Chicago Sun-Times: Double your pleasure

Butterfield 8

***

713 N. Wells

(312) 327-0940

3-COURSE DINNER: about $32 before tax and tip

HOURS: 5 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Sunday-Thursday: 5 p.m.-2:30 a.m. Friday- Saturday

WHEELS: valet ($10); wheelchair accessible

TRY: mussels, turtle soup, baby lamb chops, shrimp de Jonghe, beef Wellington, triple chocolate cake

TIPS: The scene is eclectic nightclub, but the food is as solid as can be. The noise level is way up there, the atmosphere is party festive. Service is top-drawer, efficient and knowledgeable. Decent but not extravagant wine list. Specialty cocktails are the big deal here. Not good for children. Reservations recommended, but a good place to drop in for a late-night supper. Dress is upscale casual.

IN A BITE: It is good to see Chicago restaurateur Demetri Alexander back in the saddle. His retro restaurant featuring Chicago classic dishes is appealing and fun in every way. It is bold, noisy at times, but it is an enjoyable, fun place to be. Even better are all of those reasonably priced steak and seafood dishes.

I called at about 6 p.m. "I would like to make a reservation for tomorrow night," I said to the young lady who answered the phone at Butterfield 8, the hot new restaurant-cum-nightclub in town.

"Sorry, but we only take reservations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.," she answered.

"If you want to make a reservation for tomorrow night, you will have to call back between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. tomorrow. I don't even have the reservations book in front of me."

This is the way indefatigable Demetri Alexander does it. He has a style all his own. How many entrepreneurs would, over the course of a few years, close and open a restaurant (Lola's Club Roulette) in the same space (while in between, another restaurant called Savarin opened and closed in short order)? Talk about ghosts of restaurants past, not to mention chutzpah. I mean this building at 713 N. Wells has been gutted so many times it must think it is part of some horror movie.

Butterfield 8 (the name spins off the 1960 film of the same name, a film noir of sorts starring Elizabeth Taylor) may be suffering from an identity crisis: Am I a restaurant or a nightclub? It doesn't seem to matter one iota here. The gang of celebs and pols and you and me who are flocking here do not seem to care one bit. What difference does it make, anyway? The idea is to have a good time. People here are having fun, and it has been a while since I have seen that going on in a restaurant.

It is a gamble, to be sure, but then Alexander, who works the downstairs and upstairs dining rooms with the speed of a roadrunner and the elan of a club impresario, has never been timid about rolling the dice when it comes to the food/nightclub/party scene. And in the process, over the years of opening this restaurant or that, he always seems to bring along his favorite chef, Ziad Mansour (he was the chef at The State Room on N. State Parkway, now named Twelve 12).

Before getting into the food, a word about the decor: exciting! (Noted designer Laura Pedian designed the interior.) The floor is fluid lighting, a panoply of soft colors that changes as the evening wears on. Then there is the bar, a magnificent piece of metalwork and granite that takes up about half of the right side of the dining room. Speaking of metal, the massive, spiderlike chandelier that dominates the ceiling downstairs is a work of art (rescued and restored from a '50s ballroom). The upstairs dining/party room is straight out of a sultan's harem.

The atmosphere may be nightclub, but the food is solid restaurant. The menu is well thought out in every respect. Steaks, chops, seafood and salads are the major food groups--pretty basic stuff. However, within each of those categories, Butterfield 8 manages to recreate a number of classic dishes, so there is a retro feel to the menu, and that to me feels really good. And what makes me feel even better are the exceptionally reasonable prices up and down the menu.

Did I say "retro"? When was the last time you saw chilled tomato juice listed as an appetizer on a menu? Wisconsin supper clubs that are caught in a time warp still offer it, but to us city folks this is a real eye-opener.

I suggest you start off with a handsome bowl of "Binyon's World Famous Turtle Soup." Served with a cruet of sherry for zapping up the flavor (a tablespoon is enough to do the job), the soup was as good as I remember it from a time or two that I had it at Binyon's, a Loop dining legend for quite a few years.

A more substantial opener would be the incredibly delicious baby lamb chops, a feast that was part of the daily specials list a few weeks back. Four meaty, thick, flavorful chops were "Frenched," the outside crusty from the broiler, the center perfectly pink, and the prevailing flavor a pleasing hint of oregano. And talk about a deal-- price is just $8.95.

Mussels make it big time here, too. A bevy of plump beauties stacked and racked in a bowl, steamed with white wine, the pink meat flavorful and pleasing. I saw more than a few people at the bar enjoying the mussels.

If retro is riding the trend train, then one of its most important passengers is beef Wellington. Prime filet of beef was smeared with a thin layer of foie gras, wrapped in puff pastry and baked. The trick to this dish is to cook the beef to the right temperature. This one was right on the money, as in perfectly medium rare. The beef was wonderfully tender, enriched by a smear of pate (ordinarily a duxelles--a paste of mushrooms and shallots--gets into the act) between the pastry and the filet mignon. A very nice mushroom red wine sauce pulled it all together. One of the best Wellingtons I have had since the days of the famous Lincoln Avenue Bakery Restaurant.

And yet another classic, the famous shrimp de Jonghe (it originated at Jacques', a Chicago restaurant run by the de Jonghe brothers). Shrimp got a treatment of butter, garlic, bread crumbs and sherry. Baked until just bubbly, the shrimp infused with a ton of flavor, it all resulted in a simple seafood dish that flowed with good taste.

Now comes the deal of the century. On the specials list one night, for a fixed price of just $15.95, I indulged royally on a plump and meaty boneless chicken breast enhanced with a lemon butter sauce, with capers and artichoke hearts adding even more texture and flavor. Decent roasted potatoes were part of the deal, and so was the Alexander salad (mix of lettuces with a garlic dressing and crumbled feta), and so was the dessert, a big ball bonanza of vanilla ice cream rolled in shredded coconut and sluiced with streaks of chocolate sauce (called the "coupe snowball"). A meal deal quite extraordinary.

I can highly recommend the coupe snowball. On the other hand, if you are a chocolate cake fan, then the "triple chocolate layer cake" is for you. A massive wedge (plenty for two to share) of layers of chocolate cake, white and dark chocolate mousse, fresh raspberries and chocolate sauce. Delicious.

Pat Bruno is a local free-lance writer, critic and author.