R.I.P. Chicago Tribune Food Criticism & the Out-of-Town Celebrity Chef Trend

Born 1980s(-ish)- Died May 20th, 2024

The thing every single diner who hasn’t yet gone to Tre Dita, the uber-sexy jewel box restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You with the expansive towering plate-glass views of Chicago and the table-side vistas of super-hot and rich people, wants to know:

Is it worth getting the $300 “three-finger”-thick Bistecca alla Fiorentina (actual price: $290)?

If you can cook, and given that you can buy a steak like this from top meat purveyors like Allen Brothers or Snake River Farms for between $100-140, the answer is likely no.

But, let’s assume you can’t cook or that you prefer to have a pro do it.  Well, you can go to actual Florence, the homeland of said beef, and get the real deal for significantly less. You will have to fork over for airfare and hotel, so maybe that’s not fair either.

Maybe a way to put it in the right local context is that you can buy this steak at Tre Dita or drop only $35 more for a full artfully-driven multi-course meal from the best Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago like Smyth, Alinea, Oriole, and Ever. Those meals might even include a sliver of A5 wagyu or some similar Bugatti of beef.

But, I get it, you hate tasting menus or unfamiliar ingredients like fermented koji. You dig meat and meat only, and this is what you’re here for and so you need to know, is the Tre Dita steak worth it?