Vettel Revels in Luxury at Margeaux Brasserie and More Reviews

Celebrity chef Michael Mina’s first restaurant in Chicago, Margeaux Brasserie, is a splendid success according to Phil Vettel. Inspired by 1920s Paris, the food is “delicious, indulgently rich and often oversalted.” Sweetbreads over pureed fennel, and steak tartare with quail egg, are “two classics done simply and flawlessly.” Duck breast with cognac jus is “unassailable” while the $52 lobster bouillabaisse is the “best thing on the menu” and worth the cost. Sweet treats include a show-stopping chocolate macaron that’s “the sort of Instagram-worthy dessert one hesitates to eat, for fear that the first intrusion will wreck the visual effect.” Overall, the price of admission “may be Gold-Coast high, but superb quality and hefty portions ease the sting.” [Tribune]

Daisies has “popped out of the ground already in full bloom,” Jeff Ruby writes. Chef and owner Joe Frillman has created a menu that’s “in harmony with the charming ambiance.” Creamy burrata with peas and pea shoots, mint leaves, spring onions, and a sweet-tangy vinaigrette is a dish Ruby would order every time, while a composition of charred leeks “liquefies on your tongue and leaves a gentle, earthy impression.” The pastas are “among Chicago’s best.” Toothy tajarin is “brilliantly counterbalanced” by chicken cracklings and roasted asparagus, and beet agnolotti is a delicious spectacle. Like its homey space, this new Logan Square spot is a charmer. [Chicago]

Blue Door Farm Stand promises a rural oasis but offers “the kind of uninspired conventionality that should frighten more intrepid eaters.” The “heart-stoppingly sized” salads that make up the core of the menu taste “limp, soft, sapped of crunch and vitality, as if it could’ve been picked on somebody else’s farm, far, far away.” A shrimp-and-scallop ceviche is “suspiciously devoid of acid or chile heat” while a “murky brown, mushroom rich soup” described as pho “resembles nothing like any bowl you’ve ever had.” There are some noteworthy dishes: Honeydew and watermelon tossed with string and shell beans, black lentils, and feta is a “multisensory composition that slays those vegetative leviathans on the menu.” The “hot and gooey” burger is also a good one that “will put you in a stupor.” Despite the restaurant's attempts, the “rural fantasy is convincing only so far as you’re willing to be convinced.” [Reader]

Bin 36 has “grown more casual and more affordable, savvily tapping into what diners are demanding.” Graham Meyer tries the lunch menu from recently-departed chef Angelina Bastidas and finds that quality “leans more positive than negative.” Salmon with crisped skin and a side of farro and dressed greens “merits its price,” while the pork cracklins share plate delivers three “zippy” lettuce-wrapped tacos of pig-ear-like fried strips with chili peppers and onions. A “memorable and fascinating” cheese flight is also worth ordering but misses include a “clunker” of a chicken sandwich featuring “bland breading on dull meat” and a “crumbly, soggy biscuit that lack[s] the structural integrity to be lifted.” Bin 36 may be “less a wow than a yep,” but it’s still a solid midday spot. [Crain’s]