Brookside is a family-friendly neighborhood filled with picture-book pretty homes. With its own bustling business district, people in this neighborhood walk to shop its retail, grocery, and liquor stores along with a wide variety of comfortable, casual, come-as-you-are restaurants.
For years, Michael Forbes Bar & Grill was one of them, located in a primo corner spot on 63rd Street, in the heart of Brookside’s business district. But when one door closes, another always opens, especially when talking about restaurant real estate, and this coveted space in Brookside was quickly snapped up by Avery Bailey and Hannah Koenig, a married couple who also happens to live in Brookside. They had been working at Bella Napoli when they heard the location was on the market. Looking for just the right space to make their own restaurant dreams a reality, they never imagined they would find the exact right spot in their own backyard.
Cru Bistro & Bottles is the couple’s first restaurant together, even though they have been employed in the hospitality industry for years. In fact, the couple met when they both were at República, a former Spanish tapas restaurant on the Country Club Plaza. More recently the couple has also been leading wine-tasting tours through Italy, which they plan to continue to do at Cru, expanding their trips to other popular wine growing regions, including France. Their love of wine and contacts in the wine world are also the inspiration for the name of the restaurant. Cru is a word used in French wine-making that literally means “growth,” and refers to a great or superior growing site for a vineyard.
In fact, wine is a big part of the overall business plan for the restaurant, which includes retail sales by the bottle. Bailey is clearly the “wine guy.” (He showed me a gorgeous raised-relief map of a wine region in Italy he was gifted by one of his favorite Italian winemakers that he wants to frame and hang on the wall in the restaurant.) He is focused on building not only the restaurant wine list but curating a separate by-the-bottle list that guests can view and order online to pick up at the restaurant, or they can just walk in and select a favorite bottle to take home. The wine selection right now is mostly Italian and French. Bailey is committed to carrying only small, family-run, boutique wineries, which he’ll expand into California and other winemaking regions.
Koenig was responsible for the dramatic—and much-needed—update in the look and feel of the room. It’s a pristine shade of white and features an entire wine wall stocked with bottles to buy. A breezy chandelier and a titian-hued velvet curtain add color and warmth. It all feels properly refreshed, modern and airy, now that the heavy booths are replaced with white-tablecloth seating. Up a few steps from the dining room are a completely remodeled cocktail bar and a private dining room just beyond.
Koenig’s brother, JT Koenig-Riley, longtime bar manager at Tom’s Town Distilling, stepped in to create the cocktail menu and train the bar staff. Thomas Luna, an alumnus from Corvino Supper Club, is the chef de cuisine, and he and the kitchen manager, Krista Harr, are executing a delightful menu of culinary surprises coupled with some serious fine-dining technique. In the front of the house, Brooke Emerson is the head of hospitality for Cru. She comes to this party with management experience from Room 39. All and all, this is an impressive team of young professionals who know the assignment and are delivering it with warmth, skill, and passion.
Although it has been a minute since Brookside has offered a white-tablecloth dining experience, Bailey assured me that they want to be both a casual neighborhood spot that welcomes kids and a nicer date-night spot. Smart move, if they can pull it off.
However, when that house-made tomato soup is a medley of smoked San Marzano tomatoes, herbs de Provence, and coconut cream, you begin to see the genius of Cru’s menu. They are serving comforting favorites that are interesting and unexpected in the best possible way.
The menu isn’t overwhelming, and the dishes seem thoughtful and deliberate, with options for all types of diners and portion sizes that were positively spot on. I am so grateful not to have to carry a to-go box out of a restaurant. I could actually finish my meal in the moment when it is freshest.
Beginning with a practically perfect old-fashioned, I ordered a glass of Gobelsburg Gruner Veltliner, served as a sensible five-ounce pour. The wine list also features a couple of dealcoholized German wines—a white and a rosé—that more than satisfy the craving for wine without the alcohol quite impressively.
The tempting appetizer menu includes baked Green Dirt Farm sheep’s-milk cheese, steak tartare, and chicken liver mousse, but ultimately the pavé potatoes came to the table as three small, perfect squares of thinly layered, baked, and compressed potato slices fried golden brown and topped witha dollop of crème fraiche, caviar, and chives. It was hot and crispy on the outside, creamy in the middle, and finished with a pleasing saline pop of caviar. Every bite was completely decadent.
I ordered the wedge salad next, ready for something refreshing. Who doesn’t love a classic wedge with blue cheese, and this is not that. It is better. This is a slightly Asian version of a wedge. It starts with the same chunk of cold iceberg lettuce, but this is resting flat-side down atop a pool of herbaceous, buttermilk-flavored green goddess salad dressing. The wedge is painted with the same dressing, which might even have a touch of matcha in it for color and flavor. It’s sprinkled with white and black sesame seeds with a faint dusting of nori and Sichuan peppercorn powder to tingle the palate. Absolutely a most creative and delicious salad.
The timing of the meal was perfection from start to finish. As soon as the salad plate was cleared the entrées arrived. I ordered a high/low combination of the fried chicken sandwich and the fish en papillote, or fish cooked in paper, one of the most expensive entrées on the menu at $32.
Chicken thighs are the base of the fried chicken sandwich, making it thin, juicy, and oh, so flavorful. The breaded and fried boneless chicken thigh was sandwiched within a soft brioche bun and topped with chilled iceberg lettuce, tangy pickles, and the slow burn of red chili aioli. Served with thinly cut French fries, it’s crunchy, soft, tangy, and just a bit spicy.
The fish en papillote came to the table still wrapped in the paper it was cooked in, revealing just enough to peek in to discover a fist-sized piece of flakey, white grouper steamed with sweet bits of carrots and snow peas, swimming in a subtle, springtime leek soubise sauce that smelled divine. This gentle cooking method is perfect for fish, because it’s almost impossible to overcook it. The dish was finished with plump, orange pearls of trout roe and a slice of lime to add a pop of acid to this creamy, dreamy fish dish. A pescatarian dream dish—it was soft, subtle, and drenched in flavorful sauce, with the sprinkle of trout roe serving as nature’s own salt on this dish.
Ordering dessert can feel like a splurge, but it would be a shame to pass on this list of sweet treats. There’s a little something for everyone.
The poached pears might look like the simplest thing on the menu, but the dish was the most complex. A generous mound of rich, white-chocolate mousse was sprinkled with chopped pieces of red-wine poached Anjou pears redolent with a hint of vinegar. That was nicely balanced with a few drops of saline. A crunch of crushed candied honeycomb ornaments this soft, delicate dish that packed a dizzy and delightful flavor punch.
The lemon tart, made with a Biscoff cookie crust, was more familiar. Filled with a creamy blend of lemon curd and coconut milk, the coconut milk softened the tart bite of the lemon. A circular drizzle of cranberry gel added color. Three fresh cranberries rolled in sugar finished the plate.
The food and beverage program at Cru Bistro & Bottles feels fresh and exciting, especially plunked down in the middle of Brookside, with familiar dishes being reimagined in ways that hold true to their origins, yet veer off in exciting new ways. Cru has casual come-as-you-are vibes, but the wine selection, service, and dishes say date-night dining.
If this is what we have to look forward to from the next wave of restaurant hospitality talent in this city, then I am so grateful to have a front row seat.