4th Base Eschews Menu In Favor of Chef-Customer Creations

4th Base Restaurant. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

In the 1970s in San Francisco, there was a restaurant called Le Bouef, where cuts of beef were displayed next to a colorful selection of fresh veggies. When a customer wanted steak, the meat was cut to order and served exactly the way he or she wanted it, with or without sauce. The restaurant was unique, and the meat was always a cut above.

At 4th Base Restaurant, 5117 W. National Ave., they have taken this concept a few steps further, and instead of a menu, they display a variety of meat and seafood and let the customer design their meal. You will notice there are no prices, but trust the chef, because the prices are fair, and like Le Bouef in San Francisco, the food is superb.

What do you want for lunch? You need to figure that out and tell your server. The possibilities are seemingly endless. It may appear overwhelming, however, there are suggestions on two chalkboards, one for entrees and the other for appetizers. From the chalkboard, you can order a Hot Ham Sandwich, a Hot Roast Beef Sandwich, or a Steak Sandwich. Appetizers include Wings, Bacon-Wrapped Scallops, Chili-Thai Shrimp, a Crab-Stuffed Portobello, and Caprese Salad.

If you do not see what you want on the board, your server will fill you in with multiple choices starting with a variety of sauces such as teriyaki, marinara, alfredo and garlic butter. Then you choose a protein, seafood, beef or pork, a carb, rice or pasta, and if you wish, a veggie.

Chef and owner CJ Papara creates these dishes in full view of his customers, which took me back to my first meal at 4th Base, a burger, at a time when the restaurant was briefly located in Piggsville. It moved to its current location in 1982. The burger was smothered in sauteed onions and peppers, and cooked at the end of the bar where I listened to the sizzle and smelled the fat. If you wish, you can still watch the chef prepare your meal when you sit at the far end of the bar close to his tiny kitchen.

I had to have that burger with the same sauteed onions and peppers, and many years later, I can report that it was every bit as juicy and flavorful as the one I remembered from the early 80s. The bun was toasted; the cheddar was quality; the pile of veggies was perfect. The burger came with a basket of haystack onions, and if you like haystack onion rings, no matter what you order, add a haystack!

You also do not want to overlook either the brussels sprouts roasted with bacon or the cauliflower, battered, deep-fried, and served with a sauce our server made just for my companions and me.

If you order the Beef Brisket Steak Sandwich with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and peppers, you will know it was made with prime meat because it was so tasty that it did not require extra seasonings.

One of my companions got creative with our server’s suggestions and ordered steak medallions on angel hair pasta with house-made marinara sauce. The sauce was slightly spicy, not too rich, and it turned out to be a happy marriage when it was combined with the medallions. The medallions were so tender that the butter knife sliced them with ease.

On a subsequent visit, I noticed Pork Kabobs on the chalkboard. At my request, the chef turned my kabobs into a stir fry with teriyaki sauce, carrots, broccoli, peppers, and onions. The veggies were crisp, and the pork kabobs were fork-tender. Chef Papara knows how to cook meat to that sweet spot. Whether it is beef or pork, the meat remains juicy and tender with all the meaty flavor we love.

My companion’s Walleye was lightly breaded and deep-fried to perfection. The fish was firm and tasted like walleye without a hint of that occasional fishy taste that can happen with freshwater fish.

Because 4th Base is small, with half a dozen high tops for four and a bar, it is tempting to eavesdrop on other customers meals. At an adjacent table, there was a Perch Reuben, perch and coleslaw on a toasted bun, a Lobster Roll, a beautiful bundle of Grilled Asparagus wrapped with bacon, and a gorgeous medium-rare Filet.

When we left, chef Papara was multi-tasking as he sauteed brussels sprouts in one pan, cooked a burger in another, and appeared to be taking a take-out order with a phone tucked under his chin.

I already have two more meals at 4th Base on my calendar, and after one visit to this unique restaurant, you too will want to plan a time to return.

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• Location: 5117 W. National Ave.
• Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wed-Sun
• Website: https://the4thbase.com

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