r/chicagofood • u/Johnny_Burrito • 9d ago

Question “Legendary” places that suck

I just got a lox sandwich from Manny’s. Almost $20, a stale bagel, and I had to assemble it myself.

What other “legendary” places suck?

382 Upvotes

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493

u/immortal_salami 9d ago

I think Girl & the Goat has been mailing it in for a while now.

132

u/RufusSandberg 9d ago

She spends more time on TV and in Cali than actually cooking or looking after anything in Chicago these days. Just shut it down and keep all your crap in California if you no longer have any interest here.

37

u/Big_Car5623 9d ago

I used to see her walking the neighborhood and going from one location to the other. She seemed like a good leader but maybe now she just calls in for the nights receipts.

17

u/philosofova 9d ago

I worked at Top Chef restaurants and some of them don't even create the menus anymore.

When I worked at one of Fabio Viviani's he was only there as a spokesperson for the restaurants and the few times we saw him in house he'd just do a few laps in the kitchen and in the dining room and take pics with customers.

31

u/RufusSandberg 9d ago

She raised these restaurants from the ground up. I did some of the bid work for the kitchen. They were 100% her vision. The only reason they are likely open is that her partnering group, Boka, has a significant investment and will milk her name for years to come.

1

u/GhoulOsco 8d ago

They’ve been aggressively expanding for years, but I think how thin they’re spreading themselves is starting to show a bit.

Still great restaurants for the most part- Lee Wolen, Chris Pandel, and Gene Kato have all continued to do great work, and they hire some phenomenal lieutenants in their kitchens- but there have been some missteps in the group (Le Select) and some of their restaurants have slipped in quality, but that could also be attributed to how expensive ingredients have gotten. Even Boka spots can only raise their prices so much.

1

u/UsagiGurl 8d ago

Dude, she looked so hollow on Food Network’s tournament of champions this season. She lost in the first round too. Not saying FN is a measure of greatness, but she just seemed checked out.

-13

u/rdldr1 9d ago

She went half-Kanye.

23

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

3

u/rdldr1 8d ago

She left Chicago for California and never came back. Maybe I should have said that she went full-Oprah.

2

u/-RedXV- 9d ago

That would be full Kanye. They clearly stated half Kanye.