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.

Mordecai - Chicago Restaurant Week

 

 

 

I love Chicago Restaurant Week.  Friends joke that for me, it's like Christmas.  Admittedly, they aren't far off.  While there are a few restaurants I will repeat, I generally use restaurant week to check out places that I have not yet tried and the first place that I went for Restaurant Week was one of the latter.  Mordecai is part of Folk Art Restaurant Group, the group fronted by Matthias Merges, a former Charlie Trotter protege, who went on to run the late lamented Yusho, Billy Sunday, Old Irving Brewing, and others.  Mordecai is located in Wrigleyville, across from Wrigley Field and is named for Hall of Fame Pitcher, Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, who was with the Cubs from 1904-1912 and 1916.  There are several pictures and articles in the restaurant including a picture of his mangled hand, which was injured in a farming accident.  The dining room is high ceilinged with many TVs playing sports.  There is a large bar along one wall with a large liquor selection.  While it was pretty low key when I was there, I imagine that it can get pretty raucous during baseball season (or even when a Chicago team is doing well).  I was seated at a large corner banquette table where I had a very ood view of the room.

 

For Restaurant Week, a restaurant will offer a three or four course dinner for a fixed price.  Many restaurants will also offer their regular menu to offer diners a choice to go a la carte.  While there were some items of interest on the main menu, I decided to go with the prix fixe and started with a salad and a cocktail, which I ordered separately.  Both items were really interesting and good.  The cocktail, called a Soda Jerk was made with No. 3 London Dry Gin, Maraschino, Creme de Violette, Orange Liqueur, Egg White, and Cherry Soda on the side (options were Cherry, Orange, and Grape) which was available to dose your cocktail as you wish.  The base cocktail was kind of a combination of an Aviation and a Last Word, but the soda added a sweet flavor.  It was good and fun to add the soda to see how it changed the drink.  For my first food course, as I said, I got a salad.  I generally will not order salads because they are frequently very boring, but this salad had a lot going on in terms of both flavors and textures.  In addition to the Leafy Greens, it also had Frisee, Apples, Smoked Carrots, Shaved Roots (Beets and Radishes), Heirloom Tomatoes, Crispy Rice, and Creamy Coconut Dressing.  It was crisp and crunchy and had a nice nutty flavor from the crispy rice.

The main course was surprisingly good.  The choices were a Steak course, a Chicken course or a Fish course.  For me, the choice was easy.  I generally don't order chicken in a restaurant because I eat chicken so often at home and want something different.  While I will occasionally order beef, if it's a steak, I will pass, because anyone can do a good steak.  Fish it was.  I was served Broiled Cod with Japanese Spaghetti, Togarashi, Nori, and Shiso.  The Japanese spaghetti was Udon.  It was tender and had a lot of flavor.  The Togarashi added some spice.  The Nori (seaweed) added a briny flavor, and the Shiso was dried and crumbled with the Nori to add a slightly savory flavor.  The Cish was very tender, flaky, and some of the best tasting fish I have had.

For dessert, I had a classic with a twist.  I saw Flourless Chocolate Cake, which I knew and liked a lot, but also listed was Prickly Pear Gel, Brown Butter Ice Cream, and Cookie Crumble.  The Prickly Pear Gel was served over the cake adding a tart and fruity flavor to the dark chocolate of the cake.  I had had, and liked, brown butter, but I really couldn't imagine it being used in ice cream.  It really worked.  Brown Butter has a savory and nutty flavor which complemented the creaminess of the ice cream and the cookie crumble added a chocolate complement that tied the ice cream and the cake.  It was a great finish to a very good dinner.

I really liked my meal here.  The food and drink all started uncomplicated and did that part well, but added an upscale twist to elevate things.  The space looked very nice and the wait staff was outstanding.  I would be happy to return, probably on a day in which the Cubs are not playing. 

Flora Fauna - Tasting Collective Dinner

The day after I returned from Colorado, I did another dinner with Tasting Collective.  It was a brand new restaurant that had opened in the space formerly occupied by Bohemian House called Flora Fauna.  Located in the same building, it is likely going to look the same from the outside (except for the sign).  The entrance into the restaurant is also very similar, though there is now a very colorful mural of a parrot outside the heavy wooden door leading into the restaurant.  There is a menu outside the entrance that shows that the menu has completely changed.  What was formerly a restaurant focused on Bohemian cuisine (Austrian, German, Czech) is now very much an International restaurant with an eclectic menu focused primarily on the cuisine of Mexico, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia.  I did not get a chance to see the menu of the dinner that we would be served before I came, so I was kind of excited to see what we would be served.  Walking into the dining room, I found the layout largely the same with a large room with a high ceiling and a large bar on the wall opposite the entrance, kitchen in the back, and a large booth in the wall on the same side as the entrance.  There had been a lot of tile on the back wall and a brick wall on the bar side, but the tile had been removed with the wall painted a neutral color and the brick drywalled and given a green paint job.  There were still hanging lights, though the lights were now given a wicker basket cover.  We were seated at the front near the large windows.  After looking over the menu of what we would be eating, I then looked over the cocktails and started off with a cocktail called Basic Beach with Los Vecinos Mezcal, Coconut, Lime, Strawberry and Soda.  It was very tropical and refreshing with a lot of tart fruitiness and a sparkling finish.  I liked it and I thought the carbonation would be a good start because I figured that it would open up my taste buds as champagne does when you drink it at the beginning of a meal.   

We started with a spin on many types of Asian Cuisine, Braised Jackfruit Dandan with Papaya Noodles, Crushed Cashews, and Chili Oil.  Dandan is a noodle dish form the Sichuan region of China, Jackfruit is from Southern India, though is found in many cuisines of Southeast Asia, and Papaya Salad is a standard of Vietnamese cuisine.  As I was not familiar with Dandan, but was with papaya salad, that is how I related to it.  I really liked this.  It was spicy, tart, and crisp, and the jackfruit added a savory and  almost meaty side.  Dandan is frequently spicy, but so is papaya salad, and this was as well, but it wasn't overwhelming and added another flavor element to this dish. 

While I wouldn't call the second course strictly Indian, I will say that that is want it reminded me of, despite the fact that the ingredients used were largely Midwestern.  It was grilled Cauliflower and Broccolini with Goat's Milk Yogurt, and Mustard Seed Chow Chow (a pickled relish with varying ingredients with North American origins that is related to chutney).  The vegetables were tender and tasted very fresh with a lot of spicy flavor from what tasted like curry, though that may have simply come from the chow chow. 

For course number three, I would say that it was a spin Indian Cuisine which was pretty good.  We were served Seafood Fritters made from Octopus, Scallops, and Crab Meat, served with Kerala Curry, Chinese Broccoli, and Coconut Crema.  Kerala is a state in Southern India whose cuisines focus on vegetables and seafood.  The curry is made to go with vegetables and seafood and also includes a lot of coconut.   

The idea of the next course reminded me of Ssam, a Korean dish, or style of eating in which meat and vegetables are wrapped in a Sesame or Perilla Leaf.  In the Ssam that I have had, pork has been used.  This replaced the pork with a Fried Skate Wing and the Perilla with Lettuce.  Included with the Skate wing were a variety of vegetables including Carrots, Cucumbers, Mushrooms, Jicama, Lime, Tamari, and a Scotch Bonnet Vinaigrette.  This was really good and it was fun to see how the different flavors worked together.  The problem was to be able to fit everything on the lettuce leaf.  Many times I overloaded and had to eat over my plate so the vegetables spilling out didn't land in my lap.  The scotch bonnet vinaigrette could have potentially been so hot as to be inedible.  While there was some heat, it was not unbearable and did add some flavor to the fish and vegetables.

Our entree was largely Caribbean with the accompaniments reminding me of Cajun cuisine and the protein itself, Quail, North American.  We were served Jerked Quail with Dirty Ancient Grains, Braised Greens, and Mushrooms.  Jerk is a method of meat preparation native to Jamaica in which the meat is dry rubbed or wet marinated with a hot spice mixture including allspice, Scotch Bonnet Peppers, Cinnamon, Ginger, Thyme, and Garlic.  The dish was spicy, but it was also very good and while quail are small, there was enough meat and vegetables to go around.

We finished off with a Mexican favorite, a Chocolate Taquito with Korean Chili and Tangerine Whipped Cream.  I love the combination of sweet and spicy and Mexican and Korean cuisines seem to go together well, so this was a great combo.  The tangerine whipped cream added a hint of tang to the whole thing and made for a great finish.

I enjoyed my meal here and liked the combinations.  When we came, the chef mentioned that they were brand new and were still trying some things out.  A few of the dishes that we had are still on the menu, so I assume that it was found that they work.  I would happy to return to see what other combinations that they do.

Crosby's Kitchen

 

While I do go out to a lot of group dinners that already have set menus, I do occasionally like to go out to a simpler place and dine a la carte.  To this end, I decided to go to Crosby's Kitchen recently.  Located in Lakeview, it is part of the same group that runs Smoke Daddy, Ella Elli, Frasca's Pizzeria and Wine Bar, and Tuco and Blondie.  In fact, it shares a wall with Ella Elli.  This location seems to be very family friendly and there were many families there when I went.  It is on a corner on the Southport Corridor with a patio along Southport and the entrance on the corner of the building.  While the patio was set up when I went and it did have large gas torches, it was dark and cold and the torches were unlit, so the patio was unoccupied.  The dining room is large and open with windows looking out to the street on both sides, shaped vaguely like an L with the main leg pretty wide, and a narrower side that was parallel to Southport with a small fireplace at the end.  I was seated in a booth in the smaller section (all of the seating is booth seating) and got to watch the fire in the fireplace.  There is a bar on the back wall with TVs playing sports behind it.  While I could see the TVs from where I was sitting, I was more interested in the far.  The drink menu features beer, wine, spirits, and cocktails.  The wine list is the most extensive, though nothing was extensively challenging.  I was not feeling like wine, so I went with a cocktail.  Admittedly wine is generally not my go to unless it seems to fit the menu.  I will not order wine unless I am at a French or Italian restaurant or a wine bar.  All of the cocktails seemed to veer to the sweet side, I tried to pick one that was more than just sweet.  Called a Cherry Limeade, the cocktail that I ordered had Montelobos Mezcal, Cherry Sour (I imagine it was a shrub), and Lime.  The drink was still sweeter than something that I would normally go for, but it was more than just sweet.  The mezcal provided a little smoke, the lime added tartness, and the cherry sour added a sweet and sour cherry flavor.  If not for the smoke flavor from the mezcal, it could have very well passed for the cherry limeade that a kid might drink.

Like the drink menu, the food menu was also pretty simple, though it did have some finer dining spins to the various dishes.  I imagine the simplicity is what draws the families.  I started my meal out with an anchor of family cuisine, Deviled Eggs.  These deviled eggs, though, included Lobster.  There were three deviled eggs served.  As one deviled egg is half an egg, I was served an egg and a half.  I humorously wondered what happened to the other half.  The eggs were fixed to the plate with the whipped yolk that filled the hard boiled egg whites.  While deviled eggs are one of those things that are simple to make and everyone likes, elevating them with lots of lobster and some cayenne to give it some spice improved it a lot.

For my entree I went with something that is a regular special (regularly served a couple of days a week), the Wood Grilled Filet of Beef, served with seasonal vegetables, which in this case was Grilled Cauliflower with Pesto.  The filet was served medium rare with a well seared outside and a nicely pink interior.  It was very tender, juicy, and very good, but the star of the course was actually the Cauliflower and Pesto.  It was very tender with a little char and well covered with very flavorful pesto.

Dessert was also very much a comfort food thing and it was absolutely ridiculous.  Several restaurants in the Four Star Group, which Crosby's Kitchen is a part of, have a Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie.  This iteration was served hot, of course, and was topped with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel.  I love chocolate chip cookies, in general.  This one was very good with a crisp exterior and a soft interior.  The ice cream went well with the warm cookie as did the caramel and the entire thing provided a satisfying finish.

While nothing here was ground breaking, it isn't what they are about.  They focus on comfort food and they do it well.  It isn't a place I will go to stretch my palate, but if I'm looking for something that is simply satisfying, it's a good place to consider.     

The Kennison - Brunch

 

 

 

The Hotel Lincoln has gone through a recent makeover.   Located across the street from the southern part of Lincoln Park, I ride by it frequently, though I haven't stopped there or the restaurant that is located on the main floor since that restaurant was Perennial Virant.  Paul Virant left that restaurant a couple of years ago to focus on his restaurants in the western suburbs and it closed shortly thereafter.  The Hotel was in the process of it's makeover, so I guess a new restaurant, The Kennison, made sense.  The hotel has taken on a definite kitschy vibe with a Wall of Bad Art behind the Check In Desk, which is itself kind of kitschy, made from old dresser drawers (or at least using old drawer faces to front the desk).  Even if you aren't coming for a stay, the hotel lobby is amusing and is worth a look.  The Kennison is located next door to the lobby and is accessible through a hall or through it's own entrance outside.  The restaurant doesn't follow the look of the hotel and has a clean and classic look with a lot of brickwork and brass and steel trim.  It also has a nice patio, but The Air and Water Show was going on at the time, so it would have been loud.

There were only going to be two of us for brunch, so I decided to sit at the bar.  The chairs were comfortable and the bar was at a good height to eat at, plus I like to watch the bartenders working.  For our cocktails, we started out with a nice and spicy Bloody Mary and Sting Like a Bee, which was also kind of spicy, using Mezcal, Raspberry, and Jalapeno Honey, with a Rosemary garnish.  Both were pretty good, though the Sting Like a Bee was a little sweeter than I normally like.

For our shared dish I ordered something simple, a Croissant.  It was light, fluffy, and flaky and was eventually served with Raspberry Jam and Whipped Butter which they initially forgot to bring out with it.  While the jam and butter were excellent and did improve the croissant, the croissant was good enough on it's own that I would have been happy to eat it as it was.

 

Our entrees, on the surface, seemed like brunch standards, Chilaquiles and Eggs Benedict, but both of them had a significant twist, so they were not your standard Chilaquiles or Eggs Benedict.  At it's most basic, chilaquiles is simply tortilla chips fries in salsa, generally Salsa Verde.  It will frequently have Chorizo, Avocado, and will be topped with Eggs and Queso Fresco.  Chilaquiles does not have beans.  This version fried the tortilla chips in Salsa Roja and used Pulled Pork instead of Chorizo.  It was topped with Queso Fresco and a Fried Egg and it didn't have beans, so it qualified as Chilaquiles, but it was different.  It had a brighter flavor than the standard chilaquiles, though it was good.  Eggs Benedict are frequently served on an English Muffin with Ham, a Poached Egg, and topped with Hollandaise Sauce.  This version was served on Corn Bread with Chow Chow (a pickled vegetable relish).  With the cornbread and the chow chow, and a lighter hollandaise sauce, this was sweeter than I would normally have expected.  It also was served with Home Fries which were nicely crispy and had a nice savory flavor.

The Kennison has a very nice look, the staff is friendly, and the food is interesting and fresh.  While I did enjoy my brunch, they could improve by scaling back on the sweet flavors a little. 

Naha

 

This post is a requiem of sorts as the restaurant is closed (for now) and you will no longer be able to go to this incarnation.  The restaurant will be moving from the location that it has occupied for the last 18 years, a place that has had two restaurants in the last 40 years, and while the chef and manager, who are cousins, will remain, the question remains as to whether they will repeat their concept in a new space.  I first went to Naha years ago and loved it.  The chef, Carrie Nahabedian, is a celebrity in the Chicago area for promoting cooking that is fresh, seasonal, and local.  She is on the board of directors of Chicago Green City Market, Chicago's only organic farmer's market, and the food that she serves in her restaurant is market fresh (While Naha is closed she and her cousin, Michael Nahabedian, who is the manager, also own and run French Restaurant, Brindille).  She is also a member of Chicago Chef's Hall of Fame (2009 Inductee).  The restaurant space itself is simple and open with a light green color scheme.  The dining room is divided from the entrance hall by a wall running back into the space.  The bar sits at the space at the back of the restaurant where the entry hall opens into the dining room and the kitchen (closed) is behind that.  The dining room is very open with a long banquette running along the wall that divides the entrance from the dining room, a short banquette with a half-wall divides the room to walking, but despite the division, the space from the window at the front to the bar in the back all feels like one room.  I was seated at the banquette at the front of the room which was nice because I could see the entire dining room.  It is one of the few dining rooms that I have seen that is carpeted.  When I was there (early), the room was also fairly quiet so I could here the chef giving instructions in the kitchen to the staff for a party coming later in the evening.  I could later hear and understand conversations that I overheard from fellow diners in the dining room.  If the restaurant were to have remained here, I would have wanted to keep this in mind if I had ever returned with someone.  As I was there by myself, there was no reason not to start.  Naha has a pretty extensive wine list and a curated beer and cocktail list.  I started things with a classic cocktail that is essentially a Scotch Buck (Mule).  Called Penicillin, it contained Te Bheag Scotch, Ginger Syrup, Ginger Beer, and Lemon to finish things off.  Bucks or Mules are very popular because they combine sweet and spicy with a little tart at the finish.  With the Scotch, it adds a little peatiness, though not a lot of smoke.  It was very smooth and very good as anything coming from these guys, I would expect, would be.

I ordered my appetizer and entree after my drink arrived and was presented with a bead plate with some housemade butter.  The bread was dense and flavorful and the butter was smooth and sweet.  We were served, French, Sourdough, and Raisin Breads and though the textures were all similar, the flavors were different.  While they were all good, of the three, I think that I preferred the sourdough best and I should have saved a little for what came next.

My first course was a little exotic and very good.  It was essentially a very flavorful soup containing Manila Clams, Twisted Noodles, Cremini Mushrooms, Prosciutto Broth (which the sour dough bread would have gone exceptionally well with for dipping), Sweet Garlic, Lemon, and Parsley.  I am generally not a huge fan of soups that are mostly broth, because in many cases, the broth is extremely bland.  There was a lot of stuff to chew on in this soup, but the broth itself was so rich and flavorful, even if it had been light on stuff, I would have happily consumed bowls of it.  As it was, the clams, mushrooms, and noodles, contributed to a very rich and flavorful soup.

While the techniques and flavors at Naha would be familiar to those familiar with fine dining restaurants, Chef Carrie Nahabedian also used the techniques and flavors to reference her Armenian heritage.  This would mean an emphasis on lamb and goat and using whole animal cooking.  This is more common now in area restaurants, but when it started 18 years ago, it was very different.  My entree was an example of referencing her Armenian roots using fine dining techniques.  It was a Braised Lamb Shank Off The Bone, served with Lamb Sweetbreads, Hakurei Turnips Glazed with Rosemary and Meyer Lemon, Carrot Puree, and Navarin Jus.  If not done carefully, the textures and tastes of these ingredients can be off putting.  Lamb can have a very gamy flavor, Sweetbreads can be off putting by their very nature, and while turnips have a nice crunchy texture, the flavor can be a little funky.  As it was, the worst aspects of the flavors (to an American palate) were toned down to to create a rich and flavorful dish with tender lamb and fresh and crunchy turnips that had their flavor enhanced with rosemary and meyer lemon, and a flavorful carrot puree.  It was very good and I enjoyed it immensely.

Dessert is always fun because many pastry chefs seem to like expressing their artistic side.  While what I ordered is a classic of Mediterranean dessert cooking, Olive Oil Cake.  It is generally presented similar to a pound cake and is something you might eat with coffee or tea, but what I was served was a work of modern art.  The Olive Oil Cake was served with dollops of Meyer Lemon Custard, Hazelnut Ice Cream, and Mountain Hazelnuts, Honey, Soft Meringue (inside), and a thin stick of White Chocolate.  All of the flavors were very good and it was fun to try everything individually and in combinations.  The best combinations were the olive oil cake with the hazelnut ice cream and with the huckleberries, meyer lemon, meringue and white chocolate.  It was very good, it was a lot of fun, and it was a nice finish to restaurant I haven't gone to often, but have fond memories.

As I was finishing things off, as is the case with many fine dining restaurants, I was presented with a small plate of Mignonettes.  Both were different, one contained chocolate and pistachios, the other contained caramel (and I'm not sure what else) and they were both very good.  I have enjoyed my dinners here and I hope that when they return, it will be with a restaurant at the same level.