1 star (out of four)
Rating key:
4: Outstanding
3: Excellent
2: Very good
1: Good
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Sauce is a restaurant in desperate need of an upstairs neighbor. Sauce occupies the below-street-level space that was once home to Bigsby's Bar and Grille, a kind of pubby adjunct to the men's store Bigsby's above. But the bar and grill left a long time ago, and the Bigsby's chain went belly-up, and currently Sauce operates beneath thousands of square feet of vacant space.
A new tenant -- any tenant -- might draw a little attention to the restaurant below.It's a spunky little place, decorated in mahogany, chrome and steel accents; the outdoor patio, also below street level, is a pleasant warm-weather hangout. Sauce offers an American bistro menu with pastas, steaks and seafood and even a sandwich or two -- with a full menu of sandwiches, salads and tortilla wraps at lunch.
Why the name Sauce? "Everyone hated everything else," says Andy Dann, a partner who oversees the kitchen operation.
Starters include a handful of deep-fried wontons stuffed with ginger-seasoned vegetables and served with two dipping sauces: a sweetish hoisin sauce with an accent of chile flake and an Asian scallion vinaigrette (which does double duty as the dressing on Sauce's Asian salad). Decent-enough fried calamari arrives with a pair of sauces, too: a straightforward remoulade and a spicy marinara.
The artichoke dip may put you in mind of a pot-luck appetizer in a neighborhood block party, but the blend of artichoke, spinach, cream cheese and roasted garlic, blanketed by Monterey jack cheese and served with tricolor tortilla chips and grilled bread, is fine. I had a pretty good gazpacho my first visit here, but the time for chilled soups has passed; the French onion soup is a better bet.
The best appetizer on the menu is the seared ahi tuna, tiny rectangles of sesame-crusted tuna leaning on a pile of Asian slaw, which holds the tuna above a puddle of wasabi cream sauce meant for dipping; the sauce is tangy but not overwhelming, and the tuna's temperature - just a bit past rare - is perfect.
Ahi tuna makes an impressive entr?as well, seared with blackening spices and placed over a smoky northern beans and bacon ragout. The flavors of this dish meld nicely, but I would leave off the finishing touch, a smoked-corn salsa that looks and tastes like canned creamed corn.
Another entr?with a bit of ambition consists of twin filets of beef tenderloin topped with portobello mushroom caps and served with mashed potatoes and vegetables over a port-wine sauce with a ribbon of reduced Worcestershire sauce.
More than a half-dozen pastas are offered daily, including a crock-baked lasagna with Italian sausage, and brandy-sauteed shrimp over capellini noodles in tomato-basil cream. The misnamed linguini primavera is likely to come with an array of goodies that isn't exactly evocative of spring (capers, mushrooms, black olives), but it's tasty enough.
Best of the bunch might be the penne alla vodka, the penne pasta bathed in a vodka-tomato cream sauce that gets its peppery notes from chile flakes and a splash of bloody Mary mix. A few slices of smoked chicken laid over the top don't add much to the dish, but it doesn't overly detract, either.
Desserts are not a strength, judging by my visits. The menu touts the Chocolate Obsession, but the dense flourless chocolate torte is nothing special. Strawberry shortcake could be good, but my strawberries had been overmarinated to the point of sogginess and the hazelnut biscuits were all but impenetrable-as were the chocolate chip-toffee cookies that formed the top and base of an ice-cream sandwich.
On the ball service is a plus; so too are the kitchen's hours, serving until 11 p.m. nightly. The bar scene takes over late at night and goes to 2 a.m.; cocktails must be good here, because the 20-bottle wine list isn't much of a draw.
Sauce
1750 N. Clark St.
312-932-1750
Open: Dinner Mon.-Sun., lunch Mon.-Sun.
Entree prices: $9.95-$21.95
Credit cards: A, DC, M, V
Reservations: Accepted
Noise: Conversation-friendly
Other: Valet parking
available Thurs.-Sat.
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