Beatrix

Beatrix is the most recently opened venture from the Lettuce Entertain You Group.  It is attached to the Aloft Hotel, but it doesn’t give the impression or feeling of being a “hotel restaurant”.  I’ve had the pleasure of dining at this casual restaurant a couple of times since it opened. 

I didn’t feel blown away by my meals, but there were enough successful dishes that I am looking forward to experimenting with menu upon upcoming visits.  My favorite thus far is the Caesar salad.  For the record, I’m a sucker for a good Caesar.  I really enjoyed the lighter version of their yogurt dressing, and instead of large croutons, there were crunchy bread crumbs sprinkled throughout the dish.  So each bite was almost a perfectly orchestrated forkful of salad and toppings.  The tsukune (aka chicken/turkey meatball) in a chili cilantro sauce was definitely enjoyable as well.  The big hit thus far in my book, is the chili and chocolate glaze salmon.  (No, I’m not just saying that it was delicious because there is some chocolate in there.)  The mole-esque sauce does not overpower the salmon, and serves as a wonderful compliment.  It is served with an almond slaw which was excellent. There were corn tortillas for those that wanted to make salmon tacos, but I think that the dish stands on its own without the tortillas. All in all, the salmon all made for an excellent dish. 

There was one huge miss in my book—the chicken with leek bread pudding.  The bread pudding itself was outstanding—it was flavorful, and I think could potentially be served as its own side dish.  However, the Amish chicken was a major disappointment.  To say that it was bland was an understatement, and to put it into perspective, I have made better chicken at home.  It was essentially baked chicken with a piece of thyme shoved under the skin.  I’m sure that there were other seasonings included, but they were unrecognizable.  The only time that the chicken tasted remotely interesting was when it was paired with the bread pudding.  Personally, I believe that when you have a “simple” dish of chicken and stuffing/bread pudding, each component should be able to stand on its own…they will just be even better together.  Hopefully they will figure out how to improve this dish over the coming months.

I also tried the fries, which are made with Kennebec potatoes.  These are less starchy than some of the traditional potatoes such as a russet, and deliver more flavor.  I was really looking forward to trying these, and, although the fries were decent, I felt a little let down.  Perhaps my expectations were too high for these little spuds?  Or perhaps I may have to pay closer attention next time?  Perhaps a taste test is in order? 

Overall, I liked the concept of Beatrix—especially that they have items on the menu that one could consider lighter fare.  It is great not only for summer, but there are just some nights when I can’t stomach a heavy meal.  Beatrix is a great option--not to mention, the cocktails and wine were delicious, and the wait staff was quite attentive.