Dancing Marlin Restaurant — Restaurant in Frankfort

The dancing marlin is a wonderful restaurant that takes a modern twist on many classic seafood recipes. The big difference between here and most other seafood restaurants is that they serve smaller portions of foods and essentially make it a tapas style meal, but with seafood. This is not the kind of place you should go and order one entrée to hoard all to yourself. The benefit of eating tapas style for those who don’t know, is you are able to try a wide range of different things on the menu. The more people you have the more things you can try so I would suggest coming here with a group of people if possible. I started the meal with an order of their roasted bone marrow. As a self proclaimed foodie this is a dish that has long been on my bucket list of things to try so it was a must despite the hesitation from the rest of my group. The Dancing Marlin is also one of only 2 restaurants in the south suburbs to serve this dish so to pass on this delicacy would have been a tragedy. The marrow was served with grilled bread, rock salt, lemon and a homemade bacon jam. The marrow was rich in umami and fatty beef flavor that when combined with s pinch of salt and lemon was the perfect combination of rich and savory with a hint of acid to round it all out. The bacon jam was good but in my opinion it overpowered the taste of the marrow so I didn’t have much of it. After that we had the baked crab dip. This dip reminded me of the classic dips I would have on a football Sunday, but had a nice elevation to the dish with the sweetness coming from the crab. The dip was so good people in my group were dealing at the bowl it came in trying to get every last ounce out of it. Next case our main course(s). My choice for the table was an order of shrimp and grits (which is my Achilles heel whenever I see it on the menu). The shrimp were cooked and seasoned perfectly and the “grits” were actually polenta which elevated the dish in a wonderful way. The beurre blanc that was on it was beautifully rich and velvety and was a nice contrast to the spicy andouille sausage that added a nice kick to the dish. The next dish we got was the bacon wrapped shrimp. Once again the shrimp was cooked perfectly and the bacon on it was extremely crispy, just how I like it. The even amount of crispness on the bacon is rarely seen when I have anything that’s wrapped in bacon. The skewers were topped with a mango chutney which brought a perfect balance of sweetness to what would have otherwise been a fairly savory dish. Our side of corn ragú came out shortly after the shrimp. The brown butter, parmigiana regiano and sweet corn all came together with a beautifully rich, sweet and almost nutty flavor from the brown butter. The side reminded me slightly of and American take on elotés (which is another one of my favorites). Finally we got our order of brisket. The brisket itself was very tender but the shining stars of the dish were the peach bbq sauce and cornbread purée. The purée was velvety and creamy and was a great modern take on a classic bbq side dish. The peach bbq sauce was nice and sweet and complimented the beef in a perfect way. Sadly after all of this food we were too full for dessert, especially since the options they had sounded amandine. Overall this is a wonderful restaurant that has taken many classic dishes and elevated them with a wonderful modern twist. I can’t wait to go back. My only hope is that I’m able to go with s group of more...

Okay, so I'm admittedly a bit of a wine snob, so I was quite skeptical when a dear friend and her husband suggested a "wine on tap" venue for a couple’s night out. WOW AM I GLAD THEY DID! Much to my surprise, the menu was quite eclectic, and was Tapas style service though I would not describe the food as the type you’d find in a traditional Spanish Tapas cuisine restaurant. We shared a number of dishes, so I hardly know where to begin. Let me start by saying EVERYTHING was OUTSTANDING! 1) Try the tacos—3 to an order. I highly recommend both the shrimp & chorizo, and avocado taco selections. They are both vibrant and refreshingly light, with just enough citrus to make them perfectly balanced offerings. 2) The crab stuffed peppers – piquillo peppers with jumbo white lump crab meat with a unique remoulade – were stunningly succulent. 3) The ahi tuna nachos (there’s a surprising dish huh?), and oysters “rockefellaz” were delectable, but the coup de grace was undoubtedly the scallops! Seared to perfection, not spongey and overcooked nor undercooked and rubbery. Served on a corn and brown butter puree with caramelized leeks, pickled corn and pistachios. 4) The mushroom flatbread was the most pedestrian dish we tried, and even that dish was exceptionally well prepared. PLEASE—save room for dessert, and might I highly recommend the “turtle cheesecake bites.” Just as the name indicates, this dessert dish is perfectly proportioned in four bite size decadent servings. WOW WERE THEY GOOD! (The rum banana bar was also quite tasty). By now you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the wine right? Well much to my amazement, wine that is served on tap was not the least bit oxidized. Technology! Ed, one of the owners, hearing that there was an armchair wine connoisseur with questions about his wine list took 15 minutes to sit with our table to explain the process. You will have to go there and ask for him to get more on this issue. Suffice it to say that the wine was excellent, though as you might imagine because it is served on tap the offerings are somewhat limited. I recommend either the Gotham Sauvignon Blanc (CA), Gazzera Pinot Grigio (Italy) or Numero Tres (Spain) if you like a dryer white wine, the De La Costa (CA) for a sweeter white, and the El Rede Malbec (Argentina) for a robust deep-flavored red wine. On a scale of 1 to 100, I give the Dancing...

I dined here for an 8 pm dinner last Saturday night with my husband and 2 other couples and it was all around fantastic! We started at the bar as they put our table together, only one of the couples hadn’t been there before so the bartender Andrea was incredibly helpful with explaining the cocktails on tap and the flights! Once we sat we ordered: lobster rolls(they were on feature that evening I believe), calamari, general tso’s cauliflower, burger sliders, fried kale, scallops (my favorite right now), N.Y. Strip steak, tuna poke ( I think a couple, SO GOOD) and even a couple cookie skillets for desserts I’m pretty sure I’m missing a few things but it was 4 days ago lol and we just all shared everything! Jeff was our server, he was polite, professional and although we stayed WELL passed closing (sorry) they never even let us know!! They allowed us to enjoy ourselves and our evening which is not a usual these days. The general manager Jackie Gabriel came to our table to check on us during our meal which was so nice she even ran most of our food to the table and the tables all around us all the while greeting guests coming through the door and delegating the line where the food came out AND SHES ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! The Chef JR even stopped by at one point to ask about our food! It was definitely an above and beyond evening!! Everyone in that building was on point and made EVEN ME look better for bringing my crew! THANK YOU SO MUCH! We...