Gapers Block has ceased publication.

Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
 Thank you for your readership and contributions. 

TODAY

Friday, April 26

Gapers Block
Search

Gapers Block on Facebook Gapers Block on Flickr Gapers Block on Twitter The Gapers Block Tumblr


Drive-Thru
« Young Garlics in Full Swing The Other Red Eye Diet »

Restaurant Mon May 28 2007

Fireside Fare

Fireside Sign 2 As most of you may have noticed, Saturday night was hardly the ideal night for a BBQ here in Chicago. So a friend and I headed to Fireside, a bar/restaurant tucked in among the condos and warehouses on Ravenswood a few blocks north of Bryn Mawr. We started off at a table on the "All Weather" patio but found ourselves getting dripped on, so we moved into the quieter dining room.

The menu at Fireside is expansive, with burgers, salads, sandwiches, pizzas and other higher-priced entrees covering four or five pages. A seafood quesadilla appetizer special caught my eye, so I ordered that as an entree and shared a plate of wings with my friend beforehand. The chicken was tender and the sauce was delicious: not too greasy, not too sweet and just a little spicy. I had some trouble actually finding any seafood in my quesadilla, but the Chihuahua cheese was gooey and plentiful and the accompanying salsa was fresh and packed a real kick. While you won't find anything that will knock your socks off at Fireside, it's a great option for a less-than-gorgeous summer evening.

 
GB store

Patrick / May 29, 2007 4:08 PM

We ate at the Fireside a few weeks ago, after attending a party on Mother's Day - and we had a horrible experience with the food that night. Well, my girlfriend's quesadilla was fine, but my pasta dish was unbelievably bland and boring. It was supposed to have red peppers, but only had some orange peppers and there wasn't any sort of sauce to be found - it looked (and tasted) like they just tossed the tri-color pasta with some veggies, and called it a day. It was more like institutional cafeteria food than some sort of southern inspired dish.

tina / June 6, 2007 4:43 PM

i have to agree with patrick on this one. i've been to fireside twice. i only went back the second time because i thought there was no way it could be as bad as the first. unfortunately, it was. it atmosphere is kind of cozy and the service is okay, but those things will never make up for really terrible food.

GB store

Feature Thu Dec 31 2015

The State of Food Writing

By Brandy Gonsoulin

In 2009, food blogging, social media and Yelp were gaining popularity, and America's revered gastronomic magazine Gourmet shuttered after 68 years in business. Former Cook's Illustrated editor-in-chief Chris Kimball followed with an editorial, stating that "The shuttering of Gourmet reminds...
Read this feature »

GB store

 

Events


Drive-Thru on Flickr

Join the Drive-Thru Flickr Pool.


About Drive-Thru

Drive-Thru is the food and drink section of Gapers Block, covering the city's vibrant dining, drinking and cooking scene. More...
Please see our submission guidelines.

Editor: Robyn Nisi, rn@gapersblock.com
Drive-Thru staff inbox: drivethru@gapersblock.com

Archives

 

 Subscribe in a reader.

GB store

GB Store

GB Buttons $1.50

GB T-Shirt $12

I ✶ Chi T-Shirts $15