CheekyChicago

Tucked away on a little side street on Dickens and Halsted, the Red Rooster is one of the best restaurants in Chicago. With restaurants opening and closing every day, they’re more like windows and doors than dining establishments (get it – windows and doors open and close all the time?). Red Rooster has survived the cold, the off-the-beaten-pathedness and the yuppies of Lincoln Park for 38 years. Count ‘em. 38 years. It’s no wonder: the food is stellar, the wine is great, the ambience is to-die-for and the price…well, it’s perfect.

Walking into Red Rooster is like walking into a small French kitchen in the Paris countryside. Pots and pans, roosters and hens and random doilies adorn the walls. It’s definitely not how I’d decorate my apartment (I prefer Barcelona chairs and sleek couches), but that’s the very reason I love to come here. I feel removed from all of it for a bit.

Red Rooster FO SHO boasts the best deal in Chicago. For $20.09 (catch the 2009 reference), you can order three courses, which includes one of my absolute favorite dishes in Chicago (plus dessert and a salad). It’s the most simple of dishes (who needs complexity when ordering dinner on a Tuesday night?): grilled salmon with a cabernet reduction plated next to a side of fresh, steamed vegetables. Plain and simply, this dish rocks. And, it gets even better. If you’re dining non-solo and your date is a wine drinker as well; for $48, you can each have a three-course meal and a bottle of wine (for both of you!). My mom, with her New Yorker Italian accent would say, sucha deal (sucha being one word).

We’ve already reviewed Café Bernard, which proudly claims the more prominent Lincoln Park real estate (Bernard is on Halsted and Dickens, whereas the Red Rooster is nestled on Dickens behind Café Bernard). But, the two wonderful French bistros share the same kitchen and the same food. I’m not quite sure where the difference lies, other than the fact that the Red Rooster is cozier, homier and, perhaps, a bit less expensive. And, don’t forget, there are roosters on the walls.

I love coming here. It’s the exact opposite of the Cheers-esque philosophy of ‘where everybody knows your name.’ Other than the bartender and servers (who specifically ask you your name), you probably won’t know anyone. And, on a cold winter night when all you want to do is read a good book or converse with an old friend, the Red Rooster is all you need. The service is friendly (and quite attentive considering the fact that there are very few people in the joint), the food is phenomenal (I mean it when I say that this damn grilled salmon is one of my favorite dishes EVER) and the wine is superb (where else can you buy a glass of malbec for $8?).

I’m actually quite hesitant to review this restaurant because, goodness knows, I don’t want to wait in line on a Tuesday to order my $20.09 grilled salmon (with a cup of soup or salad and a dessert). But, the Red Rooster deserves the recognition. So, Red Rooster, keep rocking, never close your doors and go forth and prosper for another 38 years. I’ll see you next Tuesday with a book and a glass of wine in tow.