Foodie Rave - Great Service and Sausages at Mado

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 22, 2010 6:20PM

I've been complaining a lot lately. Maybe it's the variable barometric pressure, or perhaps it's just that a lot of things in the food world have been annoying me. Despite price gouging and greenwashing, it's important to remember that there are many great things in the world of food, and sometimes, rather than ranting, a foodie rave is more appropriate.

This past Wednesday night, a friend and I stopped in at Mado. I've loved Mado since it opened, and it's always been on my list as a cozy, friendly spot for great local food. But on this occasion, they went above and beyond. As often happens when driving from the south side to Wicker Park, we were late. Our 7:15 reservation was just not going to happen. We should've called ahead to warn them like good restaurant patrons, but we were too busy trying not to hit the jaywalking hipsters to pick up our phone.

The clock ticked to 7:20, 7:25 and finally 7:30, but we were so close! We parked and ran for the restaurant... and it wasn't there. Darn. We had to call, and we warned them that we were not only late, but lost. Don't even bother mocking me for getting lost in the middle of Wicker Park, I've already suffered. We had taken a wrong turn. By the time we arrived, we were 25 minutes late. No problem, table was waiting for us. But.... uh oh. Mado is BYOB, and we hadn't B'd! We looked sheepishly at each other and decided to sit down and deal with it. No! A server swooped into the rescue, with a back-alley shortcut to the nearest liquor store, assuring us our seat would still be there. And, 15 minutes later, it was.

After we got our menus, I asked for a recommendation. Partly influenced by a newfound desire to eat chicken, but also because I'm often wary of strange sausages, I asked the waiter to decide between the roast chicken and the Morcilla - blood sausage. Without blinking, he went for the sausage. Not every server would push a "threatening" dish, but I'm glad he did - the sausages were amazing, topped with panko bread crumbs and resting on a bed of braised greens. $23 of pure goodness.

I don't expected restaurants to do all of these things. Holding a reservation, helping a patron find booze and suggesting difficult dishes are just little perks to dining, not requirements. Heck, if I was the host, I might've tossed the reservation out! But it was wonderful to see a popular restaurant, one that is certainly not hurting for patrons, go the extra mile to make a stranger's Wednesday night dinner great.