Asador Bastian
Doug Psaltis grills txuleton over white oak charcoal in an 1883 townhouse on Erie Street. You choose the breed before you choose the cut, and a server walks you through them the way a sommelier walks a wine list.
Why go
The house cuts every steak thick and bone-in, then burns white oak charcoal under it, the way they do it in the hills above San Sebastián.1 What changes is the animal. The roster rotates through Galician rubia gallega, Wagyu from Japan and Australia, dry-aged Holstein and French Simmental, and the kitchen says it takes many of them past 35 months before maturing them in house.1 The Infatuation, reviewing it without that page in front of them, counted about four cattle types on the night and preferred the milder Holstein.2 Away from the grill the kitchen works the rest of the Spanish table: pintxos, caviar churros, spider crab arroz cremoso, and seafood the house says is flown in from the Barcelona markets, against an all-Spanish wine list.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the txuleton. It starts at about a pound and a half, so it is a sharing steak.2
- Order: the caviar churros. Two of them, filled with crème fraîche and topped with caviar.2
- Order: the tortilla española, which the reviewer says is
fluffy and filled with perfectly cooked potatoes and onions,
and pay the supplement for jamón on top.2 - Order: the octopus a la plancha, on garlicky fideo cooked al dente, and share it.
Treat it like a tentacled pasta course.
2 - Order: Hsing Chen's burnt Basque cheesecake to finish.1
- Avoid: ordering a txuleton for yourself. Get the cecina and blue cheese instead if you are eating alone.2
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation Chicago (Adrian Kane, 20 July 2023), scoring it 8.3:
Chicago steakhouses usually follow the same format: Giant spaces with giant booths and giant menus with giant baked potatoes. Asador Bastion, a Spanish steakhouse in River North, is a refreshing change of pace.
2 - The Infatuation, on the steak itself:
Whether you get the younger holstein or the more mature galiciana, the coal-roasted steak will be cooked perfectly, letting the beefy flavor shine through.
2
Good to know
- Two rooms: a Bar Room for small bites and drinks, and a Dining Room.1
- The building: the Flair House, put up in 1883.1
Verdict
should-visit — Choosing the animal before you choose the cut is the whole proposition, and two independent sources agree it actually happens at the table rather than on a menu blurb. Psaltis cuts everything txuleton and burns white oak, which is the San Sebastián method and not an approximation of it. It stops short of the top because the strongest claim, beef aged past 35 months and matured in house, rests on the restaurant's own page, and the one scored critic put it at 8.3.