A night at the Opera?
Last night's excursion found us at Opera, a modern Chinese restaurant on South Wabash. I've heard about it for ages, read great reviews, so I was excited to go. Bernard wasn't as enthusiastic. "Why do a fancy Chinese restaurant blocks from Chinatown? We could have gone to Evergreen," he muttered. I was still optimistic. And had a seven pm reservation.
As are all of Jerry Kleiner's restaurants, Opera is a wild setting. Bordello meets Shanghai. Far East vs. Wild West. Deafening noise vs. delicate detail. Fringe and velvet abound. A former Paramount film repository, the building's got wonderful bones, with dramatically high ceilings. Intense colors, smells and sounds. I found it entertaining and stimulating; Bernard thought that it was right out of a Jacques Tati movie like "Jour de Fete." He was bewildered. He perked up when our our waitress arrived, a perky redhead right out of Central Casting.
Service was excellent, knowledgeable and efficient. Beautifully edited wine list, all surprisingly reasonably priced given the trend factor of the place. Even so, I stuck with Mai Tais..it just seemed like the thing to do.
Food was he said, she said. I loved it. Bernard tolerated it. I think he would have enjoyed the food more if the place wasn't so loud and the chairs so uncomfortable. Spring rolls, lobster Shu Mai, Peking Duck (their take on it is outstanding, instead of the soup course, which is traditional, they do a noodle stir fry, that's vaguely Thai, but completely delicious), Crystal Prawns, and Sesame Noodles. All classics in every Chinese joint everywhere, yet these were all novel recreations without becoming unrecognizable.
The only off note was when the adjoining table was served a fabulous whole fried Red Snapper. It looked amazing. We asked our waitress what it was, since we hadn't remembered anything like that on the menu, and she told us that this group had special ordered it beforehand and that there was only one. One Red Snapper? One? How odd. Bernard was slightly peeved and a little jealous.
Will we go back? I will, and when my 15 year old, Alex, is back from his summer away, I'll definitely take him. He'll think the atmosphere a bit much, but the cute girls will more than make up for that. I know he'll love the food. Maybe we'll go when Bernard is out of town. We'll preorder the snapper, I think.
Opera
1301 S. Wabash (on the corner of 13th and Wabash)
Chicago, IL 60605
312.461.0161
www.opera-chicago.com
As are all of Jerry Kleiner's restaurants, Opera is a wild setting. Bordello meets Shanghai. Far East vs. Wild West. Deafening noise vs. delicate detail. Fringe and velvet abound. A former Paramount film repository, the building's got wonderful bones, with dramatically high ceilings. Intense colors, smells and sounds. I found it entertaining and stimulating; Bernard thought that it was right out of a Jacques Tati movie like "Jour de Fete." He was bewildered. He perked up when our our waitress arrived, a perky redhead right out of Central Casting.
Service was excellent, knowledgeable and efficient. Beautifully edited wine list, all surprisingly reasonably priced given the trend factor of the place. Even so, I stuck with Mai Tais..it just seemed like the thing to do.
Food was he said, she said. I loved it. Bernard tolerated it. I think he would have enjoyed the food more if the place wasn't so loud and the chairs so uncomfortable. Spring rolls, lobster Shu Mai, Peking Duck (their take on it is outstanding, instead of the soup course, which is traditional, they do a noodle stir fry, that's vaguely Thai, but completely delicious), Crystal Prawns, and Sesame Noodles. All classics in every Chinese joint everywhere, yet these were all novel recreations without becoming unrecognizable.
The only off note was when the adjoining table was served a fabulous whole fried Red Snapper. It looked amazing. We asked our waitress what it was, since we hadn't remembered anything like that on the menu, and she told us that this group had special ordered it beforehand and that there was only one. One Red Snapper? One? How odd. Bernard was slightly peeved and a little jealous.
Will we go back? I will, and when my 15 year old, Alex, is back from his summer away, I'll definitely take him. He'll think the atmosphere a bit much, but the cute girls will more than make up for that. I know he'll love the food. Maybe we'll go when Bernard is out of town. We'll preorder the snapper, I think.
Opera
1301 S. Wabash (on the corner of 13th and Wabash)
Chicago, IL 60605
312.461.0161
www.opera-chicago.com
posted by MaryB at 4:40 PM
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