Hello, We went to The Stained Glass in Evanston on Friday night. It was their first night open, and for a first night they pretty much had their act together. They are located on Benson between Clark and Church, just near the Davis street El and Metra stops. Sorry I don't have the phone number, but they are listed. They bill themselves as a wine bar, bistro and wine shop. It's mostly a higher end restaurant with a very good list that also sells wine by the bottle to take home. There is a bar, but it really didn't seem like the kind of place you'd hang out and just drink. This being Evanston, that would probably be illegal anyway ;) The space is small feeling, broken up by stacked wine shelves. The ceilings are high with exposed beams. You can't see the kitchen, but you can see the wines. I felt a bit chilly, but another woman took off her jacket and was in short sleeves, so I might just have been off in temp. It also seemed a bit noisy, there is nothing "soft" to buffer the sound. The food is very good, entrees priced in the mid teens to low twenties. I had wonderful sole with potatoes, jerusalem artichokes, haricots vert and a citrus butter. Small nitpick, it said "baked in filo" on the menu but was sauteed. It was still very good. Salad was mesclun with edible flowers and a honey vinaigrette. My husband had curried salmon wrapped in cabbage with mussels. Very nice, but mine was better. His appetizer was phenomenal, a very rich rabbit tart (tastes like chicken ;) Wine prices are reasonable, with a very nice selection. The nicest thing about the place is a really large selection of wines by the glass. Desserts looked good but we were full. Due to it being the first night, and the place being PACKED, it was a bit slow, so we had eaten a lot of (pretty ordinary) bread. Coffee was good, but they ran out of cups, so we had a bit of a wait again. The decaf didn't taste like decaf, but definitely was. We'll go back again in a few weeks and see how they're getting on. Lee
Chicago, IL