Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Seven Lions ( 130 S. Michigan Ave.; SevenLionsChicago.com ).
Before visiting restaurants, I try to conduct researchafter all, it wouldn't be right to be unprepared, I feel. However, during the course of researching, I made the mistake of stumbling across reviews on certain websitesand they were among the most widely divisive I'd seen.
Say what you will, but the bustling restaurant ( renowned sommelier and former Check, Please! host Alpana Singh's second venture, after Boarding House ) offers many reasons to warrant a return visit.
I started my meal with the cleverly named Grow Another Pair cocktail. The pear liqueur was certainly noticeable but wasn't overpowering. My dining companions tried the Hell or High Watermelon, a wheat beer that they genuinely liked.
The food is solidly recommended, overall. ( The lunch menu isn't the most adventurous, I'll admit, with items such as tuna nicoise and Cobb saladbut what it does, it does quite well. ) I fell in love with the Brussels sprout and burrata toast as well as something you don't find in a lot of restaurants: fried chicken skins ( along with fried pickles ). The sriracha honey mustard, thankfully, only enhances the skins without setting one's mouth on fire.
However, the magnum opus of this meal, for me, was the simplest of items: the 7L Cheeseburger. ( Singh actually stopped by our table and recommended this item, adding that even putting lettuce and tomatoes on it would detract from the burger's juiciness. ) It's a simple concoctionadorned with only American cheese and red onionbut the thought of sharing the burger with my cohorts only filled me with dread after I had the first bite.
The pastry/dessert menu is a bit more adventuresome. The S'mores bread pudding is beyond tasty ( and a close second to the cheeseburger as my favorite item ). However, there are also items such as the breakfast "cereal" bowl ( toffee corn puffs and vanilla-bean yogurt panna cotta ), bourbon banana split and PB&C ( malted milk and peanut-butter mousse, peanut butter-chocolate crunch and a malted milkshake ).
In addition to the food and libations/wine, there's also the view, if you sit outside. It's situated near the Art Institute of Chicago and, because "outside" means sitting in the sidewalk area, there will be various businessmen, students and tourists to observeand who will observe you.
I entered Seven Lions with uncertainly, but left pretty sure that I'll return soon.
[Note: Here's some trivia, in case you were wondering about the restaurant's name. The name Seven Lions factors in several components, including the more than 50 lion ornaments affixed to the facade of the building, and the fact that the restaurant is located directly across the street from Art Institute, with its two iconic lion statutes.
However, the name is largely a tribute to Singh's late grandmother. "Singh" is derived from the Sanskrit word for "lion," and her grandmother referred to her seven children as her lions.]