Baume & Brix

Dishes enjoyed include:
Kimura — 42 Below Vodka, Aperol, St. Germain, Fresh Grapefruit
Dragonfly — Grey Goose Le Poire, Green Chartreuse, Fresh Basil, Citrus
Foie Gras, Seared — golden raisin, candy cap mushroom, beet
Chicken Liver Mousse — fresh focaccia, egg salad, crispy skin
Shrimp & Grits Bisque — rock shrimp, corn, scallion
Grilled Octopus — in the style of ‘Fun Dip’
Potato Chip Gnocchi — sour cream & allium, caviar
Bacon & Egg — maitake mushroom, polenta, black truffle
Duck Breast — mushroom duxelles, squash, barley
’Grilled Cheese’ — Brun-​uusto cheese, quince, rooibos ice cream
’Frostee & Fries’ — potato ice cream, milk chocolate, banana
Cookies & Milk — chocolate chip, vanilla milk
With the short lived restaurant from Ben Roche and Thomas Bowman now closed it seems silly for me to delve too deeply into what did and did not work about the space on Hubbard Street, but suffice it to say that from the intriguing cocktails to the $ 24 jar of a dozen fresh cookies much of what my sister, Nate, and I ordered that night was playful yet well conceptualized and fun but also delicious. While service could have used a tune up (or simply a bit less arrogance) I look forward not only to what comes next in the space, but also to where Chef Roche ends up as dishes such as the Fun Dip Octopus, Grilled Cheese Dessert, and Candy Cap Foie Gras all indicated to me that the young chef’s time with Homaro Cantu was well spent honing an eye for intriguing ingredient pairings while at the same time overcoming his teacher’s unfortunate penchant for form over flavor.

The service here was top notch so no complaints there.
My beef is with the food, menu, and execution.
The menu was simple… too simple. I found the descriptions of the dish to be basically worthless and in fact, the server had to describe everything to me in more detail (I didn’t ask, he did this on his own). My overall feeling was they they were trying way too hard to be modern and simple, which actually just came off as pretentious.
I ended up going with the «fish and chips». I should have known better than ordering something in parentheses so this is my fault, however please don’t call a dish something that it is not and then have to explain it later. This turned out to be whole smelt, battered and fried. No chips. Very weird concept and not very well done.
Also got the gazpacho, which also required further description (not tomato based), however it did taste good. Not amazing, but good. For $ 11 or so, I expect amazing.
This place may be fun to drink at with a group and share appetizers, but I probably wouldn’t come here again.

Just a quick update to alert potential diners regarding some apparent red flags at Baume & Brix. Eater posted an article about Ben Roche leaving the restaurant:
After reading this article, my wife reached out to another chef that works there that we are friendly with for another perspective (as we had the kitchen table booked for next month) and he advised us to cancel our reservation.
While I am retaining my five star rating based on two excellent previous meals here (and my wife also had an outstanding business dinner here), I personally would be very hesitant to dine here right now and am very concerned about Baume & Brix’ future.
I will update further if I find out anything more substantial.

Beautifully decorated, interesting dishes and excellent service.
However, the (delectable) appetizers were TINY! I am always happy to shell out cash for a tasty meal with high-​quality ingredients. However, after my date and I had already racked up $ 40 on two appetizers that barely wet our appetites, I was a little worried we would have to go get a snack after dropping $ 165 on this delicious, but less than filling meal. The entrees certainly made up for the starters, as they were quite large and absolutely phenomenal. We ordered the duck leg and halibut.
The cocktails were fabulous as well, pricey, but that’s to be expected at a place of this caliber. All in all, a good experience, but I would probably skip the appetizers next time.

Family was in town and we wanted to have dinner at a restaurant we had previously enjoyed and was a bit different so we headed back to Baume & Brix. While it was still decent, I did not like the changes to the menu they have made since our last visit.
The «flower pot» carpaccio is gone replaced by a take on a Ruben. We skipped that. I opted for the tartare with the «naked» lobster. This dish has been reworked and now you can barely taste the lobster and it’s basically just smearing some junk on toasted pita bread. Pretty boring. My partners cerviche was okay but was way too «oiniony». However my brother-in-law’s octopus «fun dip» was a pleasant surprise and was the best part of the meal. For my entrée, I ordered the black cod again because i enjoyed it so much on my last visit. Unfortunately, they have changed this dish and it’s not for the better, The big «spoon» dish is gone as is the forbidden rice. Instead they serve it in a boring, wide flat bowl and have now added long, intrusive noodles and carrots. The mushrooms have been doubled up and the broth was way to acidic. The fish was still good but I really missed the rice and other components of this dish. Since desserts fell flat on our last visit, we decided to skip ‘em. Glad we did because based on the decline of dishes I used to love, I can only imagine how far the desserts have fallen when I wasn’t wowed by them the first time.
On our first visit, we were so excited about returning and exploring the menu more so I was very disappointed on our 2^nd visit. It’s fine to «tweak» dishes and even remove them from the menu if you replace them with other dishes that are just as good. Baume & Brix took excellent dishes and pretty much ruined them. Not sure what their goal was with the changes but I have no desire to return.

We hosted a bridal shower here for lunch last week and had a great experience. We were given a separate section to spread out, enjoy our lunch and open gifts. The service was good, but the food was better — flavorful and perfectly sized. We shared the arancini and the potato chip gnocchi… OMG, absolutely delicious! I could have eaten both of those as my entrees. My entrée was the cheddar risotto and it was also super tasty… I wished the bowl went on and on.

Far from my favorite place in Chicago, but it’s a good spot if you happen to be in River North and need to eat.
Word of warning: those $ 24 cookies are a WASTE OF MONEY. Skip. (Other than being freshly baked, there’s nothing special about them. Specialty’s is better.)
But my crispy duck leg was very well prepared, and portion size was above average I’d say.
The menu is a crowd pleaser, so you can take anybody here and they’ll find something.

Just got back from here and needless to say… I was not impressed.
Ambiance was pretty cool though. I liked the look of the place. Clean, white, romantic.
Service was bad. Our server started off being attentive, but slowly stopped checking on us. We never received any bread. Total bummer, I am a carb junkie. Literally, we would be sitting there empty handed for 10 minutes at a time. It was really frustrating. She did look like she had a lot of tables, but still… shouldnt compromise quality.
Food was OK. We had:
The octopus which was good. It was grilled to perfection and the dipping sauces were different.
The rock shrimp bisque was creamy and cheesey. There was only like two extremely small shrimp in it… bummer.
The carpaccio was pretty disappointing. It was extremely small for the price and there was these puff balls that made the texture off. It also was supposed to be some sort of spin on a reuben… I didnt taste anything.
The burrata was pretty good, although again, it was an extremely small piece for the price. RPM has double the size and cheaper… kind of ridiculous.
The bacon and egg was actually really tastey. I did feel like there was a LOT of fat and little meat
The black cod was also good, however it was two small pieces with about a tablespoon of rice and one small dumpling for $ 29…overpriced
The potato chip gnocchi tasted like tater tots. I was not impressed. I was looking for some amazing gnocchi and this was definitely not.
The frosty and fries tasted like a banana split. I didnt think it tasted like a frosty and fries at all. The cherry ketchup also just through me off. The ice cream tasted like vanilla and chocolate… not potato?
The general theme was it was WAY overpriced… like by 15%. We left still hungry and spent $ 167. For that price, I expect great service, great food and a full belly… unfortunately none of that happened.
I wont be back :(

100% Underrated — UnilocalERS!
Absolutely Incredible meal!!! Very fun and sophisticated food.
(Side note: It was on my birthday so I’m a lot more critical of my dinner)
To start explore the «explore» section. All are small plates and you can have fun!
Overall, we were just tickled in flavor heaven!
We had (In this order)
Burrata. Perfect balance of flavors.
Oysters. Two types and both were delicious!
Shrimp & Grits. Creamy perfect balance of flavors.
Octopus. What a fun presentation and dipping set up! The dips are powders and delicious. The octopus is braised over night and is not chewy at all.
Naked lobster: fun and light. Very unique flavor combo.
Entrees:
Cod was to die for. I am still thinking about it a week later.
Pork Chop. My husband was floored w/​how good his was.
Conquer: Panna Cotta healthy deliciousness. It has beets and is a yummy dessert!
High quality food in a non-​pretentious warm modern hip environment.
They are now opening for lunch! Check out that menu :-)

I took my monthly dinner club to try Baume and Brix for restaurant week. Overall it was a great meal experience but nothing to write home about.
Ambience and service — gorgeous space and really friendly service. The amount of people they had bussing our food out so all 10 of us received our food at the same time was really impressive
Food — it had its ups and downs (though definitely nothing horrible. The menu seemed all over the place though, and this is based off an already selective and pared down Restaurant Week menu. The portions sizes didn’t seem to match (some too big some too little) and the dishes seemed to pair together strangly.
Highlights —
Red Curry Beef — HUGE portion, really nice thai flavor and quite unique
Shrimp and Grit soup — Hearty and delicious
Fries and Frostee dessert — Love this concept
Just Ok —
Naked lobster — almost TOO light, i could’t even tell there was lobster
Pork tail — The tail was good but didn’t have enough accoutrements so it came off dry
I would definitely come back here again because we had a great experience but I think they need to continue refining how the items on their menu fit together.

We recently dined at Baume & Brix and by far it was the best meal we’ve had in a while. Everything was perfectly cooked, and the chefs do a great job of combining different tastes and textures that really come together and blow you away. The dishes we had:
Grilled Octopus:
This dish was the star of the evening, and we still think about it. It is one of the best octopus dish we’ve had anywhere, and comes close to, if not surpasses the Octopus Carpaccio dish we had at Tru nearly ten years ago. It was perfectly cooked, with the right texture, and the dipping powders were a fun twist. We will come back again and again for this dish.
Naked Lobster:
The Naked Lobster was our second favorite dish of the night. With parsnip crisps, celery root purée and vanilla-​potato foam, it was light and refreshing. We loved the taste and texture, with the softness of the lobster and foam contrasting nicely with the crispiness of the parsnip crisps.
Potato Gnocchi:
This dish was good. More like soft tater tots than gnocchi though.
Black Cod:
Perfectly cooked cod in a flavorful broth, paired nicely with the texture of the forbidden rice cake. Great dish.
Cookies & Milk:
We heard a lot about this dessert and we were excited. The presentation is great with the old milk jugs and glasses. The walnut-​infused milk was delicious. I was expecting chocolate chip cookies, but we got walnut raisin cookies instead, but they were still good.
Service was friendly and attentive, and the space was well-​designed. We can’t wait to come back and try the other items on the menu (and the grilled octopus!).

Thank you, Restaurant Week, for introducing us to this place. We started at the bar and tried some of their cocktails. Both were great. We also ordered a few apps until our table was ready — the octopus and the burrata. I would come back and only order these! The octopus had different dipping powers to try and they were all amazing.
We all ordered the restaurant week menu when we got to the table, but we each tried different things on it so we could try more things on the menu. The naked lobster and shrimp and grits were up first. I was expecting to love the lobster more, but I actually couldn’t stop eating the bisque. It was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted — our whole table agreed. It was creamy, rich and just the right amount — any more would have been too much.
Next we had the carpaccio and the pig tails — again, both great. I never would have expected to like the pig tails, but they kind of reminded me of pork belly on the bone. Really tender and flavorful. The main dishes were red curry beef and potato chip gnocchi. We also ordered the white fish just to try it. Loved everything, but we all really liked the white fish. And FINALLY for dessert I would recommend the grilled cheese. The frostee and fries was great, but I loved the salty sweet combo of the grilled cheese more.
Service was excellent, wine pairings were excellent, ambiance was excellent, we would totally come back.
⁴⁰⁄₃₆₅

Tried Baume & Brix during Restaurant Week and am SO glad I did! Another excellent addition to River North (or River West, whatever you would call this area).
We ordered in pairs so we could try both options for each course, so I was happy to get to try 8 dishes. I believe all 8 dishes are on the regular menu. Lizzy W has an awesome review that goes into great detail of the dishes — so I just add a few of my own thoughts.
Naked Lobster was the big surprise of the night — I was afraid the texture of uncooked lobster was going to be too chewy, but it was so ground up and deliciously prepared that the texture was a non-​issue. Would compare it in texture to the ground up spicy tuna inside sushi rolls.
The flavor of the pig tails was great, but I would not order this myself. There just wasn’t enough meat to be very satisfying. I’m glad I tried it on my epic quest to explore swine from snout to tail, but would focus my efforts elsewhere when there are so many other awesome options here.
The potato chip gnocchi (imagine crispy, dried gnocci) was definitely good, but I would be disappointed with it as a main. It lives on the «Summit» (which in the real world appears to translate to «mains») portion of the menu, but worked perfectly as a nice «side» to the Red Curry Beef. Which was… wow. So good.
Loved the frostee and fries dessert, the grilled cheese one was fine, but didn’t get me too jazzed.
Add great wine pairings, friendly/​attentive service and terrific atmosphere (energetic, but not crazy loud) to the good food and you have the makings of an awesome night out in Chicago.

I wanted to love Baume & Brix… really I did! I’ve been watching B&B since it opened and finally got the chance to go during Restaurant Week last night. It was a cold and dreary night but with the fires lit and warm ambiance, you definitely wouldn’t know it. I really liked the décor — different types of lamps in each section! The chairs were modern and comfy as were the tables although they were scratched up beyond belief for being open just a few months.
Our waitress was pleasant, although nothing overly amazing. The bussers were amazing though, very friendly and so on top of filling water glasses & clearing tables. Kudos to them! One blow was that everyone at our table had to get the restaurant week menu if one person did. I wasn’t planning on getting the restaurant week menu so was a tiny bit of an upset for me, but my guess is they wanted the timing of the courses to match for each person. So now I was faced with getting the Restaurant Week menu and the first course had two seafood dish choices. I’m allergic to shellfish but thankfully the chef was able to prepare my dish sans shrimp.
Dinner started on a very high note with Mushroom (usually shrimp) & Grits Bisque. This soup was incredibly flavorful, smooth and creamy with crunchy corn bits in it. I honestly can’t imagine the soup without mushrooms so I was very thankful for the chef making the adjustment for me. My entire group loved the bisque so much — we all scraped our bowls dry!
Carpaccio was my second course in the menu. The shaved beef melted in my mouth but I found the green peppercorn and mustard didn’t pair especially well with the beef.
Before the main course we were brought out bread and herb butter. My friends and I weren’t big fans of the herb butter but the bread was so well baked, soft and delicious!
I was very excited about the potato chip gnocchi prior to going but it just fell short for me. It needed something more in the flavor department, something was missing. The gnocchi didn’t seem very crispy on the outside but rather a tad mushy, as were the potato chips. I was hoping for a sharp crunch contrast with the chips but that didn’t happen. If I went back to Baume & Brix, I would skip the gnocchi without a doubt.
The strangest thing happened when we got our desserts… We all just sat there is confusion. I’ll admit, B&B takes some bold choices when putting together their dishes. I thought the grilled cheese sounded like a cool concept but the dish did not come together for me. The Brun-​uusto cheese was amazing. It truly was like grilled cheese all on it’s own. I must pick up some of this cheese! It had asian pears on top which were neither crunchy or super soft — somewhere in between. It just was an odd dish to me and not in the fantastic odd way I was hoping for.
Dinner with tax & tip was $ 59 for me and it didn’t sell me on the restaurant. I might go again and try different items but I’m definitely not rushing back anytime soon.

I had to go 5 stars because Yay! I’m a fan just doesn’t seem to cover my enthusiasm for this place. Tucked away in the former Rhumba location, I had no idea that this place existed until I started looking through the Restaurant Week options. Now that I know it’s here, I have to come back asaptually!!!
We had a late reservation but even at our 915pm dinner time, the place was packed. The staff was friendly and accommodating. The bartender had an epic mustache and that alone made me excited to drink any concoction he poured for me.
We sat down for dinner and the Restaurant week selection just all looked so good. There were things we might not order on our own, but four courses, two options for each course, and two of us??? Pretty much made perfect sense to just bring the whole menu and we’ll take care of cleaning the plates.
DONE AND DONE!!! Here’s the breakdown:
Course 1:
Naked Lobster: Celery Root Purée, Vanilla-​Potato Foam, topped with Crispy Parsnips. My favorite of the two. It was light and flavorful. The celery root purée was smooth and velvety and the vanilla-​potato foam was understated but paired so well with the lobster. REALLY GOOD.
Shrimp & Grits Bisque: Rock Shrimp, Corn, Scallion. Iris’ favorite of the two. The bisque was lighter than I expected. It looked like it may be a little on the thick side but it wasn’t. The dehydrated corn was a great pop of flavor and the shrimp were a great addition.
Course 2:
Carpaccio: Shaved beef, Green Peppercorn, Mustard. SO GOOD!!! The ingredients complimented each other so well and the beef was tender and delicious.
Pig Tails: Crispy bone-​in Pig tails, greek salad, minted yogurt. Seriously… WOW. The fatty porky deliciousness that was displayed on this plate is the stuff that dreams are made of. The yogurt sauce had a nice tang to cut through the fattiness of the pork but not overpower it. This was my first pig tail experience and if this is what I’ve been missing, I haven’t been living.
Course 3:
Potato Chip Gnocchi: Sour Cream, Allium, Mushrooms. Fantastic texture to these. Crisp on the outside and smooth and creamy inside. The complete composed bite, with sauce and shrooms was out of this world. Really great dish.
Red Beef Curry: Coconut Rice, Lemon, Flowering Kale. I don’t even know that there are words to explain the perfection of this plate. The beef was fall apart fork tender. The red curry paste gave it a subtle kick that just made me that much more obsessed about it. The fried lemon segment was the perfect acid compliment to the fatty beef heaven. The flowering kale absorbed the saucy citrusy notes so well and was the perfect vessel to move the glory of these flavors from the plate to my mouth. Basically, this was the rock star dish of the night. It was both our favorites. We couldn’t even talk while we were eating it. And when it was demolished we just sat there and looked at each other sad that there wasn’t another plate of it on it’s way out.
Course 4:
«Grilled Cheese» — Brun-​Uusto Cheese, Quince, Roobios Ice Cream. Great savory dessert. The Roobios Ice Cream was new for me but it was addicting for sure.
«Frostee & Fries» — Potato Ice Cream, Milk Chocolate Mousse, Banana. Ok so look, I’m not a huge banana for dessert girl. But this banana may have changed my mind. It is a thin slice that is perfectly caramelized. When you cut through it you can hear the coating crack and then just melt in your mouth. The potato ice cream was interesting.,.but in a good way. It was a good contrast to the sweet banana. The mousse was exactly as billed, like a frostee. Overall, solid dessert. Not to heavy or overpoweringly sweet.
So the moral of the story… go here.
Thanks.

I came to Baume & Brix unexpectedly before the most recent Chicago Unilocal event (which was held next door at The Grid.) I had about twenty minutes to kill and didn’t want to stand outside.
At 5:40 on a Tuesday, there were about four other patrons there aside from myself, but at 6 when I left, it had filled up. I sat at the bar and was immediately given a glass of water and drink menu. They only have about twelve wines (4 white, 4 red, 4 sparkling) by the glass. I’ve been on a big Pinot Grigio kick lately, and was bummed to see that the only one they had was Californian (domestic wines give me migraines.) When I asked the bartender if he had a Pinot that wasn’t Californian, (the answer was yes, but not by the glass) he offered to let me taste any of the other wines I wanted before making a decision.
I ordered a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc, and he still insisted that I taste it before committing to the glass, which I appreciated.
As I said, I was only there for maybe twenty minutes, but it was a nice twenty minutes. I had my glass of wine, paid, and was on my way.

Baume & Brix is a very nice addition to the River North area. My girlfriend took me here for my birthday and I really enjoyed it. Overall the atmosphere is really nice and the food was good.
Items ordered from the Explore section
— Naked Lobster: parsnip, celery root, vanilla-​potato foam
— Burrata: bacon-​date compote, tatsoi, pepitas
— Carpaccio: shaved beef, green peppercorn, mustard
The naked lobster sounded really interesting, however, I was disappointed in this dish and would not order it again. The Burrata was very tasty, but the highlight of these starters was definitely the Carpaccio. I don’t use this word often to describe food but I will in this case AMAZING!!!
Items ordered from the Summit section
— Lamb T-​bone: turnips, brussel sprouts, chai spice
— Beef Shortrib with Red Curry: coconut, lemon, flowering kale
I particularly didn’t care for the short ribs but my girlfriend said she really liked them. The Lamb T-​bone on the other hand was awesome.
The highlights of my meal were the Carpaccio and the Lamb T-​bone

I came here with mixed feelings as the reviews are pretty much all over the place for this, one of the newest additions to Hubbard Street. I went with a friend who is a little less fond than me in «food adventures» so I hoped for his sake that this was going to be a great experience!
Located in the former Rumba space– this restaurant is huge…with the bar still taking up the front third of the place and the seating areas in the back. We were there on a week night so the place was a little slow and we had our choice of tables.
Our server, Rafael, was great! He offered up several things that he loved and explained how the menu worked and that most dishes are a combination of «Savory and Sweet». Okay, let’s see how this comes into play.
We started with the naked lobster and the grilled octopus. The naked lobster was not so naked as it was covered in some type of a vanilla foam sauce. It was good– but I thought the real winner was the grilled octopus. This came with three powdered «dips», that you could combine for many flavors to coat the octopus in. Delicious and fun at the same time! We also had the fois gras which was a little odd as it was like ice cream with crumbled fois gras over it. Okay– but the octopus was still my favorite.
On to entrees. I had the black cod which was great and my friend had the pork chop, equally as good. The black cod sat atop some black rice cakes and made a beautiful presentation in the asymmetric bowl that it comes in.
But the thing that still has us talking– is what we ordered for dessert! When you order your food– you are asked if you are thinking about the «Cookies and Milk» as your dessert as you need to place your order then. At $ 24, we wondered just what this was going to be so we ordered it. And just when we were finished with our entrees– over to our table comes a cookie jar filled with warm chocolate chip cookies (I think there may have been 12 in the jar) and an equally cute little milk bottle with Earl Grey Tea flavored milk. Not sure the milk went with all the cocktails I had had, but the cookies were amazing! And since we couldn’t (or didn’t) eat all of them– the kitchen packaged up the remaining cookies in cute little butcher wrap and string for us to take with us! And let me tell you– they were just as good with my morning coffee the next day!
Service is terrific. The manager (Ryan?) stopped by several times to see how we were enjoying ourselves. And he is so proud of the new restaurant that he personally escorted us downstairs to the new lounge «The Grid» that is just beneath Baume and Brix. Our server was friendly and engaging and everyone in the place just wants you to have a good time!
There is valet parking out in front although on week nights you can probably find street parking at this far end of Hubbard Street.
Given it is a little ways away from the crush of all the other places on Hubbard Street– this may end up having to be a destination. But with the great food they are serving upstairs and The Grid to relax with drinks after wards downstairs, I think it is worth a few extra blocks to the west.
And if you see me there– no– you cannot have one of my cookies!

Had high expectations for this place, since it’s one of the newest spots in Riv North, but it totally disappointed! As soon as I walked in, I thought it would be the perfect spot, but I can’t get over how terrible the food was. We got two appetizers, the short ribs and duck entrees, and passed on the dessert. The appetizers were so forgettable, I can’t even fully remember what we had. One had bacon bits/​panna cotta and the other one was a beef carpaccio. The short-​ribs smelled disgusting and rotten. The duck was so rare and somehow dry, just awful!
Honestly, not sure where the «global-​inspiration» was in this menu. The only fortunate thing about eating here is that I was on a first date and didn’t have to pay. But this is hands down, one restaurant I would not recommend.

I was underimpressed.
First of all, isn’t this spot supposed to be new and trendy? Why was it empty??? Granted, it was a Wednesday evening, but really? Anyway, one of my friends is moving to Europe this weekend, so we wanted to try out a new spot. This seemed good and I had read some fun things, so we tried Baume & Brix.
The room itself is lovely and the little ‘private’ table is really cute — or at least looked that way. I liked the exposed brick (a little overdone, but not too bad), and in general, the spot looks upscale.
Our server was ok… I mean, he explained the whole «each item has a savory and sweet flavor» thing and he was quite nice. However, he was a bit overbearing and every time he came by, he would sort of stay and linger… just weird.
The food started off great. We had the burrata and then the naked lobster (really interesting and tasty). I then had the halibut and it was so disappointing. It literally had zero flavor. The white asparagus was tasty and the sauce was ok, but the halibut had no flavor — I typically like fish — even when not really seasoned, but this was bad. I heard the black cod was really salty, but tasty.
So, Baume & Brix — good concept, good space, friendly service, but your dishes are hit or miss. Value is ok for the portion size and quality, but just be careful on ordering. I’d stick with the smaller place (and dessert sounded great as well, though we didn’t try it).