First Look: Hub 51

In this town, certain names come with strings attached. If you’re a high school hoops player and your last name is Jordan, people are going to turn and look. And if your last name is Melman and you open a restaurant, you can expect a little extra scrutiny—and maybe a little extra help. When brothers R.J. and Jerrod Melman recently opened their new River North eatery, Hub 51, they got a bit of both.

Their father is Rich Melman, co-founder of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, the operation behind some of the city’s most well-known and successful restaurants. R.J., 29, and Jerrod, 25, grew up watching their father grow the business and eventually went on to work in management at Lettuce spots R.J. Grunts and Osteria Via Stato. But those were their father’s restaurants. At Hub 51, they’re on their own.

OK, not entirely. The younger Melmans clearly are applying what they’ve learned from Dad. Though Hub 51 only has been open for dinner since June 27 (lunch debuted this week), it already runs like clockwork. The food is consistent. The atmosphere is polished. It almost feels, well, like they’ve done this all before.

High ceilings and exposed ductwork give the 300-seat space an airy, loft-like feel, while giant concrete columns loosely define three separate "rooms" within. The bustling front room, complete with an overhead DJ booth, is filled with round high-top tables with views of the flat-screen TVs that hang above the main bar. Opposite, there’s a more subdued space sporting one whitewashed brick wall and a small, elevated bar tucked away in the corner. Between the two is a sort of middle ground populated with more tables, booths and—on our visits, anyway—a disproportionate number of twentysomething women.

Though it skews youngish, you get the sense Hub 51 would like to be all things to all people—even the soundtrack swings safely from one generation’s crowd-pleaser to the next (Bob Dylan, U2, Natasha Bedingfield, repeat). It’s a smart plan for River North, a neighborhood where city-dwelling nine-to-fivers, stressed-out business travelers and wide-eyed tourists converge.

The army of young, chatty servers seems up to the challenge, eager to please with quick refills and menu suggestions at the ready. Good thing, since that menu covers a shocking amount of ground, packing into two pages everything from sweet potato maki with Japanese soy-barbecue sauce ($9) to five spice-rubbed pork ribs ($12) to hand-dipped ice cream bars ($5).

There’s even an entire section dedicated to soft taco platters: chicken, pulled pork, halibut and filet mignon (above). We quickly figured out why. Our filet mignon tacos ($18), which arrived on a hefty platter loaded with tender slices of teriyaki-marinated steak, soft homemade tortillas, white rice, black beans, pico de gallo and guacamole, were packed with flavor.

The kitchen’s modest takes on Mexican fare do well across the board. We’re betting it won’t be long before the peekytoe crab nachos ($16), a heap of crisp house-made chips piled with fresh crab meat, melted white cheddar and Oaxaca cheeses, salsa and great clumps of guacamole, become an after-work staple among the River North happy hour crowd.

Entrees ($16-$35) are designed to please: big, satisfying and familiar. The usual suspects, from roasted chicken to bone-in rib-eye (a beastly 18-ouncer appropriately dubbed "The Dude"), all make an appearance. A little predictable? Perhaps, but there’s something to be said for getting exactly what you want. Our tender braised short ribs ($19) fell right off the bone, and the Yukon Gold mashed potatoes had us at first, buttery bite.

Besides, for all its familiarity, Hub 51 isn’t totally without surprises. The biggest and best came at the end of our meal: Martha’s Special Occasion Carrot Cake ($6), a dense, moist, three-layer wedge served with a dollop of whipped cream and an extra scoop of rich cream cheese frosting on the side.

So who is this Martha? That would be Mom.

With all due respect to Rich Melman, we’re not sure the boys owe it all to Dad.

M. Kathleen Pratt is the Metromix dining producer. kpratt@tribune.com

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