Zealous Restaurant

Holy food orgasm!

My gal pal and I went here for a weeknight dinner date, and could not stop the "eating madness".  We decided to start with the 'Taco-Dosa' of Blue Goat Cheese, Roasted Cipollini Onions, Fragrant Tomato Curry and Roasted Beets, Baby Greens, Spiced Hazelnuts, French Feta, Greek Yogurt with Hazelnut Vinaigrette (Yes, I had to copy the descriptions from the menu.  It would have been a crime if I hadn't!).  After stopping short of licking both plates, we moved onto the Sesame Crusted Chilean Sea Bass with Pan-Fried Rice Noodles and Red Coconut Curry Sauce and Seared Sea Scallops, Smoked Freekeh, Date Puree & Marcona Almonds.  There was a symphony in my mouth and I did not want it to stop playing.  Yes, I was guilty of dragging my fork around the plate and bowl, trying to get any tidbit that did not land in my mouth the first time around.

The restaurant reminds me of a zen garden and the staff is great.  Thanks to the relaxing atmosphere, I did not feel like I was going to "food hell" for gorging on everything in sight!

Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

I took a friend to Zealous the last time I was in Chicago.  It was a weeknight and the restaurant was nearly empty.  We ordered the tasting menu, which was good.  My friend liked it more than I did.  The choices were diverse and the wine pairings were good.

Had to wait 15 minutes for a table even though we had reservations and there were multiple tables open. The service was quite poor.

My fiancees fish entree was not cooked all the way through. Had to send it back.
The portions are tiny and the quality is mediocre.

The groupon i had helped soften the blow. Unfortunately, though i really wanted to like this place, I will not be going back.