Publications: Counsel's Table: Custom-made

Those people with the clothes are always in my building. You know, the ones with the blue garment bags who call you to sell you their custom-made shirts and suits. So I tried them. It turns out custom stuff is a little more expensive and takes so long that you forgot what you got, but it is seriously great stuff. It's a nice way to buy clothes, but not so much for food.

Custom House Tavern is in the very cool Blake Hotel in Printers Row. It is a bright and airy space with a sleek modern feel that manages to be warm and inviting, too.

First impressions matter and here they were great ones. We were welcomed by people who seemed genuinely happy that we had come, and apologized for not having valet parking but gave us a piece of paper to put on the dash that let you park on the street without towing worries. Nice. We were walked to a table that wobbled, and then another one that didn't. Wobbly table, magic parking pass - sort of precursors for the whole experience, which was really nice, but a little bit off balance, like a family in an Ann Tyler novel.

The lunch menu is not extensive, but is pretty interesting. Some things were great, some not so great. The chilled watermelon and tomato gazpacho was tremendous. Served with a few medium-sized poached shrimp, it was cool and fresh with an aftertaste of spice and garlic that made you want the next spoonful. It was an inspired combination.

Then there was the sweet summer corn soup. This is what you would come up with if you were on "Iron Chef" and popcorn was the secret ingredient. Basically it was creamed corn with some popcorn tossed in. Interesting idea, but it didn't work because it tasted like creamed corn with popcorn tossed in it. The farm lettuces were a nice baseline salad, with huge blackberries, generous samples of goat cheese and sprinkled with pistachios. Good, local and fresh ingredients served up cleanly without adventure or drama. Perfect.

The chicken liver terrine is also in that category - a nice portion of creamy chicken liver with house-made tangy and garlicky pickles and tiny chopped pickled rhubarb.

After what seemed like several hours, we got our entrees. Not sure why it was so slow, but it was, painfully so. Entrees tried a little too hard, but again, you gotta like a chef who isn't afraid, and Perry Hendrix appears to be fearless.

Best in show went to the roasted mushroom tartine, served open-faced with a blend of wild mushrooms over tart arugula and herbed ricotta. Buttery and delicious, this is a vegetarian dish that meat eaters will love.

Custom House's take on the BLT was, on the other hand, a swing and a miss. This version includes heirloom tomatoes and arugula on bread that was way too crumbly to stand up as a sandwich and crispy cured pig's head instead of bacon. Take note here: The reason that bacon is delicious meat candy and they don't stock cured pig's head at Dominick's is because bacon is way better than cured pig's head.

They ran out of the roasted farm chicken and the Lake Superior walleye, so we tried char served over lemon polenta and summer beans. It won for the prettiest dish on the table but, like a lot of pretty things, it didn't live up to its looks. The char was good, roasted crisp on the outside and tender inside, a little rare for my taste, and served over a bed of gloopy polenta, which was disappointing. But hey, the mushrooms dotting the plate were great. Wherever these folks buy their mushrooms, they need to keep the farm on retainer.

Reuben sandwiches are, in my family, a test mark of any restaurant. Done properly, they are a shockingly delicious combination of tastes and textures that someone once had the vision to put together, or maybe that was all that was left in the fridge. But, like the BLT, if you screw around with a classic, lots of times you don't improve it. This is one of those times. The marbled rye (not pumpernickel) wasn't substantial enough to hold up to a sandwich that, by definition, is going to be a little sloppy. The corned beef was good, not great, and the gruyere (not Swiss) fell pretty flat. The "chow-chow" was just silly. This is yellow pickled relish stuff, a very poor substitute for sharp crunchy sauerkraut. On the bright side, it was real Russian dressing and the fries were among the best in town.

The dessert menu looked great. Too bad we didn't get to try any of it because we sat for about 20 minutes watching our waiter chat with his buddies instead of offering the next course. No worries though; the time was well-spent watching the other server iron the tablecloths on the other tables. Seriously, pulled out an iron, plugged it in and ironed the tablecloths. Even Ann Tyler characters don't do that.

This is a Printers Row place that should get nothing but better. The space is great, the management warm and friendly and the chef worth watching. A little hit-and-miss right now, but should become more hit than miss with a little time. And I really didn't mind the ironing; it added a little oddball flair.

Pleadings:

Custom House Tavern
500 S. Dearborn St., Chicago
(312) 523-0200
Court costs:
Appetizers: $10 - $16
Entrees: $18 - $36
Verdict: Two gavels

Reprinted with permission from Law Bulletin Publishing Company