I don’t see any FTC reports, surprisingly…
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Gauntlet thrown!
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A different experience from Dialogue, as you might imagine. You enter from a staircase in front (there is a door to the right of the entrance to the Gallery) instead of taking the elevator in the rear or the escalator. At the top, they check your temperature and check you in (unlike Dialogue, walk-ins are welcome). Outside dining on the terrace overlooking the Promenade (very pleasant) and a more regular type of menu, albeit with about 20% turnover in the dishes each week. Service remains very good and friendly and the food is excellent. I had a delicious amberjack in a yellow mango curry, followed by a terrific fried soft-shell crab on an ethereal cornbread “pudding” with melted leeks and pickled vegetables as well as two sauces–their takes on cocktail and tartar sauce (both really good), then a well prepared hanger steak with mushrooms and scallions, and a slice of their signature Basque cheesecake for dessert. Like Pasjoli and Dialogue, tip is included in the price of the food. Definitely worth going to.
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Wow! sounds fantastic! what is the price point if you don’t mind my asking
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The amberjack. curry was $23, the softshell was $28, the hanger steak was $32, and the cheesecake was $12.
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Thanks - will have to give it a try.
Went for dinner last night. As @NewTrial said, it’s a much different experience than Dialogue, although still very enjoyable. It’s actually quite pleasant to sit out on the patio overlooking the promenade, as they hung colorful holiday style lights across the middle of the street, and you normally get an ethereal fog as the evening rolls on. If you’re a party of 2, I would recommend one of the two-tops at the edge of the patio to maximize your view.
special: seared buri (amberjack), mango curry, sautéed peppers, basil and petite lettuce, chili oil
This was a delightful way to start the evening. Very fresh tasting amberjack in a potent mango sauce with chunks of mango and little pieces of shishito peppers. As a side note, I ate at Bestia the other night, and some of the shishito peppers scorched my mouth. These shishitos were much more subdued, with just a hint of heat.
tomato, burrata, and strawberry salad
Light and airy. My dining guest doesn’t like salad (or tomatoes), but thought this was delicious. The tomatoes were flavorful and fresh, and very evidently the crème de la crème from the farmer’s market. The strawberries, while not the sweetest i’ve had all year, were semi-sweet and had a perfect medium-soft texture. Underneath it all is essentially a sauce of liquidy olive oil and liquidy burrata. My only complaint about this dish is that they skimped out on the burrata a little bit.
cheddar and rosemary pain d’Epi, onion soubise
We debated whether to get the standard baguette or this. We went with the fancier sounding bread course, and received an impressive looking and perfectly cooked loaf of rosemary-infused bread. The description also says cheddar, and while my dining partner says she tasted the cheese, I was straining my tastebuds to pick up on the cheddar. The onion dipping sauce underneath is tasty. It all adds up to be quite a decadent bread course. While I don’t regret my decision, I would probably go with the regular baguette next time.
special: ribeye carpaccio (thirty day dry aged), pickled mushroom, caramelized onion
We held the mushroom on this dish. Regardless, this was absolutely fantastic, and a major standout. I’ve never had carpaccio before that was so intensely flavorful but light at the same time. The meat was expertly seasoned and cut, and the little bits of caramelized onion added a nice contrasting hint of sweetness.
pork belly, roasted apple and cippolini onion, mustard greens, pickled mustard seed, pork jus
I would like to preface this by saying that i’m usually not a pork belly fan. I find it to be overly indulgent and too fatty. I almost never order it at a restaurant. However, my dining partner gravitated towards this dish, so we decided to give it a shot. And i’m very glad we did. There are about four medium sized pieces of pork belly in the center over a rich, sweet and mustardy sauce. The pork belly was not overwhelmingly fatty, and had a perfect chew and moderate pork flavor. The greens and sauce were nice, but we were getting quite full at this point, and wanted to save room for dessert.
apple cider donuts with caramel pot de créme
I normally find freshly-fried restaurant donuts to be too far on the salty scale or the sweet scale. These donuts, however, managed to straddle the salty-sweet line like a professional tightrope walker. Just the right amount of apple flavor, with a perfect sprinkling of brown sugar. As with the bread course, you can really tell that there’s an extremely high level of baking prowess in the kitchen.
Not pictured: a glass of sauvignon blanc and a frosé.
All-in: ~$150 after tax (tip is included in menu price–it’s a no-tipping restaurant)
The experience is nothing like Dialogue, but the food is as (or more) delicious, and certainly more immediate. They’re not looking to challenge your mind and tastebuds, they’re just looking to cook you the best damn food they can with whatever is fresh at the farmer’s market. The Dialogue team has been through a lot. They had completed their next seasonal menu right before COVID struck, and had to scrap that and pivot to a several course takeout program. However, from what I gathered, the takeout program was not financially viable. In early July, they had again completed a new seasonal menu, and were gearing up to pivot back to indoor dining before the ban was reimposed. Chef Dave and some of his staff were hanging out on the second floor of the Gallery Food Hall one evening, and realized that the abandoned patio overlooking the promenade could be the perfect spot for a new dining experience. And from that realization, Tidbits was born. Dialogue has managed to keep on all of their staff so far, and I was heartened to see Tidbits doing what looked like decent business for a Thursday night, at around 60-70% capacity.
Standouts:
ribeye carpaccio
amberjack
pork belly
donuts
Highly Recommended
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Great!!!
Going tomorrow
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Great review! How is the spacing on the patio?
It felt safely spaced and I am confident that they’re meeting the city and state guidelines. The servers were wearing masks and face shields. They also used gloves when picking up plates or silverware. New gloves they put on while walking up to the table, I might add, not the same pair of gloves they’ve been wearing all day.
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That is great, gives me a lot of confidence in dining with them. Thanks for the explainer.
Safety/spacing is very good there. The experience is very nice especially since it’s not super crowded at Third St Promenade. The food is like Dialogue a la carte. Early on it resembled a lot of Chicago food to me (Boka/Blackbird/Sepia which makes sense considering Beran’s history in Chicago) with an emphasis on richness with many dishes. You also had some typical Beran crunch/salt/sweet punch that you would get at a lot of Dialogue dishes. I do think with time it’s likely going to round out with more mid-range/umami flavor. The baguette is really good. I would say if you are a Dialogue fan (which I am) this will be down your alley.
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No kidding. I haven’t been to the promenade in a while, but my god, it’s a total ghost town, especially on the block that Tidbits is on (3rd between SM and Arizona). The vacancy rate must be pushing 20+% these days.
Yeah the pandemic has been pretty brutal on the retail side of things there
In fact, the night I was there, one of the servers dropped a glove on the floor while trying to put it on. He took out a fresh glove to replace it and treated the dropped glove as trash.
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Second that. ;-D
Can you make reservations? Or is it first come first served?
Reservations available on resy.com ($25 cancellation fee if cancelled with less than 2 hours notice) but walk-ins are welcome if space is available. My dinner was a walk-in.
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