So the Red Door touts itself as a gastropub, but in reality it's just a nice bar that happens to serve "fancy" food - which sadly is pretty bad food. I guess in hindsight I should have known that a bar that serves poke, gnocchi, and spare ribs should be a bit suspect.
But I guess the one good thing about this place is that they have a very nice outdoor space that is great for summer time day drinking. Unfortunately, Deanna and I went on a cold-ish day for dinner. As I mentioned the menu is a bit wonky and doesn't really seem to have any cohesion to it but we went in with an open mind. Despite not having a ton of vegetarian entrees, they did say that they were able to turn any of the veggie appetizers into entree size portions which I thought was nice of them. I am a sucker for poke, so I felt like I had to try the one they had here ($15) and the waitress mentioned that it would probably not be enough for a full meal, so I also got the ricotta gnocchi as well ($12) while Deanna got the grilled cauliflower ($8) and the mushroom quinoa ($11). When the poke came out, I immediately noticed that the tuna wasn't bright red like fresh tuna should be - in fact it was a bit dull pink/grey and it didn't have any of that fresh clean flavor that poke should have nor did it have the soy/scallion/sesame oil seasoning to it which is key to the entire dish. All of this was laying on a huge bed of sticky rice which made the whole dish too heavy and just unpleasant. In my mind I was thinking that I was lucky that I also ordered the gnocchi because I was still pretty hungry after the poke. Well that was a bad assumption because the gnocchi was just as flavorless and bad as the poke. The gnocchi was too dense and it was totally lacking in salt or really much taste. It was served with asparagus pesto and to be honest, that didn't really help the dish much, if at all. I kind of felt like I was just eating chunks of dough with some green sauce on it. I didn't try Deanna's dishes but she also mentioned that she was less than impressed with them, especially the mushroom quinoa which looked like something I could make at home myself with instant quinoa and bits of mushroom.
I should have known to stick with the basics like a burger at a bar/restaurant - especially in Chicago. The only reason I would go back would be for the nice outdoor space and the nice staff - but I will definitely eat dinner else where before heading over. Total bill: $38/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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