Sauce and Bread Kitchen - Foraged Feast 2018

I like Sauce and Bread Kitchen, the Bakery/Hot Sauce factory/Cafe that does pizza on Fridays and the occasional dinner that you have to be on their mailing list to attend.  I am on their mailing list and have attended several of their dinners, but it has been a while, so I was happy to see their announcement for their Foraged Feast, a dinner where many of the ingredients used in the various dishes were foraged.  Looking at the menu beforehand, things looked very good, so I was pretty excited.  Dishes are served family style, though Sauce and Bread Kitchen is a BYOB, so anything that you want to drink, other than water and coffee at the end of the meal, you have to bring yourself.  Whether you want to share that is up to you.  I brought enough beer that I thought interesting that I was able to share some.  I brought an Ommegang Fire and Blood Red Ale with Ancho Chilies and Jaden James Monkey Butter Porter.  The Red Ale was good with a nice head and the Ancho Chili bite was very light.  The Peanut Butter Porter was weird, but I expected it to be weird.  It had a strong peanut aroma and finished with flavors of chocolate and coffee like many dark bears.  It was like eating a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup for breakfast.

We actually started with an Amuse Bouche, 3 Sisters Crostini with Hominy, Winter Squash, and Chickpea Miso, and Radish, crisped on Pickle Bread, with Ramp Giardinera.  As with all amuse bouches, it was a little bite of wonderfulness.  I tried the crostini with and without the giardinera and it was good either way, though better with the giardinera.

Our first actual course was a Hawks Wing Bao with Smoked Dryad Saddle Mushrooms, Sweet Onion in Peanut Miso BBQ Sauce, Shaved Asparagus/Birds Eye Pepper Salad, Wild Chive, and Chili Peanuts.  It was fresh, spicy, crisp, and crunchy, and was a lot easier to eat than I expected.  I would have expected that trying to hold it together while trying to eat it, might have squeezed many of the vegetables out.  This did happen to a small extent, but for the most part, it stayed in the bun.

After our first course of mushrooms, we continued with another course of mushrooms.  We were served Wild Mushroom Pasta with Chilled Buckwheat Noodles, Ramp Olive Oil, Poached Morels, Sauteed Morels and Golden Oyster Mushrooms, and Fried Pepitas.  This was really good.  It was tender, nutty, and the ramp olive oil acted as a nice vinaigrette.  It reminded me of a vegetarian dish that I make every summer.

Our entree was our only dish that actually had meat and that was fine because everything else had been great, thus far.  We had a Choucroute.  Choucroute is the Alsatian version of Sauerkraut (and sausage).  This used a Venison Andouille Sausage.  While venison eaten at home is generally wild, venison found in a restaurant is generally farmed.  For the Choucroute itself, that was pretty wild, using Grilled Escarole and Ramp and Carrot Kimchi (the Korean version of Sauerkraut).  It was tart and flavorful with a little spice, though admittedly, the escarole was a little tough to eat.

For dessert we finished with a Financier Pistachio Vanilla Cake with Rhubarb Sorbet, a Candied Basswood Leaf, and an Edible Flower.  While the ice cream and cake were good, the best part about this was the candied basswood leaf.  It was sweet and very delicate with a lightly crisp texture.  The flower, also very delicate, unsurprisingly tasted like a flower.

This dinner was a lot of fun and I would be happy to see what they come up with next year.  

  

Sauce and Bread Kitchen - Foraged Feast

Having gone to several of Sauce and Bread Kitchen's monthly supper club dinners, I am starting to become a regular and become known by the staff.  It is very cool to see what they come up with for each of their dinners.    They do rearrange the space somewhat from dinner to dinner.  Usually my seat of choice is at the counter, but this evening, all of the seating was at two communal tables in the rear of the space.  As they are very creative and it is a BYOB, I try to come up with something interesting to drink.  This time I went with the Double Jungle Boogie American Double/Imperial IPA with notes of Mango, Pineapple, Tea, and a slightly bitter finish that I thought would go well, with what I expected to be the bitterness that would come from the foraged plants that we would be eating. 

For our first course, I did guess correctly on the bitterness because we ate Dandelion Greens which are pretty bitter.  Called a Dandelion Bacon Tartine, the greens were served with Crispy Bacon, a Cherry Tomato, and a light Vinaigrette on Toasted Brioche.  It was crispy, salty, and bitter from the greens and was a lot of fun.  While I did take a few bites of everything together, for the most part, I ate the individual pieces separately which were all good.

For our second course, we had a very interesting salad. It was a Spring Radish salad with Wild Watercress/Mustard Green Seed Pods, Chive Blossoms, and Green Goddess Dressing.  It was very fresh, crisp, and crunchy, with a little spice, and the Green Goddess Dressing added a salty and spicy creaminess.

 

I was not sure what Kuku was or what it was supposed to look like, but what we were served next, an Herbed Kuku with Stinging Nettles, Cattail Stems, Basil, Wisconsin and Michigan Mushrooms, and Radical Root Eggs.  After having the dish, I thought that I had had a Kuku and a Fritata, still not knowing what a Kuku is.  It is apparently an herbed Iranian egg dish similar to a frittata.  It was served with the Mushrooms and Cattail Stems, and the Stinging Nettle Leaves served on the side.  The kuku was very interesting, a little more dense than a frittata, and the mushrooms, cattails, and nettles, added flavor and texture.  It was very good, even if I didn't exactly know what it was. 

For our final savory dish we had Nashville Style Hot Fish and Chips with Wild Caught Catfish and Peruvian Potato Chips.  The catfish was lightly breaded and was very tender.  The hot sauce was spicy and tart, and the crisp dill pickles that were served on the side were crisp and cut the heat of the hot sauce.  There are over 3000 breeds of potato in Peru, although those potatoes that are generally referred to as Peruvian potatoes are purple as were the potatoes used for the very thin and crisp chips.

To finish things off, we were served what to me was very similar to a Strawberry Shortcake.  Called a Strawberry Romanoff, it started with Angel Food Cake and Strawberries.  Served with it was Strained Yogurt, Rhubarb Syrup, and Violet Flower.  The Angel Food Cake was very light and spongy.  The strawberries were fresh, sweet, and tart.  Both yogurt and rhubarb are sour and they were combined together although the flavors were distinct.  It was all light, sweet, tart, and a great finish to another fine meal.  I enjoyed both my meal and my company both, and I will continue to return.   
 

Intro - C. J. Jacobson

Most restaurants of note will vary their menus based on season.  Some restaurants take it further by changing themes several times a year.  In a more extreme example, Next Restaurant completely changes its concept about three times a year.  Following along the same lines, the popular restaurant group Let Us Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) has introduced Intro, a restaurant that introduces diners to a new chef and his concept, changing both menu and restaurant details every two or three months.  For their first chef, they brought in California native and Top Chef Alum, CJ Jacobson.  Chef Jacobson's cuisine could be described as rustic refined.  He focuses on local, seasonal, and foraged products, to create something that you would expect to find in a fine dining restaurant.  The restaurant itself is kind of hidden, with the entrance in the lobby of a condo building on Lincoln Park West behind a large wooden door.  The dining room space is pretty open so it leaves a lot ov room for individual variations from chef to chef.  Mon Ami Gabi, another Lettuce Entertain You restaurant, is located in the same building, although it is visible from the outside, so it can be used for navigation purposes.  Intro uses a prepaid reservation system that varies based on the time you book your dinner, for most dinners.  They do save a few seats for online reservations, but because you are not prepaying, the price will be the maximum price offered in the prepaid system.  Tax and service charge (tip) are included in the prepay, so it is possible to go and not to have to pay anymore on the night of the dinner (if you do not drink).  This was not the case for me as I did start out with a cocktail.  My cocktail was called a Fir Mule and was similar to a Moscow Mule.  It used Absolut Vodka and Ginger Beer like a Moscow Mule, except that instead of Lime, it used Douglas Fir Syrup and it was not served in a copper mug.  The drink surprised me as to how green it was.  It did taste good though.  It doesn't have the sour finish of a Moscow Mule.  The Fir Syrup went well with the ginger and brought out an herbal flavor instead.

Before our first official course, we were served an Amuse Bouche which consisted of a savory Panna Cotta, two Granitas (a frozen ice dessert from Sicily made from fruit juice with a coarser texture than is typical for Sorbet), and topped with Trout Roe.  On paper, this doesn't look, to me, like it should work, but the saltiness of the roe and the savory panna cotta actually go well with the sweet and sour from the granitas, and the many different textures helped as well.

For our first official course, we were served a dish in a large semicircular bowl that was kind of a cross between a salad and a ceviche.  This very nice looking dish contained Fluke, Avocado, Radishes, and Douglas Fir Tips in another very green broth.  I have to imagine the green in this case was a combination of the fir and the avocado.  It was very all very tender and flavorful and I enjoyed it a lot.

We took a break of sorts after our first course when our bread course arrived.  It was fairly simple as far as a bread course is concerned, consisting of only one type of bread, Sourdough and Butter.  Having said that, the bread and butter were both housemade and were very good.  The bread had a nice thick crust with a soft interior and was broken into several pieces to more easily get a piece that was easy to handle.  The butter was very soft sweet and salty and had a good sprinkling of chives for flavor.

Our next course was primarily a vegetable course, consisting of very fresh Asparagus, Celery, and Pepitas (fried sunflower seeds), with what was essentially a Hollandaise Sauce with Bacon.  There There were also a few things not listed in the course description that I think were fried Cauliflower.  The vegetables were very crisp, the cauliflower was crunchy, the pepitas provided a nutty crunch, and the Hollandaise provided a complementary flavor and bacon improves the flavor of everything.

In a normal fine dining course progression, after the salad comes the vegetable, fish, and meat, finishing with dessert.  This menu more or less continued to follow the standard course progression with the fish course coming next.  I say more or less, because while we were served the fish course, there was still a fair emphasis on the vegetables served with the fish.  We were served Poached Halibut with English Peas and Pea Shoots, and Maitake and Shiitake Mushrooms.  I really like halibut.  When it is prepared well, as it was here, it is tender and flaky with a mild flavorthat can pair well with a wide variety of vegetabes.  The mushrooms and peas provided a lot of flavor to this dish and went well with the halibut.

The final savory course was a couple of slices of Medium Rare Prime New York Strip served with Escarole, Aronia Berries (Chokeberries), and Jus.  The escarole, a leaf lettuce, was served both as a sauteed leaf and a puree, and the chokeberries were chopped and presented with the escarole.  By itself, the greens were a bit bitter (and astringent with the aronia berries), but they paired well with the steak.

Dessert was different, but good.  It consisted of Kombucha (fermented sweetened black or green tea), Juniper Snow, Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, Dark Chocolate Cubes, and Sunflower Shoots.  The kombucha had a bittersweet herbal flavor and the juniper snow brought back the pine tree theme.  Chocolate is chocolate and it tasted good, but with the sunflower shoots, the kombucha. and the juniper, the bitter was emphasized.  While it was good, it went more towards flavors complementary to the savory side of things than a typical dessert does.

To finish things off, we were given crisp chocolate twigs.  They were sweet and crispy like a KitKat Bar, but with the twig form brought things back to the natural side of things that all of these dishes featured.  I enjoyed my dinner here and look forward to seeing what the next incarnations of Intro might be.

Elizabeth

I had said last year, after trying some truly world class restaurants in London and Paris, that I really needed to hit some of the high end restaurants in Chicago.  At that time, I had thought that Alinea was out of reach and was aiming for a few of the small and truly innovative places in town that were one step above underground supper clubs.  The places that I was aiming for were Schwa, Goosefoot, El Ideas, and Elizabeth.  Since I made that list, 42 Grams has opened and fits into the same "genre" and Elizabeth is the first of these that I managed to get a reservation for (and dine at).  Elizabeth is located in a small storefront in Lincoln Square.  There is a small sign on the door, but even with that, I wasn't sure I was going into the right place.  After I walked into the entryway and through the curtain hanging in front of the door, I saw that I was in the right place.  The space is very small with seating for 24 and the kitchen is in the dining room.  So, if you were facing in the right direction, you could see the chefs assembling the dishes.  There were 6 tables for two, and 3 tables seating four.  The tables and chairs were all mismatched, but the furniture was predominantly wood.  The floor was cement painted brown to match the wood and there were many owl figures throughout the room.  There was one shelf in the dining room that held many owls and the restaurant's Michelin Star.  There is no menu published online for Elizabeth.  Going in, I knew that the menu had a significant foraged element to it so I expected to see quite a bit of plant life, but other than that, I was going in more or less blind which I really didn't mind.  

For our first course, we were presented with several elements.  It was pretty complex but it was also beautifully presented.  The first element was a petri dish (on a wooden coaster) with Chilled Pea and Mint Gel with Turbot, Snail Roe, served with a Mint Tea "Shooter" in a Disposable Pipette.  The tea could either be added to the gel or swallowed as it was and I did both.  Everything about that dish was lightly flavored.  It had a pea and mint flavor, but it was pretty light.  The turbot, like most white fish, had a mild flavor, the snail roe was more a textural element than adding a specific flavor, and the mint tea, while it had a definite mint flavor, was definitely not overwhelming.  The second element was presented in a terrarium and while I liked it, I don't really remember all of the elements.  Everything in the terrarium was edible.  I do remember the Pickled Ramps, the Maple Cream, and the Clover, but I don't remember what the "Dirt" was made from.  I do remember that it tasted good and that it was a bit dry, but that's all I remember about it.  For the last element of the first course, we were presented more tea.  It was a Mint Tea infused with Sassafras.  I wish that I had gotten a picture of the infuser because it looked like a piece of antique lab equipment.the tea was in a round bottomed flask that, when heated with a bunsen burner flowed up the neck of the flask and emptied into an upper chamber filled with Sassafras Root.  After the tea flowed into the upper chamber, it was served into owl shaped coffee mugs where we enjoyed them.

 The next course was decidedly simpler in presentation, arriving in a single dish.  It was called Ramps and Day Lilys and had a green gel in the bottom, which was topped with 3 different cubes, one of which was a potato, Steelhead Roe, and a Clover Leaf and Flower for garnish.  It was very good even if I don't remember all details about it.   I remember the textural differences of the cubes, one was kind of creamy, one was gel-like, and one was a fried potato.  The gel was oniony and went well with the saltiness of the roe.

The next dish was a one bite wonder with what I thought, kind of a humorous presentation.  We were again brought out the wood coaster on which was placed a rock with our next course.  It was Wild Rice and Bear which we were supposed to eat in one bite from the rock without utensils.  We essentially had to wolf the bite off the rock.  It was very flavorful and very good.  There seemed to be a spice of some sort in this.  There was a savory flavor (probably from the bear) and the rice was very toothsome.

The next dish had several things going on and I really don't remember everything about it.  There were some Plant Based Noodles in an Agar Gel with Mustard and Violet Blossoms and a leaf that I am remembering (possibly incorrectly) as mint.  I remember that there were a lot of textures going on and while there were several flowers, the flavor was not overtly floral.

With our next course, we talked briefly with Chef Iliana Regan and learned that her training was in chemical engineering which may very well have explained the references to scientific equipment in the previous courses.  The next course was a longtime dream of several people that kind of became a joke because it wasn't happening.  Farming Shrimp around the Great Lakes had been talked about for years, but up until very recently, no one was able to make it happen.  Recently though, someone has successfully been able to farm shrimp in Indiana (indoors), and this is what we were served.  The Shrimp was fairly large, tempuraed, and sprinkled with raspberry powder.  The batter was light and fluffy, as tempura batter is and the shrimp was very flavorful.  The Raspberry Powder added a tartness to the dish.  It was very good, although I probably would have liked it more had the shrimp been shelled.  Shrimp shells are edible and they do add a crunch to the dish, they can be a bit difficult to eat.

The next course was another simple bite that was served on a large spoon.  The spoon was essentially a spoon that is used for eating soup in Asian dishes.  As this was essentially an Asian dish, it fit.  It was Shrimp Noodles with shrimp flavored Lo Mein noodles and a vegetable that I think was Daikon.  In any case, the noodles were chewy and had a good shrimp flavor and the daikon added some crunch to the bite.

The next dish was essentially a space to relax and think about where we have been and where we might be going.  We were brought a very nice vintage tea cup and saucer with a few baby mushrooms in the bottom of the cup.  They then came out to fill the cup with Mushroom Tea.  I like mushrooms and this had a lot of mushroom flavor as might be expected.  It was nice to slow down for a minute and sip some very good tea in some nice looking cups.

The next course kept the mushroom theme and ended up being one of my favorite dishes.  It was a Fried Maitake Mushroom with Clover and Creme Fraiche served on the side.  The mushroom itself was moist, tender, and flavorful.  The breading that helped helped maintain the mushrooms moisture was crispy and flavorful, and the Creme Fraiche added a sour element that just complemented the mushroom.

One of the design elements that I hadn't mentioned was the centerpiece on each table.  It looked like a series of white vases that were connected to each other at the widest point.  They were spherical in shape and had what appeared to be twigs coming out of the tops.  At this point, the centerpiece actually came into play.  While there were twigs in several of the openings, there was also dried carrots (orange) and Rye Sticks (the lighter brown twigs).  The carrots were chewy, sweet, and very flavorful and the rye sticks were light and crispy with a definite, but not overpowering, rye flavor.

After the centerpiece, we began to progress into our entrees.  We did not immediately proceed to heavy, meat based dishes, but instead started with some soup.  We were brought out a black bowl with grilled Fiddlehead Ferns.  Into that was added Fiddlehead and Fava Bean Soup.  The soup was very rich and savory, tasting like it was cream based, although cream was not mentioned.  The grilled fiddleheads were crisp (like fresh green beans) and had a very pronounced flavor that was pretty bitter and reminded me of asparagus.  It was a good start to the savory courses and I was excited to see (and taste) more.

From the soup, we proceeded to offal and had Spring Greens and Sweet Breads with Mashed Potatoes.  It was a very nice looking dish with the sweet breads placed on the mashed potatoes with a flower petals and leaves next to them and the sauteed greens next to the potatoes.  The imagery of the placement invoked flowers although, it was very definitely a savory dish and had little floral flavor.  The sweet breads were tender and flavorful, the potatoes were rich and buttery, and the greens were buttery and crisp with a slightly bitter finish.

From the sweetbreads, we proceeded to what was my favorite dish, Duck Stew with Homemade Sourdough.  The stew consisted of Baby Turnips and Carrots, Onions, Duck Sausage, and Duck Confit that was presented in a hollowed out Sourdough Bread Bowl.  This was savory, rich, and very definitely comfort food.  There wasn't a lot of stew broth, but there was enough to moisten the bread which made it easier to eat.  The turnips and carrots were small but flavorful, the sausage was tender, and the duck confit was excellent as it always is.  This dish was very good and was a lot of fun to eat.

We finished our savory courses with Spring Lamb Belly and Golden Beets served with a berry jam and a sour cream on the side.  I was actually a little leery of this because I had had lamb belly elsewhere and the flavor was stronger than I really liked.  I shouldn't have worried because, like everything else, it was prepared perfectly.  There was a definite lamb flavor to the belly, but it wasn't exceptionally strong.  Texturally, it was similar to pork belly that hasn't been cured to bacon.  The golden beets were light, sweet, and crisp and tied the belly to the sour cream.  The jam reminded me of huckleberry and had a sweet, fruity flavor with a tart finish that went well with the lamb belly.

Our next course was essentially another intermezzo between our savory and sweet courses and again made reference to Chef Iliana's scientific background.  We were brought out a barkless tree branch that had five holes drilled in it to mount test tubes.  All of the test tubes had liquid in them and they were interspersed between green sprouts and pink flowers.  The liquid in which the pink flowers was floating was Kombucha, a fermented tea, and it was what we were to drink.  We were also given white and black straws to drink it with but I actually forgot about the straw initially and poured it into my mouth.  I did use the straw afterward to recover the flower from the test tube.  The drink was sweet, slightly effervescent, and had a very slight tea flavor.

The first of our desserts looked like breakfast.  I really don't remember most of what it consisted of, but I do know that it wasn't what it looked like.  The dish was called Froot Loops and that was, in a matter of speaking, what was in the bowl.  The cereal rings were not colored like Froot Loops, but they did taste good especially with the Cashew Milk that they were served with.  They were sweet and crunchy with a slightly tart finish.  With the froot loops was served a light and crispy biscuit, some whipped butter, and an egg that wasn't an egg.  Texturally, the egg was like a hard fried egg with a hard yolk, but it was perfect.  There were no fry marks or imperfections.  It did taste good even if it wasn't an egg.

The next dessert was much more identifiable and I actually liked it better than breakfast.  It consisted of Juniper, Sunchokes, and Rhubarb.  The rhubarb was obvious, being thinly sliced and placed on top, the juniper was presented in a cake, and the sunchoke was formed like a semisoft cheese.  The dish was sweet, sour, and bitter with a lot of varied textures and a cream served on the side.  It was very good and a joy to eat.

For our final official course, we were presented with a plate of cookies.  They were Chocolate and Almond Cookies that were rounded on top and looked like mushroom tops which was significant because they were presented on a plate with mushrooms painted on it.  The cookies were sweet and very chocolaty with an almond finish.  They had a crisp exterior with a moist interior and were very good.

I called the last course the last official course because after we had paid our bill, we were presented with menus and another cookie.  This cookie was wrapped for the possibility of taking it with you, but after everything else was so good, this cookie didn't make it out the door.  It was a Peanut Butter and Jam Cookie and like everything else. it was great.  

During my dinner here, I noticed several themes that were repeated several times.  These were owls, scientific equipment, and mushrooms.  There was also the over-arching theme of nature being everywhere, but that was kind of obvious.  It was very cool to see how any of these themes would be presented from course to course.  I really enjoyed my dinner here and would recommend it to anyone who would like to explore Chicago's high end dining scene.  It's amazingly creative, and with one of the most affordable prices for restaurants of this caliber, is a good gateway.