We’re all looking to get quality and value for our money these days. Eating out is no exception.
It’s easy to get seduced by the chic decor at Fred’s, on the top floor of the new Barneys New York on Oak Street: An abstract black sculpture hangs on a white wall, a window to the kitchen is illuminated with flames, and at the bar, wine bottles are displayed in long rows between wood panels.
But when it comes to the cuisine, the fancy Italian labels on Fred’s menu are only that: The food is boring and overpriced.
Italian names make the dishes sound more impressive than they are. And at these prices, you have to play things up—a 14-ounce Florentine-style ribeye steak for two, “Tagliata alla Fiorentina per due,” goes for a whopping $68 (for one, it’s ten ounces, $38). And its accompaniments? Simple Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and broccoli rabe.
We started off with the platter of dried and cured meats and cheeses: Columbus California coppa, soppresata, speck, breesola and parmesan ($18). There were lots of Italian words, but only one cheese. They should change the name to cured meats and cheese, singular. And the one best cheese they could come up with is … parmesan? Dull.
Next came chicken livers with shallots and port wine sauce on crostini ($15). About five chicken livers were lumped on top of two meager bits of crostini and doused with brown sauce. The shallots were missing.
For entrees, the rigatoni with local rabbit in red wine sauce with garlic and rosemary ($17) was seriously under-seasoned. We left more than half on the plate. My ossobuco, with garlic, lemon, parsley and tomato, and white polenta ($26) was tender and well seasoned, but the “white” polenta was yellow.
For dessert, we chose a flourless chocolate cake with raspberries, blackberries and vanilla ice cream ($8), and coffee semifreddo with raspberries and currants ($8). The currants were bitter. There was no ‘wow’ factor.
The service was excellent, as was the people-watching, but you can enjoy both these things at the bar, where there’s also a TV.
Named after Barneys founder Fred Pressman, Fred’s is warming up to serving the full menu from its original location in New York, a city where people pay a lot for a little. That doesn’t go over well in Chicago, and especially not now.
