Restaurant 6 - Fork

Restaurant 6 - Fork

Saturday, April 20, 2013 – Lincoln and Wilson in Lincoln Square

So as we continue through this, I am really realizing that we are on a dual track:  to document our fun at attending 40 games and to make sure we don't do any repeat restaurants.  So we'll see how close we are to both 40 games and 40 restaurants.  Fun! 

On Saturday, Kevin and walked over to Lincoln Avenue to see what we could find for dinner and watching the Hawks game.  We stopped in to Bad Apple, and I couldn’t believe how mobbed it was.  It was around 7:30 and probably 3 deep at the bar.  We moved on.  All the places seemed really crowded.  We didn’t want bar food, but something a step up.  And we wanted a tv.  We ended up at Fork, which was also very crowded.  We saw that a couple was paying and so we hovered behind them to grab their bar stools.  Good thing – right after we sat down, it was probably 2 deep behind us. 

Fork bills itself as a craft brew and wine bar, and they had flights of both beers and wines.  We ordered a bottle of French Bordeaux which was very good.  We ordered some charcuterie (Spanish sausages and Spanish cheeses), while waiting for Heather and Wigs.  By the time they arrived, we managed to grab one more seat right next to Kevin, and things started to clear out a little.  Next bottle of wine we ordered was a Tempranillo (to go with our Spanish charcuterie J).  Wigs ordered some kind of beer – it was dark, so maybe a stout? 

For dinner, I ordered popcorn crusted Halibut with fava beans.  It was too salty, and the fish was actually kind of stringy.  Weird.  Kevin ordered Macaroni and Cheese, and he thought it was kind of “bleh”, which I took to mean bland.  Heather ordered tomato soup and a small Mac and Cheese.  And Wigs ordered mushroom soup and Shrimp and Grits.  I like how the serve the soup, where they bring you a bowl that has stuff in it like croutons, mushrooms, etc. and then pour the soup in from a separate carafe.  Unfortunately, Heather’s soup wasn’t hot, and Wigs’ was lukewarm.  He said his Shrimp and Grits were good, but it’s hard to screw that up. 

Overall, like the mac and cheese, the place was “eh”.  I’d probably come back for a wine or beer flight and charcuterie, but not for dinner.  Here is what Heather had to say:

Yeah, I guess tasteless is probably a good word (for the Mac & Cheese). It was pretty blah for pasta & I really like pasta. The soup was cold and not really that good at all. It takes a lot for me to not like tomato soup. I even like canned campbell's tomato soup, so I don't think it's hard to please me in this category...would it have been good if it had been hot? Not sure, but it seems like a simple soup to me, how do you screw this up? How many times has this place changed hands/names? Wasn't it just Fiddlehead (?) over the winter? Now it's Fork, but with the same (essentially the same) menu? I like the big beer/wine list...I guess you can serve mediocre food if your place is packed every weekend night.

Wigs said neither places from the last two nights would be restaurant #41. 

Next weekend, Kev & I are going to NY for cousin’s son’s First Communion.  We are staying in the city on Friday night (near World Trade Center) and my goal is to try and go to Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo.  Jimmy – if you’re reading this, let us know if you want to meet up!  We get in late – 9:00 to La Guardia.  Sat night, we’ll be at Cousin Tess’s in Riverdale area of the Bronx.  After that, we’ll be back to baseball on April 29^th!