Bad Hunter - Tasting Collective Dinner

 

 

 

While I am not a vegetarian, in recent times, I have been judging restaurants by how creatively they do their vegetables.  Luckily for me, there have been several restaurants that have opened in the past few years that have been vegetable focused, if not strictly vegetarian.  One of the most high profile to have opened recently was Bad Hunter, in the West Loop.  I was very interested in checking them out when they opened, but they had a fire that shut them down for several months.  They reopened recently and while they went back on my list, I was happy to see that Tasting Collective scheduled a dinner there, so I made a point to get a ticket for dinner.  Located in the heart of restaurant row on Randolph in the West Loop, it is not exceptionally flashy.  The building is brick with smaller windows and if it were not for a one color neon sign in one window, the fact that the building holds a restaurant would not be exceptionally obvious.  Looking into the windows, you can see tables and plants, but the space may well be a conference area or cafeteria as it might be a restaurant.  While the exterior is not obvious, the interior is obviously a restaurant with a very relaxed feel.  There are a lot of plants, both hanging and in plant holders, and the space has light colored walls and parquet floors.  The bar, on one wall, is long and runs into the space with round stones cemented together and ground flat to make the bar top.  It looks very cool and with the stone top, I don't imagine that they really have to worry about condensation ruining the bar top.  The rack behind the bar is bookcase like and holds a nice variety of both liquors and plant life.

I found before I came, that I had a friend that was working at Bad Hunter and was working on that night, so I decided to stop in early, say hi and grab a beer.  The beer that I grabbed fit in very well with the feel of the restaurant.  Whiner Brewery is a brewery on the south side located in a former meatpacking facility, their work is very much about sustainability and reusing as much as they can.  They produce a lot of wild ales and are very focused on barrel aging.  The beer that I got, Le Tub, is one of their most popular beers.  It is a Blended Barrel-Aged Wild Saison with a tart and funky flavor.  It has flavors of white grape and lemon and while it is good and I liked it there, I prefer their Le Bleu Tub variant, which includes blueberries.

After saying hi to my friend and finishing my beer, I continued upstairs to The Herbarium, their upstairs event space for dinner.  I started with Mermaid Water, made with Dolin Blanc Vermouth, Gin, Nardini Grappa, and Lime.  This was very refreshing, like a Gimlet, and was nice to enjoy with my meal.

Starting out, we were served a Caseificio Artigiana Burrata, a Burrata (Cream-filled Mozzarella) with King Trumpet Mushrooms and Sott'Olia, a combination of Cured Olives and Lemon Peels.  The Burrata was very creamy, of course, and the mushrooms, olives, and lemon peels added a tart, briny, and savory flavor.  The one thing that I didn't care about this, and it was minor, was that the olives weren't pitted, so you had to watch how you bit into them.

After the cheese came the salad course, and with this we were served Butter Lettuces, Lemon Cream Vinaigrette, Black Radishes, Bleu Cheese, and Cashews.  While it had all of the standards of a salad, it wasn't bad.  All of the ingredients were good quality and it did taste good, but ultimately it was a salad which, in many cases, is not exceptionally exciting.

Our next course, however, kind of blew me away.  We were served Butter Dumplings with Charred Corn, Smoked Peanuts, Corn Cream, and Radishes.  The dumplings were perfectly cooked and the corn and peanuts added a lot of smoky flavor.  The corn cream added a sweet corn and creamy flavor and the radishes added a crisp and lightly spicy finish.  This was probably my favorite dish of the night.

Our next course went the fish and seafood route.  We were served Monkfish Tail with New Potatoes, Saffron Fish Stew, and Asian Pear.  It was good and while I don't like pears, the Asian Pear was edible because it was cooked.  The stew reminded me of a Brazilian Stew that I had and enjoyed several years ago.  The Monkfish Tail was very tender and had a light flavor, though was spiced well.  Absent the stew and pear, though, it would have probably been a bit bland.  Together it made a very nice and flavorful bite.

Our last savory course was kind of a surprise.  While I knew that Bad Hunter was not a vegetarian restaurant and that there was meat on the menu, I figured that for those courses that did include meat, the vegetables would still be the star.  This course, though, Adobo Whole Roasted Chicken with Celery, Caramelized Onions, and Labneh over rice.  The chicken was the star with the vegetables working to elevate the chicken.  The chicken was well cooked, tender and had a nice and spicy crust.  The celery, rice, and labneh (soft cheese made by draining the whey from salted yogurt) tasted good on its own, but did a good job complementing the chicken.

From here we proceeded to dessert.  Dessert was pretty simple, but it did taste good.  It was a Lemon Poppyseed Cake with Boysenberry Jam and Cardamom Whipped Cream.  The cake had a texture of Coffee Cake and the Poppy Seeds added a little spice and crunch.  The boysenberry added some sweet and tart, and the whipped cream was light, fluffy, and sweet, with the citrusy, minty, and herbal hit from the cardamom.  All together, the elements made a perfect bite, with many flavors and textures that played very well together.

Dinner was very good and I really enjoyed it.  The lower dining room is very relaxing and the vegetable focused menu used a lot of styles to keep focus on the vegetables.  They also do a weekend brunch that I am interested in so I will definitely return.