814 West Randolph Street
Chicago IL 60607
USA
Tel: +1 312 455 8114
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, October 25th
The Victim: Niculie
The Damage: $25 each, USD. Yes, we ate like kings for roughly 25 quid. (I basically factor the Bush Factor at $2 per gbp. It's probably more like $1.87 per gbp, but I don't carry a calculator.)
The Background: We'd been up since 3:30 a.m. London time Wednesday "morning." That's 9:30 p.m. Chicago time–Tuesday evening. We'd slept two or three hours on an eight-hour plane ride, landed in Chicago at 10:30 a.m., worked all day, and were, frankly speaking, exhausted. And very very hungry.
Renee recommended De Cero, a new place on Randolph Street–Restaurant Row in Chicago. We made the trek over, laptops and all, to a very, very dark dark restaurant with what seemed like endless rows of very tall chairs. You can see the chairs on the Web site in the photo on the right. There was no entranceway. I would never want to go here on a very cold Friday night because there's probably nowhere to wait except on top of people who are eating.
Drinks and Starters: We were shown our table and quickly placed margarita orders and an order for chips and salsa. The chips were GREAT, although hard to see in the darkness. And the green salsa was DELICIOUS (at least, I think it was green). I don't know what was in it, but boy was it good. We selected the hibiscus margaritas because they sounded pretty. Well, they arrived with what looked like dead flowers in them. Black, dead flowers. Yuk. I regretted my decision and wished for a simple on-the-rocks-with-salt. Bummer.
The Tacos: We each ordered a couple of tacos at $3 or $4 each. I went for skirt steak–delicious–chipotle chicken–good–and al pastor (pork)–good. And I ordered a side of pinto beans, one of my fave dishes in the entire world. Most people find refried beans a little gross, but NOT ME. (Did anyone else noticed that Taco Bell totally reduced the size of their Pintos and Cheese side a couple of years ago?) The De Cero pintos were heavenly. They had bacon in the them. I was sad that I was staying in a hotel and could not bring the rest home with me.
The Service: We delighted in the never-ending free tap water with ice. And the server who stopped by every so often to see how things were. Efficient and friendly. Good stuff.
The Verdict: Turn the lights up a notch! I'd go back, but would probably order differently. There are more delicious tacos to be had!
