Well, we tried one of the hot, new restaurants in Chicago: Sable at the new Palomar Hotel. It has been trending high on Urbanspoon, as well as written up in Chicago Reader and Time Out Chicago. So, I called and got a table after work, and off we went on Friday evening.
The Palomar is a Kimpton Hotel, and the executive chef, Heather Terhune, was responsible for the Atwood Cafe, down the street at The Burnham, another Kimpton property. I’ve eaten at the Atwood a couple of times, and always enjoyed it. However, the whole executive chef idea makes me nervous in general, since the organizational structure removes the chef from the stove. I believe that my suspicions in this regard are justified, for reasons I will now provide.
The place looks hip when you walk through the door: dark wood, faux suede fabrics, cork, and some funky 70′s wallpaper above the kitchen. Contemporary with a touch of retro. Nice, but nothing earth-shattering. 
What was an immediate turn-off was the mirrored surface behind our booth. For those unfortunate enough to sit in the chairs, the effect was more disconcerting than having the wrong prescription in your eyeglasses (see photo.) That blob to the right of Laura? That’s me, taking the picture. And believe me, this is compounded as the drinks flow. I’m not sure who came up with that idea, but I’m pretty sure they haven’t eaten in the restaurant.
I can echo the review from the Chicago Reader: this seems to be more of a cocktail place than anything. Even though I could not secure a table at 7:00, when I arrived at 6:30 the restaurant was basically empty. It did eventually fill, but there wasn’t much of a hurry.
I started with a cocktail called The Bridal Shower, which combined vodka, rhubarb syrup and Campari. It was good – a commendable mix – but I was definitely not in the mood for it, and switched to a glass of Cerdon du Bugey. The wine selection seemed pretty good, albeit a bit pricey. But hey, it is downtown Chicago. An Argyle Pinot Noir was a good complement to my dinner.
The food was really inconsistent. We started with mussels in broth and found a number of them were spoiled. Otherwise they were good, but nothing special. My scallion hush puppies were like eating plain corn meal they were so dry. And the girls order deviled eggs – not my favorite – and both agreed they were only passable. Again, nothing special. That was followed by a delicious tomato cucumber salad, dressed in a tomato vinaigrette and topped with roasted peanuts. Sandi and I had flatbreads for dinner: mine a glazed pork belly and hers a mushroom and asparagus combination. They were both tasty but mine left me feeling heavy after eating just half of it.
The most disappointing aspect of the evening was the service. It was really inattentive. In fact, I would call it a deal-breaker and it will keep me from trying Sable a second time.
Back to my initial assertion, I think Sable really suffered from execution issues. Whether that is due to the absence of the chef, or just the absence of simple passion, I didn’t get the feeling that anyone was invested in creating a great dining experience. That, coupled with the fact that it wasn’t cheap, pretty much insures that my future efforts will be finding other places to patronize.
