Review: Le Colonial

Where: Le Colonial
City: Chicago, Rush Street
Experience:
SO here is our first tastebudies adventure..yes its a month late...but its here! soo...excuse the spelling mistakes and enjoy!
hhmmmm:) ok so i immediately smiled thinking back to this place. why? because as you will come to find out I am a sucker for great atmosphere, because I know how hard it is to find. UGH...so quaint..so french/carribean and so dimmly lit, i say...yes please...

Aruna's experience Le Colonial in downtown Chicago. January 25, 2007 8:00pm We walked up the inviting windows on a FREEZING chicago night. I had never heard of the place and when I glimpsed at the menu to see if its was an interestesing one and i realize it is basically fancy vietnamese food. I had been craving Pho for weeks now..hmm...Pho..If you haven't had the pleasure of enjoy Pho...I will write about it soon. We go inside and I'm sure my eyes were all googly looking because it was so perfect inside. I am insanely picking about intimate lovely places to take the lovely people in my life and i could and probably will be taking many to this place. There were numerous couples inter-mixed with a couple of large groups. The place looked to seat about 80 people comfortably. We sit down next to a large column (which I will say is the only negative part of the experience..its a little tight in there..but it was cozy) so the staff was attentive, the place was lovely now the FOOD, it was late at night and i didnt feel like eating a whole dinner so I decided to get a couple of appetizers. I started with a monkfish appetizer cause it was the first thing that caught my eye...well i lie..it was actually the chao tom(shrimp wrapped around sugar cane..yummy)...but i had just gotten shrimp the other day..so i got... ca bam xuc banh trang, Wok-seared monkfish with chili, lemongrass, peanuts, & toasted sesame crackers: Now this of course came out the same time that steve's ribs appetizer and compared to those...this looked bland. It tasted pretty good, it was a little oily but tasted warm and was cooked great. I wish the chunks of fish were bigger and had more chili spice to them. I like kick with my food.

Chao Tom Grilled shrimp wrapped around sugar cane, With angel-hair noodles, mint, cilantro, & lettuce, with peanut plum dipping sauce. This was more like it. All the elements were seperate so I could create each bite differently. This is something I would never expect to see on a menu and so inviting for the eyes. I loved it... It definitely made me think of eating sugar cane in pakistan :) its always a wonderful thing to have food jog a wonderful memory...so I woudl definitely order this again. lastly desert! holy lovely banana ok that wasnt the name but it should be...i cant remember that name but we will find out. Holy *!#@...thats how good this was..expleciticily good. It was basically a banana in a fried won-ton with lovely creamy and smooth white/dark chocolate on the rims to roll each bite in. This restaurant trip was worth just the dessert alone. I cant believe how good this was. If you eat here you must get this...the picture alone should sell it for you. Overall I loved this place...i wish we would have known about the bar upstairs just to peek at it. But I know I'll be back so thats ok..I'll save it for another evening. i'm sure steve will have something interesting to say...we had some good laugh there so i'm sure he'll mention something about it looking like a banana republic..please comment :)

Steve's Experience Le Colonial in downtown Chicago. January 25, 2007 8:00pm Le Colonial is a cool little place off Rush St in the heart of downtown. Le Colonial serves upscale Vietnamese food with a ‘french’ flair in a very cool space.- the architecture reminds me of a the typical Banana Republic in an upscale downtown or suburban mall, but with better lighting- tables and chairs… they’ve done a good job of creating an environment… cool photography on the walls that feels like editorial photo journalism that you’d find in life magazine from the 50’s (think French Indo-China) plants- ferns and other large green leafy plants that do well in warm climates- these things wouldn’t last a 10 minute smoke break out in the single digit temperatures of this January night. Le Colonial has mirrors, lots of mirrors… in fact the mirrors take up the bulk of the wall space aside from the window seats. The mirrors ad a more dynamic feel to the space by offering reflections and angles not otherwise seen, and make the room appear larger. The walls are all glossy white- like multiple coats of white paint applied to columns and architecture that dominate Western Europe. Very high dark coffered ceilings (ceilings that are outlined by boxed beams that run perpendicular to each other- think Batman’s library/den ceiling) So overall- a nice environment with low light and the typical soundtrack of an upscale trendy and lively restaurant- indiscernible banter of 50 different conversations along with clinking silverware on plates and a busy and attentive wait staff. Environment: 4 out of 5 stars. The wait staff was informative and busy… moving quickly from table to table. Why is it that wait staff always seems to arrive early for your drink order and then late for your food order? Is it just me? I’m always quickly attempting to thumb my way to the back of the menu- past the wine list to see what beer is ‘on tap’ while the wait staff is standing impatiently over my shoulder- note to guys out there… if the place looks expensive and ‘fancy’ then more than likely the alcohol menu is actually a separate menu from the food menu, as is the case with Le Colonial. I felt rushed and ordered an Amstel Light, which I immediately wanted to take back after the waiter left… Le Colonial has at least 3 beers from Southeastern Asia, and its fun to try something from another part of the world. There’s a good chance that at least one of these beers is the equivalent of Budweiser or Coors Light, but when in Rome… Drinks arrived quickly, followed by the universally rhetorical wait staff question: “would you like to hear our specials tonight?” For the most part…they rattle off the food way to fast for me to follow, always throwing in a few too many obscure or mysterious food elements/garnishes/descriptions for my pedestrian palette… I almost always stick with the menu, because then I’m able to decipher and imagine the food at my own pace. Wait staff: 3 out of 5 stars. We were eating late, so we decided to eat ‘light’- from the starters/appetizers portion of the menu. Aruna ordered some type of fish, while I ordered Suon Nuong, or #5 on the menu: Charcoal baby-back ribs with lemongrass- $9.00 I’m not sure what lemongrass is exactly, but I was pretty sure I could pick it off or separate the ribs from the grass. Aruna is vegetarian- piscatarian to be more exact, (she eats seafood) but barbecue ribs are the one thing she can’t resist- and who can? It always amuses me to watch her take a bite of ribs… its kind of like watching your mom swing a baseball bat once a year at the summer family reunion, or fling a Frisbee… The food arrived quickly (under 10 minutes) I think there is a direct proportional correlation between the more expensive the restaurant, the longer it takes for the food to arrive- regardless of how crowded the restaurant is. As it turned out the lemongrass was nothing more than a small bit of green garnish that was easy to avoid if you’re not too adventurous. I’m always down for barbecue ribs and I think I can discern good ones from ‘ok’ ones. These ribs were easily below standard- what a disappointment. I like my ribs to be hot, spicy, gooey, and falling off the bone, along with a nice crunch of broiled fat at the end of the bone… These ribs looked like they had been sitting under a heat lamp- they were ‘tough’ and the barbecue tasted like it had soaked in the same marinade that all Asian meat is soaked in. It reminded me of the seasoning found in Tai food- that strong flavor that pervades all Tai dishes. I don’t mind this flavor so much, but I find it over-powering- I really can’t tell what type of meat I’m actually eating… is it ‘tough’ chicken?, pork?, or is it steak? The ribs we’re very ‘tough’ and I had to really work at pulling the meat away from the bone- way too dry. On the upside… it was a large portion for an appetizer. I ended up eating all ribs even though I had the distinct sensation of ‘heat-lamp’ with every bite. Aruna took her customary bite and didn’t ask for any more-another indication of overcooked Suon Nuong.

I do appreciate that Le Colonial understands their customer enough that the menu offers numbered food choices next to the Vietnamese name… why is it that Italian restaurants can never seem to do this? I’m always butchering my way thru an Italian menu, and of course the wait staff will quickly (usually before I’ve even completed my attempt) correct all my mispronunciations with an air of ‘worldliness’ as if they themselves have just recently toured Italy on holiday. Yeesh. Hasn’t every man encountered this at some point early in a relationship?, when you’re still trying to impress your mate – that embarrassing dinner moment? For me, it was dropping my napkin on the floor and then having it land awkwardly out of reach from my sitting position on the chair… I would end up groping the floor, while the side of my face was resting on the table surface as my eyes ponder the ceiling (I’m just a human head on a table) as if there is someone or something up there giving me directions… like an overly animated football coach or something. I can only imagine how idiotic I must look to my date as I attempt to communicate extreme concentration by sticking my tongue out of the corner of my mouth or worse, a full-on MJ tongue waggle. I usually would end the prolonged awkwardness and finally surrender what was left of my dignity by sticking my head under the table to visibly locate my napkin while trying desperately to not peer at my dates nether regions, and then striking the back of my head on the underside of the table as I attempted too quickly to produce the napkin, as if I’ve just pulled a rabbit from a top-hat… I feel better sharing that in some odd way. We had originally intended to eat ‘light’ this night, but Aruna’s appetizer was small and unsatisfying, so she ended up ordering another appetizer since ordering a dinner seemed like it would be ‘too much’. She ordered Shrimp with Sugarcane- which reminded her of her childhood in Pakistan- they would chew on Sugarcane as kids… I tried the sugarcane- it was sweet in an earthy way. I’m not big on shrimp… it has an odd texture to me and this shrimp didn’t disappoint. Appetizer/Main course: 2 of 5 stars Finally- desert, quite honestly my favorite course. We decided to share the Wonton Banana with Chocolate sauce… Oh man… this desert saved Le Colonial for me. It was amazing… the fried wonton was large and crispy with enough oil to remind you that it was a richly fried desert. It’s a cross between a crispy spring roll and bananas and chocolate. The chocolate sauce was actually spread over the entire dish and the wonton banana was soaking in it. Once you break thru the crispy outer layer of the wonton, you’ll find a full moist and warm banana inside cut into to halves. This desert was amazing. I had to hold myself back from eating the entire thing. A desert this good is hard to share. The cool thing was that with each bite, there was enough chocolate sauce to saturate each fork-full. It reminded me of eating syrup laden pancakes as a kid. Order this desert. Desert: 5 of 5 stars.