Boeufhaus — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

We came here for my birthday and the service was absolutely fantastic. My waitress was wonderful and very attentive, but I feel like the food left little to be desired, especially for the overall price. The shortrib beignets are absolutely fantastic. Full of flavor and well balanced / seasoned… but that was about the only thing I thought was truly done well. We got a lot of what was on the menu. The beignets, roasted radish, clams ( we sent back because we wanted oysters instead, ) scallops, oysters ( off menu ) steak, frites, and mushrooms and a few cocktails! This was a well over $300 meal and I kid you not, I know I’ve made better steak and scallops at home. I feel like so many things were missing. Salt, acid, fat, heat, etc. The steak was VERY underwhelming and I have 100% made better steak at home. There was no true sear on the steak although the internal temperature was done well ( not to be confused with well done ) but the presentation was pretty. It lacked flavor to me and this isn’t to say that it was a bad cut of meat… it was just.. a steak.. The scallops were good but not the best i’ve ever had and could definitely have used a sauce. The roasted radishes were not roasted at all it seems like ?? They were raw and VERY crunchy and cold… like all of them. I know what a roasted radish / vegetable is and I swear the entire salad was raw. They came with a green goddess butter and the butter needed salt so badly, I felt like I was dipping the radish into a random cup of solidified fat. The frites were decent, the mushrooms were good, but the star of the show was definitely the beignets. 10/10 would have ordered a bunch of those had I known they would have been the only thing I truly enjoyed. Oysters were good quality! Lots of liquor and very fresh + plump, but I will say they were expensive. I think they were $4 each or 6 for $24 ( I believe. I know oysters are never cheap but damn! ) I also wish the cocktail menu was more inventive. My first cocktail was good but it was boring and didn’t have any depth. I ended up just getting a martini after that. Overall, it was a beautiful and intimate restaurant with fantastic service, but the food left so much to...

Whew! That 55 day aged ribeye! Unfortunately they had run out of the T Bone and only had the porterhouse available and it was just going to be too much between the 2 of us.

Let me get back to this ribeye. A true medium rare with plenty of fat, we ordered the Bordelaise red wine sauce. I'm never a fan of sauce, truthfully, but the Bordelaise really added a complement to the taste of the steak. Maybe it was the slight acidity (no, you can't taste it), but not having tried the other sauces, I would recommend this one. The seared sides of the ribeye were just so perfectly crisp. Oh, man! Great cut of meat.

We also ordered the East Coast oysters on special which happened to be from New Brunswick. I always appreciate when a restaurant sources good quality. Without a doubt, this was it!

We ordered 3 sides for $19 (or 2 for $16...so really, we had to!), consisting of charred cabbage, squash knopfle, and fat dries .Charred cabbage was very good, if I recall there were pine nuts and raisins which helped complete a basic side .They described to us that a knopfle was like pasta. I would have described it more like a dumpling (kinda like gnocchi) but cut bigger and it came with spinach and squash. My dining partner thought it was really not that great, and I can understand why one would, but for a simple dough dumpling, I personally thought this savoury dish was well executed with small cubes of squash and spinach. My only feedback is that it's a bit greasy, and was hoping it would be a little lighter.

And finally, the Boeuf fat fries. Solid. Not the best I've had, we would have wanted it more crispy but we finished it all.

To finish off, I couldn't help it....I saw it served at neighboring tables - the chocolate cremeux. It was rich, thick, not overly sweet, decadent. I'm not even a huge chocolate fan but when it's heaven like this....

So all in all the ribeye took it all away. I would definitely come back for it and...

The place is dark and cramped, could barely get into my booth. Intimate I guess. There was loud sluggish hip hop playing like I was at Ramen San or something. My martini arrived cool, not cold. Only got 2 olives though I asked for extra. No biggie. The tartare was inedibly salty and had little bits of sinew stringing together the chunks of filet, and the beignets were also over-seasoned, and soggy and greasy. The ribeye was perfectly cooked but woefully underseasoned. The lamb was bland too and the accoutrements didn’t pair right, whatever was pickled on that plate was a total acid bomb that fried my palette. The spaetzle tasted like it had been cooked the previous week and the squash was bland, paired with Brussels that were so bitter I could barely swallow. I love Brussels and these were just wrong. The fries were soggy and sad which was a bummer cause I was looking forward to excellent fries. Nope. The bernaise with the steak was served cold, like butter, which I found very odd and unappetizing. The other steak sauces were astringent and bitter. Overall, none of the food was right, the seasoning was all over the place, and I don’t have a single bite of anything that delighted me. Maybe it’s cause I was there on a Monday but nothing tasted fresh. It was like all the food had been sitting in the pass since the previous day. The bill for 3 was $380. The service was utterly average, but I can’t knock front of house for middling service. But the food was just all wrong. Which for the price is very tough to excuse. I must say though, the cantaloupe gelato was absolutely outstanding. Some of the tastiest gelato I’ve ever had. And the affogato they got right. Overall, what a disappointment. It felt like none of the chefs were tasting anything before sending it out and everything was just totally...