One Sixtyblue

1400 W. Randolph St.
Chicago
312.850.0303

I went into this restaurant with high expectations, mainly because I had heard many rave reviews and also because of how pricey it was. (Note: expensive doesn't necessarily equal good.) The atmosphere was very spacious and modern, and the service was impeccable...however, I was not too impressed with the food. (Maybe I went on an off-night, who knows?)

Let's start with the appetizers: We got the scallop app, which was $16. It had only 2 large scallops with a lot of little garnishes. The scallops were fresh and tasty, but I thought they overdid it with all the garnishes. It seemed that there were just too many flavors that were mixing. We also got an ahi tuna dish that was good, but again overdone with the garnishes. For my main dish, I got the steak delmonico. The first bite was divine...so tender and fatty. But then, bite after bite was just fatty. I know it is supposed to be a more "fatty" cut/type, but it was fat overload! I actually like the fatty parts, usually but not for the whole steak! (Note: the steak was huge! That is one good thing about the $36 entree!) And then we got a couple of desserts: the black and white creme brulee and a chocolate souffle. Those were decent...don't know if they were great since I am not a huge dessert fan.

Overall, the place was nice, trendy and upscale. It would be a good place to impress someone on a date or a business dinner. To me, if you are not paying for it--try it. If you are, you probably could spend your pennies elsewhere and get a better meal for less.

Fan Si Pan

1618 W. Chicago Ave.
312.738.1405
Vietnamese

I have been wanting to try this place for awhile now since I love spring rolls and I thought the concept of a spring roll-based restaurant was interesting. Well, I tried it for lunch one day and let me tell you, I was truly disappointed. Maybe this was because I have eaten real pho up at Argyle and other authentic Vietnamese restaurants. The pho was horrible! (I know that it is not a dish that they are "known" for, but I figured I had to try it.) It was watered-down beef broth with tiny scraps of beef, thin rice noodles and some green onions. I don't know if people who haven't even tried real pho would consider it good!
I also tried the tempura fried green beans. These were ok--the tempura batter was good, however a little too thick. The wasabi sauce that you dip it makes the appetizer decent.

Let's get into the spring rolls. They have a handful of different varieties of spring rolls, which you can get either rolled the traditional way or deconstructed in a salad. I opted to try the traditional shrimp roll with shrimp, mint, basil, rice noodles, and bean sprouts wrapped in a rice shell. The spring roll is huge and loosely wrapped, which to me, was too hard to eat. I like my spring rolls wrapped tight so you can get all the ingredients in one bite without losing anything. There was nothing really special about the roll and I had a really hard time not being able to dip my roll into my favorite hoisin sauce with peanuts. (What kind of Vietnamese restaurant doesn't have hoisin sauce at the table?) Although, I have to admit the main thing that was good about this place was that they had some other tasty sauces: chile-lime garlic sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and wasabi sauce for the green beans. Oh, and that they had wet-naps at the tables. That is always a plus!

I would not go back there if I wanted Vietnamese. I would go the extra mile up to Argyle street where you can find good Vietnamese food.