WoodWind - Restaurant Week

 

 

 

 

It's hard to expect a fine dining restaurant at the top of a hospital.  While Green River occupied the same space  and actually earned a Michelin Star, it did run into the problem of a dearth of customers who didn't think about it because coming to a hospital to eat is not obvious and finding the location after was not made any easier with the fact that there was no signage down on the 1st floor to let you know you are in the right place.  WoodWind, located on the 18th Floor of the Lavin Family Pavilion of Northwestern Hospital, has avoided a few of the problems that Green River had by putting a sign on a pillar on the first floor and also locating a Host Station on the first floor to direct you to the elevator to the restaurant.  Having been there before (to Green River), I knew where the elevator was and knew that the restaurant was on the 18th Floor.  Walking out of the elevator, I immediately saw an impressive wine rack with the host station to my right.  I was led to a table in the middle of the main dining room.  Green River also had an impressive patio with a great view, but it was February and at night, so it was obviously not open.  The dining room for WoodWind remained largely the same as Green River, though the color scheme and theme was different.  While Green River was more green with maps of the Great Lakes area, WoodWind is brown and tan with a wall of plants and many diagrams of plant life.  While the tables in the center of the room were close, it was a good place to see the lay of the land.  The kitchen was open and over my right shoulder.  The bar was in front of me.  I was sitting among a group of high top tables that were all full with low tops and booths off to the left in a corner of the dining room.  While the wine list did look pretty impressive, the cocktail list also looked nice.  I started out, while I was looking at the menu, with The Big Boss, a cocktail made with Bombay Dry Gin, Pear Liqueur, and Mint.  I liked it and it was very good.   It wasn't listed, but it also seemed to have a strong Vanilla flavor.  The drink was very refreshing and I really enjoyed it.

The Restaurant Week offer here was to choose three courses and a common dessert would be served to all.   For my starting course, I started with House Ricotta, Honey, Mish Mish, and Grilled Toast.  The Ricotta was very light and creamy.  Mish Mish is a Lebanese Colloquialism for Apricot.  With the honey and the citrus flavor of the mish mish, it kind of reminded me of breakfast.  It was sweet, tangy, and creamy, and on the crisp toast, it was a very nice start.

My second course was a bit unusual, Sunchokes.  Sunchokes, also known as a Jerusalem Artichoke, are a root vegetable and come from a species of Sunflower.  The Sunchokes were served three ways:  Roasted, as a Fermented Puree, and as Chips.  They were also served with Apple and Parmesan.  I have, in the past, liked sunchokes.  They generally have an earthy, potato flavor, with some sweetness.  This, while it had all of that, also had a funky tart flavor, which came, I imagine, from the fermented puree.  Other parts of this I liked.  I liked the roasted sunchokes and the chips, but with the funky flavor, it didn't come together.

My entree, like many of the entrees that I had during Restaurant Week was fish.  This fish, Smoked and Grilled Sturgeon with Black Garlic, Housemade Creme Fraiche, and Shoestring Potatoes, was very good and came together well with all of it's elements.  The sturgeon was tender with a nice smoky flavor which went well with the earthy flavor of the black garlic and the crispy shoestring potatoes.  The sour flavor of the Creme Fraiche brought in a complementary tartness.

 

      There was one dessert that they were serving everyone, Cashew Gelato.  It sounded fine, but didn't seem exceptionally exciting.  I did notice that they had a nice list of Digestifs.  I decided to excite my gelato with a Braulio Amaro, not to add to it, but to drink it along side the gelato.  The Amaro was very nice, lightly spicy and bittersweet with a lightly minty finish.  It was nice and went well with the gelato, but the gelato was actually very good on it's own served with mint, tangerine, and cashews on the side.

For the most part I enjoyed my meal, the service was great, and while I didn't think much of the Sunchokes, I learned that I didn't care for fermented sunchokes.  In many places after the dessert come Petit Fors or Mignardises, which are generally a bite of love, to say thank you.  There was a Mignardise served here, but it was very unexpected.  The waitress came out with a huge mass of Lime Cotton Candy.  I will grant that Cotton Candy is mostly air (the rest being spun sugar), but the sheer size of the mass was a huge surprise.  A lot of cotton candy is incredibly sweet.  As this was Lime, it also had some tartness to it and I really enjoyed it.  It was a very good dinner in a great space.  I hope to be able to return in the future.

Fisk and Co - Restaurant Week

I have mentioned that I use Restaurant Week both to visit favorites and to check out new places that I have not yet tried.  Fisk and Co was kind of both.  I had never visited Fisk and Co., but I know the chef, Ashlee Aubin, who had been Chef/Owner at both Wood and Salero, which I both really liked, and he is also from Michigan.  I really like seafood and Fisk and Co, seems to model itself after a Belgian Beer and Seafood Pub specializing in Mussels and Frites.  I was excited and decided to check it out.  Located at Wabash and Wacker, just inside the loop and attached to the Kimpton Hotel, it was very easy to find.  It has a separate entrance, so unless you have to use the restroom, which is in the hotel, you wouldn't know.  The entrance opens to look upon the twisting Raw Bar, which was full when I arrived.  I was guided into the dining room at the front of the restaurant (the entrance is on the side and toward the rear).  In fact, I was seated at a large table in the corner which gave me a great view of the space which had high ceilings, white walls, and a large windows running along the front and the side.  The tables and furniture were black wood, although the banquette on which I was sitting was white like the walls.  The menu came on one, two-sided sheet that was about the size of a place setting.  They did have a nice beer list, featuring some Belgian beers, but also many locals doing Belgian-inspired styles.  They also had some interesting cocktails listed, so I decided to go that rout while I was trying to decide what I wanted to eat.  The cocktail that I started with the Xochiquetzal, was a spin on The Last Word, using Ford's Gin, Luxardo Maraschino, Cocalero Herbal Liquer (instead of Green Chartreuse) and Lime, and it was Stirred and not Shaken.   Cocolero is a South American spirit using Coca Leaf, Juniper, and 16 other botanicals.  I cannot speak to how it tastes on it's own, though Green Chartreuse has a floral flavor amongst the rest of its botanicals, which comes through in The Last Word.  The Xochiquetzal was more booze forward than The Last Word is.  It was, however, pretty good and I did enjoy it.

Starting with my appetizer, I noticed that a selection of Oysters was on the menu.  I love oysters, so that was going to happen.  The Oysters were shucked and served on ice on the half shell with a wedge of Lemon, and small cups of Cocktail Sauce and Mignonette.  I like to taste the oyster, so I generally don't bother with anything but a little lemon juice.  I was given three Oysters, one from Maryland, one from Washington DC, and one from Mexico.  I don't remember the names of the ones from Maryland or DC, but I did remeber the one from Mexico, because it's name, Chingon, is pretty off color, and I had to laugh when I heard it.  That being said, the Mexican oyster was also my favorite.

For my entree, I did consider Mussels, but after having the Oysters, I figured that that may have been overkill.  I decided to go with some pasta, Crab Campanelle with Jonah Crab, Aleppo Pepper, Peas, White Wine, Lemon, and Butter.  This was pretty great.  The Campanelle was perfectly al dente, the crab was finely shredded and really flavorful, The peas added some sweetness and body, the lemon went well with the crab, and the pepper provided a light firey finish at the end.

 

And then we came to dessert.  Rum Cake seems to be a very popular dessert in seafood restaurants and that is the way that I went.  It was served with Roasted Apples and Whipped Cream.  The cake was very sweet and dense and the apples on top went with it very well.  The Whipped Cream, served on the side, was very light, and helped balance things a little.  While I was eating, I got to talking with my waiter about drinks and he wanted me to try a drink that he invented (on him).  Called the Cuberdon Club it had Botanist Gin, Imbue "Petal & Thorn" Vermouth, Lemon, Lavender Oil, Egg White, and Peychaud's Bitters.  It was similar to combining a Negroni and an Aviation and was very good.  While I was sitting, enjoying my last drink, the manager, Melissa, came over and asked how I knew Chef Ashlee (who wasn't there that night).  When I told her, she thanked me for coming, welcomed me back, and covered my other drink.  I really enjoyed my dinner, the space, and the people, and will definitely return to try more, especially the mussels.      

Gadabout - Tasting Collective Dinner

Ever since the Tasting Collective came to Chicago, it allows me to try out some newer restaurants that I may not have otherwise thought about and allows me to do so with some like-minded people.  When Gadabout came up, I had heard about it, but knew little.  I knew that it was in Andersonville and it was very new.  I knew that I liked the name, for whatever reason, and looking it up, I saw that they were building a menu around globally-inspired street food. This really sounded good and interesting to me, so I decided that I had to try this out.  From the outside, the space looks large.  It has a large streetfront presence in a space that looks like it may have once been a department or clothing store with large picture windows and a large sign above them.  The entrance is in the center of the space and opens to the large bar, which sits in the center of the space and divides the room.  While the space was open, it felt like it was divided, by the entrance and the bar, into four rooms.  The entire space felt very comfortable with a lot of low tables and lounge furniture.  The table where we sat was large, a six top, though one party didn't make it and my party of three had the table to ourselves.  The floors were stained wood and the walls were brick, with a lot of decorative wall hangings.  With my friends there, it was going to be friendly and comfortable and I was excited to start.

I started things off with a cocktail that seemed pretty complex, but interesting, Purple Flame, which seemed to wander all over the map with it's ingredients.  It started with Fabriquero Sotol (Sotol is a distilled spirit of Mexican and West Texan origin made from a plant called the Desert Spoon or Sotol in Spanish), continued with Rothman and Winter Creme de Violette (from Austria), Ancho Reyes Poblano Liqueur (Mexico), Lingonberry Simple Syrup (Lingonberries are stapes of Swedish cuisine), Lime Juice, Owl and Whale Smoke Bitters, Owl and Whale Hot Bitters, and finished off with an Orchid Garnish.  It was sweet and really complex with vegetal, berry, smoke, and spicy flavors, and a little tartness to finish things off.  Our first course arrived when I was trying to figure out the flavors of my cocktail.  It was a Madai Crudo with Young Coconut, Blood Orange, Serrano Chilies, and Lotus Root.  This also, was very complex, and I like it a lot.  The fish was very tender, the Blood Orange and Serrano contributed sweet and spicy flavors, and the young Coconut added a crunchy texture among all of the tenderness from the fish and fruit.

 

The second course arrived on two plates.  First arrived the Grilled Flatbread.  The bread was simple and while it was to be eaten with the second part of the dish, Smoked Eggplant, it was good on its own, which was good, because when the second part of the dish arrived, we destroyed it.  There was more bread to be eaten, but it was fine, because it was also finished off.  The Smoked Eggplant was served with Golden Raisins, Goat Cheese, and Peppers.  On it's own it reminded me of Baba Ghanouj, which I like, but with the flat bread, it really reminded me of Pizza.  Because our table was a table for six, the restaurant was serving for six.  We first tried to allow for some time for the other party to be late, but when they never arrived, the restaurant told us to finish their food as well, which we happily did.

For our next course, we had another vegetarian dish that was modeled after a very popular Italian meat dish, Vitello Tonatto, Veal with a Tuna Mayo.  This was a Grilled Broccoli Tonnato, with Capers, Gremolata (Chopped herb condiment made with Lemon Zest, Garlic and Parsley), and Lemon Vinaigrette.  The broccoli was crisp and flavorful and went very well with the tuna mayo.  The gremolata and the lemon vinaigrette gave it a nice tart finish.

Our fourth course started our entrees, and while it was a fish course, there was a very significant twist.  It was a Monkfish, a fish that I very much like for it's texture and flavor prepared with the flavors of a Chicago Hot Dog.  In addition to the very good Monkfish, it had a Panzanella Salad (a Tuscan Bread Salad made with Onions, Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Basil), Mustard Vinaigrette, and Celery Salt.  This was also very good with a complex flavor and was enjoyed around the table.

For our final savory dish we had Steak, served Medium Rare.  It was a Denver Steak, a Chuck Steak from the Shoulder, served with Brussels Sprouts, Salsa Negra, and Chipotle Honey.  The salsa and honey gave the tender and flavorful steak layers of heat and sweet.  The Brussels Sprouts added a vegetal flavor.  This was a favorite and because we were getting so much, much of this went home with me (because I had to save room for dessert).

The food thus far was tasty, complex, and interesting.  Our menu listed a cake for dessert, while I will eat cake and enjoy it, I will generally not choose it.  There are a few exceptions to that rule (like the Chocolate Cake at Dos Urban Cantina), but generally I will not choose cake.  Our dessert was a Banana Spice Cake with Chocolate Custard, Peanuts, and Miso Caramel.  This is a cake that I will now make an exception for.  It was very moist and sweet, the chocolate added some bitter sweetness, the Miso Caramel was a combination of sweet, savory, and buttery, and the peanuts, which were crushed, added a nutty finish.  While we were enjoying our desserts, Chef Rolf Pederson and his Wife, Sous and Pastry Chef, Meg Pederson came out to answer questions about themselves and the restaurant as is a Tasting Collective tradition.  I really liked the food and the atmosphere and would be happy to return for another meal and the awesome Banana Spice Cake.