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Chicago Tribune Reviews Chief O'Neill's Pub

SUPER CHIEF

CAREFUL COOKING MAKES IRISH PUB A DINER'S DESTINATION
By Andy Badeker

4 forks: Don't miss it

Tribune Staff Writer
August 9, 2000

Most pubs, even those with separate dining rooms, emphasize convivial atmosphere and beer more than cooking. So a place serious about all three is a find indeed.

Chief O'Neill's, named not for a clan leader but for a former Chicago policeman, rises from one of Elston Avenue's flat-iron corners in the space of the former Oinkers bar. Its royal blue facade hides a spacious, inviting bar and, beyond that, a comfortable dining room with a surprising view through a broad wall of windows: a restful swathe of green in the form of a beer garden.

The bar consists of deep, dark wood booths, dim lighting and, the first night we visited, a convincingly Irish fiddler in a corner. (We newcomers in the dining room thought the music was recorded, until the applause broke out.) In the dining room, a platform at one end (watch your step) hosts live music most nights of the week. Stenciled Celtic designs drive the theme home.

The place is populated by a roving cast of waiters with Irish accents. Service, top-notch on our first visit, suffered a few weeks later when a large group overwhelmed the two servers.

Aside from three main-course salads, the menu consists of hearty food more apt to awaken winter appetites.

But all are perfect with an Imperial pint of various well-poured draft ales ($4), and the Chief's cooks take unusual care in preparation and presentation: A chicken pie's flaky pastry is just the finishing touch on an already fine dish, and even such vulnerable vegetables as cauliflower and cabbage arrive perfectly cooked.

For starters, the old standby of beer-battered onion rings here becomes wide strips of sweet onion deep-fried in a tempura-like coating. Attractive and tasty (though too greasy on our first visit), this $3.95 dish comes with a mayo-based dipping sauce that "may have a bit of white wine" in it, according to a waiter with a knack for secrecy.

Steamed mussels in wine ($6.95), enriched with cream and topped with maybe too much chopped garlic, provide enough briny mouthfuls to get several diners ready for entrees. Our batch was gritty in patches: The kitchen should leave that last bit of liquid in the pot.

Potato-leek soup ($1.95 cup, $2.95 bowl) ends up a smooth puree, pleasant but nothing special. More interesting is the Cheddar cheese soup with Guinness ($2.95 cup, $3.95 bowl), grainy and sharp, with a round of toasted, cheese-topped French bread bobbing on it. (Unlike the entrees, which the kitchen seasoned sparingly, the soups are plenty salty.)

A starter that is also effectively a salad is the salmon cakes ($6.95), crisp outside and soft inside without being mushy from an overdose of bread crumbs. The two 3-inch cakes rest on a thick bed of mixed baby greens.

The Chief's range of sandwiches, from grilled salmon ($7.50) to corned beef ($6.25), went unsampled as we favored the entrees.

A piped crown of mashed potatoes, browned under the broiler, tops a mix of ground beef and diced vegetables for a classic shepherd's pie ($8.95). This and the other casseroles earn high marks for gravy that is a light binder, not a floury porridge.

Order the chicken and mushroom pie ($8.95), and beneath the dramatic pastry crust you'll find a creamy combo of lean chicken chunks and good-textured vegetables.

Braised beef tips ($9.95) provide a beefy take on the pot pie, with sliced potatoes taking the place of the pastry topping. Again, the meat is lean and tender.

The generous serving of lamb stew ($8.95) folds lean meat in with peas and potatoes, but the dish could stand more seasoning.

Don't overlook humble corned beef and cabbage ($6.25): The beef, salty and tender, is trimmed of every scrap of fat and the cabbage wedge manages to be tender but not overcooked.

Fish and chips ($8.95) dresses strips of cod in the same batter as the onion appetizer. Large golden fries and a mayo-dressed slaw make fine accompaniments.

Desserts, including variations on cheesecake, aren't made in-house, and in any event our dedication to the rest of the menu left us no room to maneuver.