Union Sushi & BBQ, Near North

Right. So this post won’t make me any friends. Because here you have two guys who have done the hard thing…not only have the opened up a restaurant, but they’ve opened up a restaurant in a RECESSION. And it’s not a small restaurant. It’s a big one.

The guys behind Union Sushi & BBQ run a fun and popular blog, detailing the whole process. They’re great on Twitter. You want to love them. You do love them, because you feel like you know them. In fact, everyone does love them! You can see post after post on Twitter of people going to Union Sushi & BBQ over and over again.

But I don’t really know the guys behind Union. I’ve never met them before today. I’m not a professional restaurant critic. And I’ve only eaten three things on the menu, so it’s tough to argue my experience is representative of the menu as a whole. What I’m saying is…no one should really take me seriously, and never *overestimate* the power of this blog.

I order a salad to start because I’m trying to be good these days, really. It has frisee lettuce in it. This is totally my problem but I just can’t get down with frisee. It’s not my thing. It’s also totally my problem because the menu states very clearly…

baby arugula, tomato, frisée, red onion, yuba, tofu crouton, micro-greens + yuzu dressing

Let’s talk about the tofu crouton. I am a lover of all things tofu. But this tasted like it has been prepared ages ago and left to dry. In my opinion, this wasn’t freshly fried (or baked? I couldn’t quite tell) tofu. It seemed old. Stale-ish. The rest of the salad was fine though.

Then the skewers from the BBQ, which reportedly cooks at 600 degrees. Which I had to question because both skewers (beef tongue on the left, alligator on the right) were served lukewarm at best. So maybe they had been cooked at 600 degrees, but then they’d sat and sat and sat, waiting to be expressed to our table. The beef tongue was really very tender and flavorful. Only problem? The little crispy rice balls seemed stale to me. The alligator was less memorable…tastes like chicken, you know? And at $4 for the alligator skewer…the portion seemed small.

The chef brought us out some complimentary Spanish mackerel — normally something I die over. It looked beautiful. But it tasted like smoke and char, and the mackerel itself seemed oddly undercooked. All of this, of course, is in my opinion.

The decor in Union is young and fun. To my eye, it looked inexpensive, but like they were trying. I don’t know.

All that being said, I did like the tilework in the bathroom. This was very nice. Very nice indeed.

The Verdict: My one visit — exactly the reason why I’m not a professional food critic, people — was not too impressive. I want to love it here and I do love what they’re trying to accomplish but…it’s just not for me. There are some that will argue that I should go back and try more things. But there’s nothing really compelling me to do that.