Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, 60 E. Grand, 312- 379-5637

3-COURSE DINNER: about $42 (without any sharing) before tax and tip

HOURS: 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 4-9 p.m. Sunday

WHEELS: valet ($8) on the Rush Street side; wheelchair accessible

TRY: stone crabs, shrimp de Jonghe, chopped salad, scallops, New York strip steak, Key lime pie

TIPS: The tuxedoed service staff is straight out of central casting and knows its stuff. Talk about good service. This crew, from the front door on through, never missed a beat. Very impressive for a spanking-new restaurant. The atmosphere is pure clubby: hardwood floors, rich woodwork, big booths, roomy tables (cloth covered, no paper). Reservations are a must.

IN A BITE: If Richard Melman, impresario of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, wanted to go out on a high note, this would be it. The food is top-drawer in quality and good taste. The service is incredibly professional. Over all, this seafood and steak house is right on top of its game. I have never seen a restaurant mature to this level in such a short time.

New York City doesn't have one. Los Angeles doesn't have one. Not a one in Atlanta or Boston either. But Chicago has one--a Joe's Stone Crab--and I am impressed. For all of you foodies in love with the legendary Joe's Stone Crab in Miami , you can save the plane fare. Just head over to the corner of Rush and Grand, to Joe's Seafood Prime Steak & Stone Crab, to be precise.

Joe's is smokin' hot right now. The idea “Let's go on a Monday night, it won't be all that busy” is a laugh. Ditto for a Wednesday night (those were the two nights I visited Joe's). Joe's has been packing them in by the hundreds every night of the week since it opened a month ago. Joe's Chicago version is a relatively close copy of Miami 's legendary Joe's Stone Crab, which opened in 1913 and does about $22 million for the seven months a year it is open for business.

So how did Joe's Stone Crab end up in Chicago? About two years ago, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises chief Richard Melman and partner Gerard Centioli formed ICON, LLC. The idea behind ICON was to duplicate or clone popular and important restaurants. I would say that ICON is off to a good start. Not that Joe's in Chicago is a dead-on copy of Joe's in Miami. Joe's in Miami is an awesome 450-seat affair, while the seating here runs around 225. Joe's in Miami does not take reservations (a wait for a table can hit the three-hour mark down there); Joe's here does.

The big difference between the two operations hinges on the name. The tag-on of “seafood” and “prime steak” to the Chicago eatery means that there is as much emphasis on fish dishes and steaks as on stone crabs. The stone crab claws are so delicious they create an immaculate reception in the mouth that is both sweet and cool, the flavor a scintillating cross between crab and lobster, and lusciously luxurious. Served chilled and cracked (for easy picking of the snow-white flesh and to avoid the usual hammering) and with Joe's Stone Crab signature tangy, simply splendid mustard sauce, the picking is perfectly pleasing. Order the stone crabs by the number: medium (four per order), select (six per order), large (five per order). Prices vary, and, as the menu notes, “your server will provide a daily quote of market price.” Prices during my visits were running $12.95 for four medium.

Portions are generous, so if an appetizer or salad is part of the plan, splitting is the way to go. To start, four people would probably be content with two orders of “select” crabs. Follow that with the large vegetable chopped salad split four ways, and then cruise right into the entrees. And the vegetable chopped salad is a handsome, fresh, properly chilled salad that includes everything except the kitchen sink: lettuces, avocado, niblets of corn, tomatoes, beets, crumbled blue cheese, hearts of palm, etc. It all gets mixed up with a creamy, quite flavorful vinaigrette.

If you would prefer not to salad-share, try the hearts of Iceberg lettuce draped with the classic Green Goddess, a blast from the past anchovy and mayonnaise dressing (circa mid-1920s) that has the potential to stage a big comeback despite its color (the green tint comes from parsley, tarragon and chives). An appetizer order of shrimp de Jonghe ($12.95) was closer in size to an entree. Excellent de Jonghe, the six large shrimp beautifully done; not too garlicky, the au gratin (zipped up with fresh bread crumbs) topping not too heavy. “Joe's Famous scallops” were certainly part of my eating plan. Large “meaty” sea scallops were dusted with flour and sauteed to plump, sweet perfection. The portion size was almost too much. I wanted to put on the brakes before the end but couldn't; they were that good. The New York strip steak ordered by my guest was as good a steak as you might find in any of Chicago's great steak houses. Cooked to medium-rare perfection, deep, rich, mineral flavor. A beauty. The firm, lean, sweet flesh of swordfish makes it the most meatlike in texture of all fish. The chunky steak got a proper grilling (the preferred cooking method for this fish) before being pronounced innocent of any wrong-doing in the kitchen. A glaze of Key lime butter anointed the fish quite nicely, but there was a bit of fire, as in spiciness, coming from somewhere, and that made it all the better. A la carte all the way here, so side dishes are part of the ordering pattern (and easily large enough for two to share). Lots of potato choices (from hashed brown to cottage fried). Not to miss are the Lyonnaise. An oval dish of crusty-on-the-top, chunky-on-through potatoes with a hint of onion and a ton of flavor. The “cottage fried” potatoes were straight from spud heaven. Thick ovals, toasty brown, stacked, crusty on the outside, soft through the center and impossible to stop eating. “French fried sweets” are practically a signature dish. I never could get into the idea of fried sweet potatoes and, frankly, with so many other choices, those spuds were not for me. “Vegetables and sides” are mostly onions and spinach. The sauteed garlic spinach was a bit too oily and too garlicky for my taste. It needed to be toned down a bit. Much better was the creamed spinach, which was lush and rich. Look under the “Salads and Dressings” heading and you will find Joe's Cole Slaw. Order it. The cool and crunchy head of slaw was mounded on the plate and framed with “earmuffs” of beefsteak tomatoes. Simply delicious.

As it goes with Joe's Stone Crab in Miami, the desserts of choice are all about pies. Well, there was orange sherbet (when was the last time you saw orange sherbet on a menu?). Nothing square about these pies, no siree! The Key lime pie tops my recommendation list. The right color (a very pale green), the right crust, completely chilled (the way it should be served; I hate it when Key lime pie is served at room temperature). Right behind the Key lime pie in interest and good taste was the chocolate fudge pie. A towering edifice of chocolate and whipped cream built upon a fine-tasting chocolate cookie crust. Chocoholics will go ga-ga over this one. Next in line would be the peanut butter pie, another stacked beauty with a head of whipped cream, a bottom of cookie crust, and a splash of smooth chocolate sauce.