammy" pork sliders. We were graciously served with a sampling of all of their desserts, which consisted of a chocolate chip cookie draped in vanilla ice cream, cinnamon doughnut holes with three different dipping sauces, peanut butter bread pudding, and a "Thrilla in Vanilla" shake with Filandia Vodka and Godiva Dark Vanilla Royale. They were all savory, but I wouldn't necessarily have paired peanut butter and bread pudding together. The service started off sketchy, due to a mishap with my reservation, but the owner and waitress attempted to make up for it. Don't expect upscale service during crowded nights though, because it is still, however, a sports bar.

A unique feature to Bull and Bear are their 5 premiere booths with Personal Table Taps. Each booth has two taps (1 domestic, 1 import) that dispenses beer, which is recorded on a meter at the table. The goal is to allow guests to pay-as-they-pour and enjoy a no-wait standard of service. This feature should be a big hit for beer lovers.

Bull and Bear has only been open for about 3 weeks, so they may still be working out the kinks. Although they didn't meet my dining experience expectations for what they deem as an "exclusive luxury sports bar", I may give them another shot once the madd rush dies down.

Bull and Bear is located 431 N. Wells St. For more information log onto www.bullbearbar.com

Labels: beer table taps, bull and bear chicago, chicago bars, chicago dining, chicago restaurants, dc crenshaw, fete select tv, luxury, nbc chicago, river north chicago, sports bars