May Street Market

Let it be known up front, I would rather eat a divine burger in a complete dive than an insipid supper amidst the classiest décor. I suspect I am not alone in this sentiment (witness countless establishments that look like nothing from the outside and don't get much better once you're through the door, yet manage somehow to turn a profit on the merits of the grub alone). That said, I have nothing against, and indeed greatly enjoy, dining in those "finer" establishments that appreciate that to some extent we do eat with our eyes, and the our surroundings are a part of that. May Street Market certainly gets that ambiance can improve the experience of dining. Décor alone, however, does not a restaurant make.

May Street Market is one of those places I really wanted to like. On a recent Saturday night, after learning that it would be nearly ten before we could sit down at West Town Tavern, I called May Street Market to see if they had any tables available. The irony of the situation was not lost on me--West Town Tavern touts itself as a "local" joint, a corner locale where you can go on a weeknight to grab a burger and catch up with your neighbors. May Street Market, however, comes with a certain caché. It has a reputation as being more upscale, more of an occasion restaurant. And yet on a Saturday night at 6 o'clock, where was there still a table available at 7?

While the décor is lovely and the menu enticing, the remaining elements are lacking. The convivial waitstaff needs a lesson in timing, and the food, while flavorful, was just--off; we had already finished our first course before the bottle of wine we had ordered arrived; the butternut squash soup was flavorful but lukewarm; the coq au vin was served in a dish so deep and narrow that it made cutlery impossible to implement, and the steak frites were alternately tough (the steak) and greasy (the frites). Needless to say, we skipped dessert.

The lesson here, for all at May Street, is if you're going to do the whole classic French bistro thing, you'd better learn to make a sauce without breaking it, and to teach your staff the difference between wines from Chile and those from Argentina (we needed to explain this to our waiter). The lesson for diners is probably not a new one: if an eleventh hour reservation sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

May Street Market
1132 W. Grand Avenue
312.421.5547
www.maystreetmarket.com