Home > Chicago Restaurants > Editorial Review > First bite: Table Fifty-Two

It is a humid Sunday night, and two joggers pass a restaurant at 52 W. Elm St. in the Gold Coast. They stare at the menu display outside, when the door open and a man in a chef jacket appears. Where have they seen this guy before?

"Come on in," bellows Art Smith (as seen on TV!).

"We're pretty drenched in sweat," one jogger replies.

"No, come on in!" Smith says. "You can sit at the bar."

These are not words of a desperate restaurateur trying to lure in customers; if anything, Smith's Table Fifty-Two is one of the most anticipated recent openings. Yet there's something compelling about its "Ya hungry? Come on in, there's a table waitin' for ya" motif from a James Beard award winner who's better known as Oprah Winfrey's personal chef. The world is Art Smith's dining room, and we're just stopping by for dinner.

The vibrant interior, with 13 tables and 5 counter seats, glows with a warmness emanating from its pastel yellow walls and copper touches .

Sunday nights are what Smith calls Sunday Supper, serving a down-home, family-style menu with just four mains, three sides and three desserts. Deviled eggs arrive, then warm goat cheese biscuits. These are crazy good. There's chef Smith again, this time personally serving house-pickled green tomatoes slices.

Two pieces of buttermilk fried chicken breast at $18 might seem exorbitant, until you remember this is Gold Coast dining (the restaurant is on the former site of Albert's Cafe & Patisserie). More convincingly, this chicken is one fine bird: brined overnight so it's astoundingly juicy, tender and snow white, fried to a light crunch and grease-free. Could the three-cheese macaroni (really penne) look more indulgent? It bubbles as it exits the wood-burning oven. For a dish using gouda, butterkase and aged Cheddar cheeses, it's lighter than you'd think.

This being Smith's first restaurant venture, and this meal taking place on the restaurant's fifth night, I was thrilled and not surprised to see how hands-on Smith was with, well, everything. He cedar-planked the halibut, served the biscuits, conducted traffic and posed for photos. During a free moment, I asked Smith what his concept, intent and hope was for his Sunday Suppers.

He replied succinctly, and left it at that. "Home."

Originally published August 9, 2007 by Chicago Tribune.

Add a comment