I finally made it to the new Bob Chinn’s Crabhouse downtown. Its been open for awhile, and its only a few blocks from work, but its a bit expensive for lunch. Dave and I went over there for our “last time to have lunch before the new year, oh yeah and lets have beer” lunch.
To compare it to its Wheeling cousin its definitely a more formal atmosphere. The food, most importantly the rolls, are just as good as the original. The menu is different, so it took me a bit to decide what I wanted to eat. I decided on the Louisiana-style fried catfish. It was great. I also had a nice Goose Island Honker’s Ale and stuffed myself on the garlic rolls.
As pointed out to me by Jordan, according to this article on Metromix the Chicago Bob Chinn’s is actually owned by Bob’s son. That explains some of the differences. However, the goal of the food is to stay as true as possible to the original.