The Hearty Boys is a restaurant on N. Broadway in Chicago.  A friend made us reservations there, and I had no expectations whatsoever.

The restaurant itself is small – but super cute.  They also have an outdoor patio which I’m sure is amazing when it’s a bit warmer. We were greeted by our amazing waiter, James.  He was knowledgeable about all the menu items and offered some really smart suggestions.

He also could talk for hours about the drink menu alone.  He said they are really into pre-prohibition drinks.  He played the game of tell me what you like to drink and I’ll come up with something different that you’ll love.  I told him Jack and Ginger – he came back with something amazing…The Barrel Aged Manhattan.

For the appetizer we had Artichoke Fritters with some sort of lemon sauce.  AMAZING.

I couldn’t decide between the fried chicken, which sounded like heaven. Or the Sea Scallops.  Or the Market fish of the day – which came with hush puppies.  And I am a sucker for hush puppies.

I asked reliable James – and he said that between those three, you just have to do the scallops.

OK – fine.

I’m not going to lie.  It was literally like butter melting in my mouth.  I wish I had a better knowledge of how these were cooked, because I would like to try it at home.  The scallops just melted.  They were perfection.  I’m not a huge fan of green beans as a whole.  But these were amazing – like candy.  The seasoning was just spot on and the flavor combination was like a firework in my mouth.

The green beans had some sort of crumpled corn bread and toasted almonds on top.  I cannot express in words how perfect this entree was.

For dessert – (you think I was full!?! HA!) I was stuck.  Most of the options on the menu had some sort of fruit component.  If you know anything about me, I have a strong opinion that fruit is NOT a dessert.  So I wasn’t super excited.  But James was pretty adamant that we try the Rhubarb Sundae.  I can’t say I was excited at the title.  The thought of Rhubarb as a dessert was beyond disturbing and I pretty much said that exact thing to our waiter, who promised it’s nothing to be scared of.  But when he mentioned it came with French Toast Ice Cream…..I had no choice.

I’m not even sure where the rhubarb is in this dessert – and I didn’t care. The shortbread cookies and the ice cream were wonderful.

I cannot wait to go back!!