chalk redux

i know i already posted about chalk but i just want to let you guys know that the food there is still amazing. they have switched over to a fall/winter menu with lots of yummy fall flavors like pumpkin, potatoes, oats, black rice, pancetta, etc. here are some photos to get you hungry. all of this food was awesome and i forgot to take a photo of the menu so i can't remember what all was in each dish. across the board, everything was ridiculously good:

duck (breast)

cow (new york strip)

scallops

pig (pork belly)

everything was, as i said, completely delicious, but the scallops once again were the best of the best. but we truly loved everything. the pork belly melted in my mouth. the steak was perfectly crusted and juicy. the duck quacked happily into my belly. mmmm. we really enjoyed the bottle of avanti pinot noir that we ordered also. the cocktails (pomegranate sidecars and a manhattan) were just ehh... it seemed like they were kind of watered down and had maybe sat in the shaker too long.

this brings me to my main complaint with the meal. once again, something is just not quite right with chalk. last time, it was an ambivalent server and a long wait for a reserved table. this time, it was an extremely long wait for drinks (not even water was available until about a half hour after we sat down, and the mixed drinks did not come until our food did). our server explained that they had run out of water glasses and that the bar was understaffed and not able to keep up with drink orders, but still. it was the day after thanksgiving and a friday night. the restaurant should have been prepared for a crowd.

liz: wait a second you guys so i can take a picture
jim and beth: too bad! we are starving!

there were other small problems too, which added up to a just less than satisfactory dining experience. the fries came out extremely oversalted. our server replaced them but explained that "people just keep coming in and out of the kitchen" so he thought that probably someone had salted them and then someone else had accidentally resalted them. what? shouldn't there only be one person in charge of salting?

our server was really friendly and funny but clearly had too many tables to handle. we sat with empty glasses for a while before he was able to come back for us to order more. when i asked him to help me choose between the pork and the walleye, his answer was "well i just like meat better than fish so i would pick that." that's great, but i would have liked some description. again, i think he was just overly busy, but why not schedule more servers?

avani and i give the food two forks up

urgent breaking news: the duck sloppy joe is no longer on the menu. le sad! our server explained that the chef does not like to keep things on the menu forever because he gets bored. dude. we eaters were not bored! bring back the duck sloppy joe! i don't care if you change everything else but that was amazing and needs to be a menu staple.

in my opinion, chalk continues to serve some of the best and most creative food (for the price) in cincinnati. however, they need to get it together in terms of the other aspects of the restaurant. a 30 minute wait for a glass of water is just not acceptable to me. the entire theme of the night was that i was constantly thirsty and trying to get more to drink and that is just distracting and unpleasant and really takes away from the meal. and it was especially annoying since the food was so damn good... the last thing i wanted was to be distracted from it.