Restaurant Review: CB Social House

Is it our imagination, or is the food scene in Springfield on the upswing? Some of our recent experiences indicate bigger city dining is now here.

Case in point: the newly opened CB Social House. It’s the expansion of City Butcher, the place on South Campbell where you can get excellent barbecue. This new concept gives you all the flavor of the meats, along with an interesting restaurant experience.

We went on a Saturday night with visions of City Butcher’s delicious brisket dancing in our heads. One look at the menu, though, and we decided there was more to explore. Our server, Katie, was willing to walk us through the choices and make her recommendations, even to the point of chummily sitting down for a minute to make it easier to point out what she loved. Kudos to the management for making sure their staff have tasted and tried the menu items.

On the menu
We started with the charcuterie, choosing three of the eight items offered: chicken liver mousse, duck pastrami and the cheese trio (Monterey, a nicely granulated aged cheddar and a mild bleu). The array came on a wooden board complete with house-made crackers with a little dill baked in, pickles, olives, pecans and nice dollops of grainy mustard and blackberry jam. Note to management: double the jam – it was that good! By the way, there is no wrong way to attack a charcuterie board, so try it and just play with the mix of flavors.

That left room to try one of the snack items recommended by Katie. We got the crispy fried chicken skins. If you get all huffy about the calorie count, we’ll just talk about the flavor. There were no regrets.

We moved on, reluctantly passing on the brisket and ribs in favor of the steak. Like all items on the menu, the steaks are served ready to share, cut into strips and served family style. We chose the rib-eye after the ladies next to us heard us debating and chimed in with their own experience: “We barely had to chew it, it was so tender and delicious.” That wasn’t quite our experience, and we did need to ask for steak sauce.

Another meat we tried was the Hot Chicken: a whole chicken breast, cooked once and cooled in buttermilk, then cooked again. It was delicately breaded and sauced, and served on white bread accompanied by pickles – both of which were needed to break the heat. It’s not for the timid eater.

For sides, we added the macaroni and cheese and the pinto beans, which were meaty and declared as Paul’s favorite item of the night.

We ended the meal on a sweet note, trying the whiskey bacon pecan pie and the chocolate oatmeal pie. The pecan pie was our favorite, and next time we’ll add the optional ice cream.

The brick and mortar
As we ate, we looked around and compared what we remembered of the building’s past life as Hickok’s. It’s still a lot of brick walls and hardwood floors, now with bar areas on both floors (there is an elevator), low lighting and prohibition-era photos hanging in rustic frames.

A loft area at the front of the building is designated for larger groups, while more intimate spaces are on the second floor and outdoor seating is out front. Parking is permitted on the street and in a lot across the street.

It’s a comfortable, slightly eclectic place that satisfies the need to do something a little out of the ordinary. Go for a lazy, lingering meal that will create memories, not only with the food but also with the ability to share flavor and conversation whether it’s you and a friend or you and a crowd.

Paul and Kay Logsdon return to writing restaurant reviews for Springfield Business Journal, calling on their travel and food experience across the country and several continents. Kay works as editor for The Food Channel and frequently speaks to national groups about food trends; Paul is director of public relations for Evangel University.