Isn’t it great when you find a restaurant that lets you exhale? Its food lives up to its five-star rating. You don’t have to be rich to eat there. And its personality is genuinely unique. Penumbra Restaurant and Wine Bar, a Latin leaning dining room and wine bar in Logan Square, checks those notable boxes and a few more. Having been around for twenty years, it’s also proven its staying power. Just west of Kedzie on Fullerton, the low-profile restaurant’s in an interesting neighborhood that shows off the high architectural craftsmanship of the 20s and 30s. The ornately carved stone of an old theater on the corner still has the power to shed glamor in the concrete jungle.
Despite its maturity, it’s hard to find anything written about Penumbra. Go on the website and you aren’t even told the chef’s name. You will find an explanation for the restaurant’s unusual name. Penumbra refers to being in partial shade or semi-darkness. We’re told the restaurant’s Ecuadoran chef grew up in an area without electricity and learned to exist and work in a world of limited light. They also learned to appreciate the aesthetic appeal of low lit spaces. It’s the mystery and intrigue dimly lit spaces insinuate that fills Penumbra with its one of a kind character.
That feel of a cosmopolitan lair can even be felt in its informal wine bar, the first room you encounter when you walk in. It has Barcelona’s sense of ancient untold stories. Lights are low but the bar off to the right still manages to beckon under pale red lighting. Masked and welcoming, the hostess leads you through the bar and turns to enter the dining room. Very spacious and maintaining that dimly lit tableau, the dining room instantly feels comfortable and inviting. The spare design uses shimmery veils to divide space and mark boundaries. You notice how relaxed diners at the tables are. Like little islands filling an open expanse, each table looks like its own self-sustaining world, oblivious to everything surrounding it. Along the wall and behind their own softly shining curtains, tables for two upped the romance quotient and gave off a Tangiers vibe.
Even though Penumbra specializes in both meat and seafood, it’s their beef dishes that excel. New York strip, rib eye and flat iron cuts, rubbed in roasted garlic peppercorn or cracked pepper, are all delicious options that contribute to the restaurant’s stellar ratings. Flawlessly grilled, beautifully tender and delightful, the ribeye was a bite-by-bite masterpiece. The restaurant’s seafood doesn’t get exotic and sticks mostly with the two S’s; shrimp and salmon. Lobster tail ranks as the bonus alternative. The grilled jumbo shrimp, swimming in a creole jalapeno marinade proved an especially delicious choice. Balance defined the dish with each component complimenting the others in wonderful harmony. Neither the creole element or the jalapeno overshadowed one another. Prepared with pasta or served with an avocado based dipping sauce, there are also vegetarian possibilities that focus on root vegetables. Appetizers reflect what a lot of people like to see as choices these days; especially at wine bars. A charcuterie board, scallops and crab cakes take up the front line at Penumbra. In keeping with how well the restaurant prepares its hot offerings, stick with the seafood. The charcuterie board’s as good as you’ll find around town. But scoring excellent crab cakes isn’t nearly as easy and would prove a satisfying choice here. Keeping selections narrow continues to desserts where there’s only one choice. So heedlessly decadent, the molten brandy truffle is both a shock and a dream. For many, one small spoonful would count as unimaginable overindulgence. For a chocoholic, the cake is the perfect circle of bliss.
Waitstaff, the human face of a restaurant, and their personalities can greatly influence diners’ experiences. Ours, who never identified himself, could not have been more entertaining. I don’t think that was his intention. Cordial and completely pleasant, his peculiarity was that he was never completely present. So comic was his level of distraction, it blunted the annoyance factor. We eventually got to common communication ground but the episode left another indelible memory of Penumbra’s. The food was good enough and the setting pleasant enough to sweep aside any service concerns.
Penumbra Restaurant and Wine Bar
3309 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
Closed Monday and Tuesday