In general, people go to steak houses for two reasons: for work, or to celebrate something. Technically, I was at the Barn in Evanston for the first reason, but everybody else was there for the second. The enormous wire chandelier covered with little white bulbs like a Christmas tree made the message clear: we were all here to enjoy one another’s company, and many of us were also going to eat enormous slabs of meat. Not just eat them—we were going to savor them, because a perfectly cooked steak should be a rare pleasure, associated with the people we love best, not compensation for being forced to endure the corporate ritual of kissing up to the out-of-town boss.
The best food at the Barn is brown, starting with the sweetbreads and ending with the chocolate mousse. The sweetbreads are ideal for people who think that sweetbreads are bread. They’re served with capers, potatoes, and cipollini onions, all covered in a lemony brown butter sauce. It’s true that lemons and brown butter are a magical combination that can make just about anything taste good, but the meat is also perfectly cooked, tender and slightly caramelized, with just the slightest metallic aftertaste to remind you what you’re actually eating. The mousse, meanwhile, is light and not too sweet, topped with chopped candied hazelnuts for texture. In between are the roasted maitake mushrooms, which come as a side, and give a perfect hit of umami with a full, meaty texture. As I ate the final bite, I felt genuine sadness.
Service is friendly and ranges from leisurely to slow. The seating upstairs in the loft is quieter, but the extra privacy means you may be neglected by your server for long stretches of time. During one of those long stretches, though, it turned out our server was in the kitchen tracking down the provenance of the butter on the dinner rolls. This is extremely valuable information because that butter, from the Farmhouse Kitchens Cooperative of Bonduel, Wisconsin, is good, creamy and perfectly salted.
Rear 1016 Church St., Evanston 847-868-8041thebarnevanston.com
