Mister Charles is in the location that the Highland Park Soda Fountain had occupied for 106 years.  Opening in July 2023, it is operated by the Chas Martin and Duro Hospitality who are also responsible for The Charles and Sister, written up here earlier.   This venue  offers French and Italian dishes 7 days a week for dinner.   The large space has basically 2 rooms one light with a high ceiling which soars to 36 feet with chandeliers and a long bar the other much darker room has tables covered with fine white cloths, booths and one wall opening into the kitchen.  It is a statement restaurant in a landmarked building in a very affluent neighborhood.  Parking on the street is competitively available but they also have valet parking which is at no charge if validated at the restaurant.   We were in the darker room, which according to the hostess is an option you can express a preference for when making your reservation.  It had a terrazzo style tile floor, mirrors on the walls, music in the background, a lower ceiling with sound panels and an assortment of chair and table set ups.  The many windows facing the street were covered with blinds except for the exit door which allowed in a bright patch of annoying light for a bit.  Small booths were along 2 walls and bench seating lined the window wall.  A second small bar was also in this room.

Set-Up

 

Food

We started with a Mr. Charles Classic gin martini made with Hayman’s Dry, dry vermouth and orange bitters.  It was served nicely chilled with a bowl of condiments on the side including lemon twist, pickled onion, gherkin and olive so you could add what you wish.  I liked that option.  We followed with a bottle of wine and for a link to their wine list click here.  We split a number of food items.

 

The corn and truffle beignets were on a chive creme fraiche.  They came 7 to an order and were browner than the photo shows, which gave them a red tint.  They were okay but there was absolutely no truffle flavor and the corn flavor was pretty weak.  The sauce underneath was quite thick and tasted more like parmesan than chive.  The red peppers had a little zip but there weren’t enough of them.  Still this was the better of the two appetizers we tried.

 

Crab cake vadouvan was with a kohlrabi salad and Old Bay aioli.  The cake was not made with jumbo lump meat but it was easily 90% crab meat.  However the meat was a bit strong tasting – not like it’d make you sick strong but also not the sweet delicate flavor of fresh blue crab.  The salad was a mess to try and eat and while the aioli had nice flavor it was too strong, but in this case the stronger flavor helped to nullify the funk of the crab.  This one was not a success.

 

Spicy lumache (shell-elbow pasta) arrabbiata was mixed with broccolini and tomato.  Arrabbiata means angry in Italian and so this is supposed to be a spicy dish and the lumache should have ribs so the sauce will adhere well.  This dish was spot on.  Nicely spicy with a well flavored tomato sauce.  Some dollops of cream and shaved cheese added more to the visual that the taste.  It was good but they also included the stems of the broccolini which were tough and woody.  They should have been removed as it was an unpleasant texture.

 

Whole Red Snapper was fried Milanese style and presented with Tzatziki and carrot salad.  It was supposed to be a 3# fish and came to the table in the frying pan, and then the back bone was removed and the sides portioned to our 2 plates.  The fish was cooked a couple minutes too long and after serving the plates the remainder of the buttery sauce was taken back to the kitchen.  Instead the Tzatziki was on the plate but it overpowered the fish instead of enhancing it like the buttery sauce would have.   It was a pretty presentation but I think it would have been better de-boned in the kitchen and fried as filets then brought to the table with a container of buttery or lemony sauce rather than tzatziki.  They would have been better able to control the cooking that way.  It was billed as having a carrot salad but it was mostly greens and white vegetables and when we inquired about the change the server claimed it was white carrots.

 

We ordered a side of Pommes Aligot to go with the fish.  They were rich, cheesy and smooth but a tad salty. It’s supposed to be a stretchy, smooth silky dish of potatoes and cheese and it was just that.  They were quite tasty.   We passed on dessert.