(Update - Scylla's owner Stephanie Izard closed the restaurant in late 2007. She was part of the cast of the reality show "Top Chefs: Chicago" seen on the Bravo cable network. Izard now owns the highly acclaimed Girl and the Goat in Chicago. )
I'm in the process of opening up a new dealer in the upscale and funky Wicker Park/Bucktown area of Chicago. After a sit down meeting with the owner, the general manager and a couple of the workers, I took them out for dinner at a restaurant of their choice.
The area is the home to a number of great little restaurants. One of the guys suggested a little place on Damon by the name of Scylla (see map). Scylla is owned by 29-year-old chef Stephanie Izard, who was named one of the "up and coming young chefs" by Dining Out magazine. Izard cut her culinary teeth at Spring and La Tache before opening Scylla a couple years ago.
Scylla is named after the mythical Greek nymph who turned into a six-headed monster that ravaged the ships and crews of mariners who passed near her. (We were also told by our waiter that Scylla is also a derogatory term Greeks use for a woman who is, well, a real bitch. He said that the term actually offends some Greek women.)
Scylla has a Mediterranean bent to their menu. They feature a lot of seafood for both the first course and main courses, a lot of olives, oils and purees accompanying the foods, and a very rustic feel to the restaurant.
With the first course, I went with the heirloom tomatoes over buffalo mozzarella, topped with anchovies, with little avacado puffs to the side. One of the guys got the chilled tomato and vanilla soup with crab chunks. (He asked me, "Do you think it would be OK if I just licked the rest of the soup in the bowl?" He said it was that good.)
The other three guys got the prosciutto wrapped shrimp. And they were three huge shrimps that were smoked, then chilled. They looked great.
For our main course, a couple of the guys got something that I'd never heard of before - skate fish - or actually, the wings of a skate fish that were breaded in an oatmeal and egg mixture, then grilled and paired with lump crab meat. I had a bite from one of the guys and it was excellent.
Another guy went with the sauteed scallops. Six huge scallops braised with uncured bacon and served with an arugala salsa. They looked good, too.
One of the guys went with the grilled Hawaiian walu filet with grilled calamari topped with vine ripened tomatoes. And I went with the grilled ahi tuna with braised veal. It was outstanding.
For our wine, we went with a couple bottles of the Skuttlebutt Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon / Chardonnay blended wine. Skuttlebutt is a very small vineyard in Western Australia and the wine was very good with our seafood. And the wine was reasonably priced at $38 a bottle.
We didn't do dessert - although they had a creme-brulee and lemon sponge cake combo that I wanted to try. Between the first and main courses, it was enough food. And it was all very, very good.
With tip, the bill came to $350 for five people. A little steep, but the service was excellent, the food was excellent, the atmosphere was excellent.
If you're looking for a great little out-of-the-way place away from the downtown area with an eclectic menu, I very much recommend Scylla.
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