Real estate and restaurant folk have always stressed the three keys to success: location, location, location. But a number of successful restaurants run counter to conventional wisdom. Gordon Sinclair opened his restaurant Gordon 18 years ago on what was then a grungy strip of Clark Street, just north of the river; Gordon proved so popular it helped upgrade the entire area. A few years back Jimmy Rohr opened Jimmy’s Place, a citadel of haute cuisine, on a desolate stretch of Elston Avenue near Belmont; Jimmy’s Place is still the only fine restaurant in the vicinity, but gourmet diners continually beat a path to its door.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
To make his success even less likely, Gervilla was then a relative pioneer in offering tapas–the “little dishes” of Spain–which were fast becoming popular in the city but had not yet become a national fad. He offered more than 30 hot and cold tapas plus a dozen other Spanish classics. Soon both urbanites and suburbanites made Emilio’s Tapas Bar a critical and popular hit.
But the Spanish-born Gervilla yearned for his own place, as he had throughout his youth in Granada, where he did chores in his grandfather’s bakery and tapas bar. He split from the Melman operation after three years, apparently under unpleasant circumstances that resulted in his purging the gig from his official resume.
From the 18 items our little dining group sampled, the plump, fresh chilled shrimp with three sauces–brandy, cumin, and aioli–was a standout ($7.95 for four). Other top tapas were the rich, tuna-laced potato salad ($3.50) and chicken breast with curried mayonnaise ($5.50). Marinated octopus with sherry vinaigrette ($4.95) was both tender and flavorful. Tissue-thin raw tenderloin with tomato and capers was tender but surprisingly flat tasting ($5.95).
