Saturday was supposed to be a day of apple picking, hayrides and pumpkin patching with friends, but the Chicago weather decided it was going to do what it does best in the fall and be rainy and disgusting. So instead of heading out of the city to go apple picking (which we would end up doing Sunday morning anyways), we decided to head in to the city and check out the Museum of Science and Industry.
It has been quite a few years since we’ve been to the Museum of Science and Industry, so everyone was looking forward to checking it out. I was especially excited to allow our daughter to check it out for the first time. Even though she’s pretty young right now, she seemed to really enjoy some aspects of it, so that made me happy.
When we made the plans to go to the MSI, we decided that we wanted to get there right when it opened, at 10am, to avoid long lines or crowds throughout the day. So because of that, we decided that everyone would eat breakfast at home and we’d just grab lunch somewhere afterwards. And, as usual, we left the lunch spot up to Iman to figure out.
We spent about four hours at the museum and by that point everyone was getting pretty hangry, especially the kid. Iman had found this spot called The Promontory that was just a few blocks away from the museum in Hyde Park, so we all jumped in our car and made our way over to the restaurant.
Upon arriving at The Promontory we were all extremely impressed by the curb appeal and design of the actual building itself. It fit in well with the updated development in that area, but it stood out enough that the building just popped on the block, it looked amazing…. and the interior was just as stunning.
With a large open floor plan for the restaurant, with a large rectangular bar offset to one side, the space is super inviting and looks awesome. There is an open kitchen set off to one side and an outdoor patio that we probably should have sat at, but Iman had a reservation and it was a little iffy outside still, although the patio is covered.
Upon being seated and opening the menu, I think everyone had at least 3 things they wanted to try for lunch, there were that many good choices. And since we were there during brunch hours, we had the option of getting breakfast or lunch.
Celeste, Iman and I decided that it was a good time to start drinking some adult beverages, so Celeste ordered a mimosa, Iman ordered some sort of coffee whiskey drink and I ordered a cider. Unfortunately they were out of the cider that I wanted, so I opted to give the black cherry cider a try and boy was I not disappointed.
I don’t really drink a lot of beer, so the ciders give me a nice balance between a beer and a mixed drink. I still get the sugar and sweetness that I want from my mixed drinks, but I get a bit more liquid and get that more refreshing feel that comes from a large cold drink. So ciders are pretty much my go to these days if I’m not feeling a Captain and Coke, but I’ve never had a black cherry cider. Hands down it was probably the most delicious cider I’ve ever had. Unfortunately their beer list isn’t on the website so I can’t remember what it was called, but it was exactly what I was looking for. Normally the ciders are really sweet and I can only have like two at the most, but I felt like I could drink the black cherry one all day.
As far as our food goes, everyone had decided on what they were going to get, so it was time to order. Nick went with the Brioche French Toast which has brown butter apple, toasted marshmallow, walnut streusel, apple pie sauce, and maple syrup. He finished the entire thing before I even finished half of my burger, so it must have been as good as it sounds.
I ordered the Slagel Farms Double Beef Burger with American cheese, onion, lettuce, comeback sauce (on the side), on a double toasted potato bun, with a side of beef fat fries. If I’m being totally honest here, the beef fat fries were my favorite part of the meal. The burger itself was not bad by any means, but for some reason when I order these double burgers at these places, I want to compare them to Au Cheval and Edzo’s in my head, and I need to stop doing that because nothing ever lives up to those burgers. I thought the beef itself was a little bland, but not bad by any means, just maybe could have used a bit more of something… salt/pepper or something, I’m not even sure. I would also say that the double toasted potato bun, while delicious, is absolutely huge, so it makes it a little hard to eat. It definitely adds to the flavor of the dish, but just made it a bit more difficult to eat on the first few bites. The comeback sauce is like a Thousand Island type sauce and I opted for it on the side as I prefer ketchup on my burgers. But those fries man…. those fries were unbelievable. Probably some of the best fries I’ve had in a long, long time. They were cooked perfectly, some a little soggy, some a little crispy, they were the perfect size, not too fat, but not too thin, and they had just the right amount of salt on them. I’m salivating just thinking about them, so do yourself a favor and make sure you order something that comes with fries when you come here, you won’t regret it.
As for the other dishes at our table, Celeste ordered the Lamb Hash with Yukon Gold potatoes, charred garlic scapes, smoked feta, and tomato jam, while Iman ordered the Fried Chicken Thigh Sandwich with pickled slaw, comeback sauce, on a potato bun. Celeste’s seemed to be a larger dish compared to everyone else’s, but she managed to eat the majority of it, while Iman devoured his chicken sandwich and kinda made me jealous that I didn’t order it…. maybe next time.
To top off the meal, we ordered Beignets which were outstanding, but everyone was so stuffed from their food that we had to take a couple of them to go.
All in all it was a great day at the Museum and a great day out to lunch. I would definitely recommend The Promontory to anyone that wants great food in a great atmosphere. We don’t venture that far south too often, but I might make it a point to suggest it again in the near future so I can try that chicken sandwich!
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