The Walnut Room - Review - Loop - Chicago - The Infatuation

"Its claim-to-fame might be the hyper-specific title of Oldest Continuously Operated Restaurant Inside A Department Store, but The Walnut Room is more holiday spectacle than a place for memorable food. A visit to this historic spot in Macy’s from November to January means virtual fights for reservations with tourists and families with kids. You know, the holiday diehards who make eating just-fine salads, sandwiches, and classic American dishes like meatloaf and chicken pot pie next to a 45-foot Christmas tree an annual tradition. But a meal at any other time of year is like being in a college dining hall when everyone has gone home for a long weekend. You can walk in at prime time on a Friday night and easily grab a table in the dark, wood-paneled restaurant (which only gets eerily darker as the night goes on). It’s the perfect setting to pretend you’re eating with all the ghosts of Marshall Field's past. Food Rundown Cocktails Besides offering a full bar, the Walnut Room has a handful of ‘70s-era fruity cocktails on the menu. But we like the much stronger classics, like an Old Fashioned with walnut bitters. Walnut Room Salad The short menu has a surprising number of salads, and you can get this namesake as a starter or as a side to the signature chicken pot pie. But don’t be fooled by the name—there’s not much going on with the greens mixed with a too-sweet sesame dressing, made sweeter by mandarin slices you’d find in a lunchbox fruit cup. Chicken Pot Pie “Mrs. Hering’s 1890 Original Chicken Pot Pie” comes with its own little history section on the menu, where you’ll learn that over 700 a day are served during the holiday season. It’s a perfectly adequate dish, with a relatively flaky crust sitting on a bowl of filling that tastes like a not-unpleasant cross between mashed potatoes, cream of mushroom soup, and a few chunks of chicken. photo credit: Veda Kilaru Walnut Room Burger This isn’t a bad burger. Yes, the patty might come a little overcooked and dry, the caramelized onions and brioche bun might make the whole burger taste like it took a quick dip in a pool of light syrup, and the white cheddar might congeal into an unappetizing translucent blanket. But it gets the job done if all you want is some beefy sustenance after a long day of riding the Macy’s escalators. photo credit: Veda Kilaru" - Veda Kilaru