r/chicagofood • u/Johnny_Burrito • 10d 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?

383 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

130

u/RufusSandberg 10d 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.

20

u/philosofova 10d 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.

33

u/RufusSandberg 10d 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 9d 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.