Dixie's been open a week or two now. I went with a friend last week on Thursday evening (August 4, 2016). We had a reservation, but our table wasn't quite ready, so we sat in the bar area. Very cute, and you can have small bites there. Staffing seemed a little scattered - we didn't seem to have anyone dedicated to the seats, so it took some time to order. It must be a separate business, you can't take your bar tab to the restaurant. We didn't get our wine before it was time to go to our table, though we didn't have a terrible long wait, so that was OK.
We were seated upstairs, which is pretty but loud. There was one larger party and several individual "loud talkers" so without shouting ourselves we had a hard time hearing each other. It seemed quieter downstairs, but has fewer tables there.
Our server was nice and quite personable. Speaking with him, it seemed as though quite a few of the servers had come from Alinea. At least one of the bus men there also works at other local restaurants Toast and AMK. Service was great, and we never felt a lag or rush. Food arrival timing was also just fine.
Other reviews have said that dishes were small, but we though the amount of food was appropriate - we didn't get any of the larger dishes, so didn't expect to be getting huge plates of food. We shared the following (and I took my 1/2 of the Tomato Pie home):
BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
pepper jelly
These were rolled, you could see the layers. I think maybe they were a little hard/crunchy but I liked that. My dining companion said that she though you had to have the jelly, that the biscuits themselves were a little dry. I didn't think that was the case, but I like that kind of thing.
CARROTS
boiled peanut hummus - cilantro - chicory coffee
The hummus was sort of a peanut butter mousse. It was quite rich. We liked it, and fount it much more filling than other hummus.
TOMATO PIE
heirlooms - goat cheese - tomato jam
Very tasty, very wet - the crust was thin and crispy, a nice contrast between the sweet tomatoes and the mildly tangy goat cheese.
PIMIENTO CHEESE TAMALE
green tomato chutney - fried green tomato
I didn't really taste the pimiento cheese, that flavor seemed to get lost in the corn and "fried" flavors, but they were very tasty.
DEVILED CRAB
avocado - collard juice - jalapeno - seeded bread
This was also quite rich. Very tasty. It was not big lumps of backfin meat, more shreds, but still tasted like crab.
Overall I enjoyed it a lot. It's definitely more upscale than Lillie's, with prices to match, but I'd be happy to go back.
Dixie
1952 N. Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 688-4466
http://dixiechicago.com/
Leek
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