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Steaking to it
We never understood why some microcosms of Chicagoland don’t obey the Business 101 principle of supply and demand (the bazillion gritty furniture emporiums on Milwaukee between Ashland and Wolcott, for instance?). This anomaly has struck again in Oak Brook, where Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises opens new concept Reel Club this Thursday in the old Papagus space, serving -- drum roll please -- prime steaks and seafood.
Our initial thought: Why, oh, why does the Butterfield Road corridor in Lombard and Oak Brook – which has seen more than half a dozen restaurant openings in the past year – need yet another steak and seafood spot? Is there some voracious need that isn’t already being satiated by Capital Grille, McCormick & Schmick’s, Holy Mackerel, Braxton Seafood Grill, Clubhouse, Magnum’s or even LEYE’s own Wildfire? And with White Chocolate Grill and Grotto on State opening in the area soon and also touting steak and seafood concepts, we were dumbfounded.
So we asked LEYE chairman Rich Melman what the deal was. He tells us they’ve had the Reel Club concept in the works for several years now, and yes, it will focus on steaks and seafood -- but with a sexier vibe and higher price point than newish LEYE seafood concept Di Pescara in Northbrook (the two ventures share the same executive chef) and more whimsical plating and less frenetic atmosphere than nearby Wildfire. In the sea of steak and seafood spots here, it’ll be competing in the vein of higher-end Capital Grille. That said, we’re not sure we really buy that it’ll be that different, but stand to be proven wrong.
Though Greek taverna Papagus was one of the more divergent eateries in the area, it was still “sort of struggling,” says Melman. “It was a question of, what did we want to do with a restaurant that was just breaking even?”
Fair enough, but we still can’t help lamenting the addition of more of the same. Here’s your chance to speak up, west suburbanites: Is steak and seafood really all you want?
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