Silver Cloud

I'm meeting a vendor for lunch tomorrow at Silver Cloud on Damen. Has anyone been? I couldn't find any info doing a site search. What's the deal with this place?

It's a bar of some character, with a decent Sunday brunch (a reasonable alternative to the lines at the Bongo Room). That's as much as I know...

Steve,

Silver Cloud is one of the few Bucktown spots that I'm not totally upset about being dragged into. It's a place that manufactures an old-school style (like Club Lucky does). The food is primarily "comfort food": pot pie, meatloaf, mac n' cheese, etc. I haven't been there in years, but I remember being not completely disappointed by the meatloaf & mashed potatoes.

I know that's not a ringing endorsement. Silver Cloud is never my first choice for dining out, but I wouldn't protest if someone was buying me lunch there.

Silver Cloud Bar & Grill
1700 N. Damen Ave.
773-489-6212

Best,
Michael

I've been there a couple of times. Their burgers are very good, but the accompanying tater tots were not as fresh and crisp as I would have liked. I've also tried the mac & cheese and thought it was very average at best.

Thanks for the replys and all the faint praise of this place. Since I'm not buying, I'll make the most of my visit and report back.

I've actually eaten at Silver Cloud a few times, for some reason (albeit not a for while). Food is, as you might have guessed, OK. Chicken Pot Pie, pot roast, Frito Pie, that kind of stuff.

I would advise you, if at all possible, to get a table outside. I'm not keen on the inside at all, a bit dark and without much character. The little outdoor section is actually rather nice (in fact, that might be the reason I've been there a few times, now that I think of it).

I used to live a few blocks from Silver Cloud, and would visit every other month or so. I tried many items, but once I had the spinach salad, it was all that existed for me there. Artichoke hearts, sliced almonds, and all sorts of other things I can't remember at the moment. It's been about a year since I've had it, but it was still a great salad the last time I was there. For the life of me I can't remember the bottled iced tea they serve (I want to say Republic of Tea, but that can't be right), but I remember it being really good.

Decent dinners - especially the grilled cheese with tomato soup. Essentially a comfort food place that is pretty consistent and with a good beer and cocktail selection.

In that price range, its far better than the other wicker/bucktown spots. Although an argument could be made that Swank Frank is better.

ab wrote:Decent dinners - especially the grilled cheese with tomato soup. Essentially a comfort food place that is pretty consistent and with a good beer and cocktail selection.

In that price range, its far better than the other wicker/bucktown spots. Although an argument could be made that Swank Frank is better.

I'd love to hear that argument, because I can't imagine a day in hell where swank frank is better than Silver Cloud.

And I don't like Silver Cloud.

I have only been to Silver Cloud once, but would not return. A friend of mine and I used to do dinner once a week, and Silver Cloud was one of her suggestions. We wanted to sit outside and had to wait for about 20 minutes for a table (not that uncommon in the area, so I didn't see this as being a very big deal), so we waited at the bar in the mean time for cocktails. I'm a big (as I call them) 'girly' martini fan and Silver Cloud had an interesting list. I opted for the smore martini, which sounded really interesting and I've never seen before. On the drink menu it stated that there was coffee in the drink, I was no thinking that this would cause the drink to sway too much from the typical 'girly' martini since I've had several espresso martini's etc. that were quite good. I was very disappointed to find that the coffee was the main ingredient of the drink, which was served warm. This might have been my own taste, or simply that it was summer time and I didn’t' know I was ordering a warm drink, but the drink tasted like black coffee with liquor served in a martini glass. Not at all what I was expecting.

The issue we had was that the table they sat us at was right under a tree (1/2 the tables outside were), and the tree was full of chirping birds. Sitting under a tree full of birds didn't seem like the best place to be for dinner. We asked the waiter if we could have a different table there was another one open not under a tree, and were told we could not move, and that someone else would be seated there. So we stayed, and I just figured.....what are the odds?

We ordered our meals, I had the grilled cheese with tomato soup. Silly as it sounds, I love a really good grilled cheese and I was told that this was one of their more popular dishes. I was greatly disappointed. The soup was Campbells tomato soup, and the grilled cheese although on a great thick bread was cold when served. It was one of those meals that just didn't seem justified for the price.

Needless to say the evening ended in the only way it possibly could when sitting under a tree full of birds. And the wait staff didn't seem to think this was that big of a deal, as no apology was offered, or discount giving on my then unfinished meal.

Maybe I just had a bad experience, but to me the people working at the restaurant really 'make' the experience. Had the situations that arose been handled differently I think I would sum it up as 'just one of those nights' and have given them a second chance, but for me the cloud did not have a silver lining.

I think the argument for swank frank over silver cloud would necessarily center on the relative merits of fried twinkies.

I've been there once, and was not impressed. I had the grilled cheese, which I'd read rave reviews on, and thought it was awful. it was hard as a rock and completely without flavor. it was like trying to eat a book. Having read another endorsement in this thread, though, makes me wonder if I was there on an off night.

sweetsalty wrote:I've been there once, and was not impressed. I had the grilled cheese, which I'd read rave reviews on, and thought it was awful. it was hard as a rock and completely without flavor. it was like trying to eat a book. Having read another endorsement in this thread, though, makes me wonder if I was there on an off night.

For Pete's sake, an "off night" means a night when they couldn't get a grilled cheese sandwich right? What standard should we hold them to? And who "raves" about a grilled cheese sandwich? Here are at least two people saying they were disappointed by the grilled cheese sandwich at Silver Cloud. I made my first successful grilled cheese sandwich when I was 5 or 6 years old, without adult supervision, and it was YUMMY. I am not a good cook, but I can guarantee anyone on this board that if they wanted me to make them a grilled cheese sandwich, I could do so with five minutes' notice (plus travel time), and they would, at a minimum, at least like my toasty, crunchy, chewy-cheesy in the middle grilled cheese sandwich and find nothing objectively wrong with it. And I would make it for them for free. And for an extra 50 cents, I'll microwave a bowl of Campbell's tomato soup, too. And serve it under a tree, or not -- your choice.
JiLS

I'm just back from my free Silver Cloud lunch. That is one very interesting place. It has the atmosphere (and odor) of a neighborhood old man's bar, where you would expect to be able to order light bulb pizza at best, but the menu is eclectic diner style food. I avoided the brick style grilled cheese (as described earlier in the thread) and instead ordered the "stuffed turkey" sandwich at my host's recomendation. This was served on white toast and contained sliced breast of turkey that tasted fresh roasted, rather than cut from a roll of processed turkey, sage stuffing and fresh cranberry sauce. It was like eating a sandwich on the day after Thanksgiving. I actually enjoyed it. While I wouldn't say that Silver Cloud is destination dining, I wouldn't object to going there again if the opportunity arises.

For dessert, I stopped into Hot Chocolate (my first visit) and got a cashew carmel bar for the ride home. mmmmmmmm

And who "raves" about a grilled cheese sandwich?

Anyone who's ever had my grilled gouda and sliced Granny Smith grilled cheese

sweetsalty wrote:

And who "raves" about a grilled cheese sandwich?

Anyone who's ever had my grilled gouda and sliced Granny Smith grilled cheese

Maybe you should talk to the chef at Silver Cloud!

stevez wrote:This was served on white toast and contained sliced breast of turkey that tasted fresh roasted, rather than cut from a roll of processed turkey, sage stuffing and fresh cranberry sauce. It was like eating a sandwich on the day after Thanksgiving.

Yea--I've had the turkey dinners there before and enjoyed them just fine. The last time I was there (which was maybe a year ago), when I ordered the turkey dinner, I was told that it had not arrived yet, and would I like to wait for it to get there?

Apparently they outsource their roast turkey production. As far as I'm concerned, this isn't a bad thing. Maybe it wasn't practical for them to make Thanksgiving dinner every night--but they cared enough to get their turkey from someone who is actually roasting fresh turkeys.

Funny how mentions of Thanksgiving are starting to creep in...

trixie-pea

sweetsalty wrote:Anyone who's ever had my grilled gouda and sliced Granny Smith grilled cheese

Mmmm..granny smith slices! i recall having a burger at the Players Club (on Ashland just north of Fullerton) about a year ago that had a slice of granny smith on it, and it was mighty tasty. i believe it was their namesake burger and IIRC it also had an interesting cheese and bacon as well.

As for Silver Cloud - i've never had a bad meal or subpar service there. I crave their spinach salad - truely a great meal in and of itself. The Yankee Pot Roast is always delicious, as well as the grilled pork chops - great flavor and very juicy! I was just there about a week ago and had the "winter"something salad - with quartered new potatoes, blue cheese, romaine and perfectly grilled sliced skirt steak. way filling and just a simple flavorful salad. when i'm feeling like having a kitschy meal, i'll order wither the grilled cheese with campbells cream of tomato soup or the sloppy joe sandwich with tater tots. these dishes are nothing more than they claim to be. Indeed they do serve up better bar food than most, and it truely is in the comfort food category.

leesh

I used to enjoy Silver Cloud, mostly for the drinks. But the comfort food was pretty good too. My last experience there, in each sense of "last," was not so good. It was abysmal. It involved excruciatingly long waits to order, to get food, and to get my credit card back, scattershot kitchen timing, and a "Nicoise" salad featuring still-very-frozen green beans and astonishingly overcooked (microwaved?) tuna. Some one-off meals are bad enough that I just ding a place, especially if it was no great shakes to begin with. But if I ever get dragged back there, I guess I'll go with the turkey.

FWIW, at lunch time, we were the only customers not sitting at the bar. There was no wait and the waitress was happy to have something to do, so we got very good service.

As some may know, Silver Cloud closed some time ago. This location is now showing signs of life - something will be opening there at some point...
https://medium.com/block-club-chicago/f ... f7c77e204a

Same Owner, Hopefully he will bring back their excellent Sloppy Joe !

Marshall K wrote:Same Owner, Hopefully he will bring back their excellent Sloppy Joe !

Don't forget the tater tots!

Ah yes, A great combination

More intel here - https://chicago.eater.com/2018/6/5/1742 ... cky-albazi