Chicago Eats - Owen & Engine

Owen & Engine, pretty cool name, don't you think? I don't know where it came from, but it does take hearing a few times until you actually understand what's being said. I stumbled across this place when we were waiting to see a movie across the street. We were taken away by the cool decor, and the brioche toast our first time around, and we decided that it would be worth a visit for a proper meal. Located in Logan Square across from the movie theater (2700 N. Western Ave.), Owen & Engine is a British pub that uses "meats from animals humanely raised and without growth hormones or antibiotics." Essentially, it's a typical British gastropub with most of the dishes you would expect to see at such a place. As usual, our table got a bunch of plates to share so we could sample the wide variety of foods this Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant had to offer.

Snacks:

oysters on the half shell w/mignonette and lemon

Oysters are oysters. As long as they were alive prior to being shucked, I feel like you know what you're in for. There appeared to be two different types of oysters here, and they didn't taste overly briney/salty (as compared to something else further down). I could have eaten all 12 myself, and it was a nice way to start the meal.

ginger and scallion meatballs with roasted grapes and cilantro

The meatballs here were very delicate, but definitely contained a lot of filler. Preparation was very good, although I felt like it was very light on the seasoning; in other words, I felt like these were fairly bland, in stereotypical British-food fashion. The roasted grapes were fun, though. If you don't get these, I don't think you'd be missing out on too much.

Slagel pork rillettes with sweet pickles, baguette, and lavash

Rillettes is basically similar to pate, using different meats. Here, it's obviously pork. I'll explain it like this - the texture was essentially canned tuna mashed together with pate to form a glob of food. Now it didn't taste like canned tuna. But it didn't really taste like pork, either. That's not a very attractive way to explain it, but it's the most straightforward way. However, it was pretty good; in fact, I enjoyed this texture, and I also liked that it was mild and salt seemed to be used sparingly. However, I must note that the pickles overwhelmed the taste of the rillettes.  The lavash (crispy flatbread crackers) were basically like fried wontons. This dish was good, but nothing extraordinary.

Slagel Farm Scotch egg with stout mustard

A Scotch egg is essentially a hardboiled egg wrapped with sausage, breaded, and deep-fried. I mean, does anything that really sound bad in this? The Scotch egg was my favorite "snack", and the house-made mustard was a wonderful complement. One of the girls just kept the mustard, hoping to find some other foods to spread it on. I found nothing wrong with this, and saluted her wise decision. Get this as a starter.

Entrees:

haddock fish and house-cut chips with malt vinegar aioli and pea puree

Let's start off the entrees with something everyone knows - fish and chips! Lots of fried goodness here. I thought the chips (fat fries) were the best part of this entree. They were fried to a perfect crisp on the outside with a fluffy inside. I love fries, and these definitely are some of my favorites I had in recent memory. The haddock was coated with a straightforward beer batter. They cooked the fish beautifully, and it was moist without being greasy. The pea puree was fairly flavorless, and the special tartar sauce, "sauce gribiche", tasted like any other tartar sauce I've ever had in the past. I understand why fish and chips is popular; afterall, it's all fried. But this is why British food is often labeled as bland. But, for fish and chips, O&E's version is up there as one of my favorites. The chips were fantastic, and the fish was only bested by a place in London - but that's because they used swordfish instead of the more traditional cod or haddock. If you want to try something typically British, I definitely recommend the fish and chips.

housemade Slagel Farms pork bangers and mash with onion gravy

Let's start with the mash - these potatoes were the dense kind of mashed 'taters, but there's nothing wrong with that in my opinion. I thought they tasted just fine with the onion gravy. The sausage bangers were juicy, but not very memorable. Again, I feel like Owen & Engine is following that British cookbook a bit too closely. I like it when sausage has some seasonings, some kick to it! But alas, it wasn't meant to be. I thought the bangers and mash I had at various run-of-the-mill pubs across London were superior to this one.

roasted half chicken with broccoli and fingerling au gratin

I know, I know, I've said before that I generally don't order chicken if I see it on the menu. However, it was highly recommended by our server, so we decided to give it a shot. She was particularly proud of how it was soaked in brine for "several days" to keep it juicy and delicious. What ended up happening was that the chicken ended up being salty and a bit rubbery even. Admittedly, I only had the dark meat whereas the guys that had the white meat thought that the white meat was perfect. I didn't get a chance to try the white meat, but given the Amish chicken I had at Ruxbin, I was disappointed. However, I did love the broccoli and fingerling potato au gratin. It was definitely a lighter version of what you might be used to with au gratin, with a creamy-but-not-gooey cheese sauce.

Dessert:

spiced pumpkin cake with pepita brittle, rum orange granita, chocolate sauce and pumplin anglaise

I really liked this dessert. You could easily smell the pumpkin spice as the cake was sliced into, and the granita was very refreshing. This dessert was light, flavorful, and not overwhelmingly sweet - just what I like from my desserts. I recommend this dessert.

So overall, Owen & Engine delivers on their concept of being a rustic British pub. I did think that everything we ate was cooked just right, and that in of itself is a mark of a great restaurant. But I didn't leave excited about my next trip back here, although the uniquely crafted beer list may be a good enough reason for Round 3.