Restaurant Review: Carnivale Chicago

We’re all foodies at Calvert Street Group and our travels around the country offer us the opportunity to sample some of America’s most unique cuisines. Often when we return from a business trip, our weekly staff meeting begins with a restaurant review. For that reason, we plan to share some our favorite restaurants with you in our newsletter and we hope you’ll return the favor by sharing some of your must-visit restaurant recommendations from your travels around the country. 

I’m going to kick off our spotlight with a brief note about the restaurant Carnivale in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood. This colorful, Brazilian-influenced restaurant evoked a celebration for our group as soon as we entered the door. We were joined by a pair of college students, one of which was celebrating a birthday with one of Carnivale’s signature cotton candy martinis. In fact, the wine and cocktail menu is impressive as are the grilled steaks. I can recommend the Brazilian churrasco (pictured) but there are plenty of lighter and more vegetable-focused entrees as well (the Tacu Tacu comes highly recommended). Desert features a delicious chocolate covered ice cream shaped like a cigar and delivered in a cigar box. 

The waitstaff was very attentive and we enjoyed striking up a conversation with the manager. Of course, it probably didn’t hurt the festive atmosphere when a young man dropped to a knee and proposed to his fiancé at one point and the entire restaurant applauded. She said yes.