Critics Weigh in on Chop Shop; More

Chop Shop is a fine attempt at turning the traditional steakhouse into a casual affair. Amy Cavanaugh writes that the food is "mostly solidly executed," with items like a shrimp cocktail "cooked just right" and a butcher's board with "delicious" smoky bacon-wrapped country pork pate and "excellent" guanciale. But while the rib-eye is a "substantial" and "affordable portion of meat" that's "cooked perfectly medium and flavorful," misses include "the most boring kale salad [Cavanaugh's] ever had" and a burger that's "dense and heavy." As for the beverage program, the drinks are the "clear highlight," such as the Pompelmo Bite which is "nicely balanced." [TOC]

Mike Sula agrees that Chop Shop is the place to go when you "want a piece of meat, flawlessly prepared, without resorting to bankruptcy or starvation." A kale salad is "almost fluffy in texture" and topped with a soft-boiled egg while a charcuterie board is full of fatty duck rillettes, pancetta-wrapped pork pate, chicken liver mousse and sheets of 'luscious" guanciale. The meats are "simple and effective dishes:" a 16-oz rib-eye with bordelaise sauce; a 10-oz New York strip with béarnaise; a "buttery, bloody," sliced hanger steak garnished with fresh green peppercorns; and a half chicken with its roasted breast is "almost as silky as its sous vide thigh." [Reader]

Brazil Express is the newest Brazilian steakhouse out in Schaumburg and it's "well-worth your time," writes Carolyn Walkup. The meal starts at the salad bar with a "refreshing" tangy black-eyed pea salad before moving onto the "so flavorful" meats. The top sirloin is "luscious" while the chicken leg is "equally delicious, juicy and chargrilled to perfection." For dessert, the "light and fluffy" papaya cream is "especially ethereal." [Daily Herald]