Elizabeth - Brunch

I last talked about the restaurant that was my favorite of the year.  Humorously, I actually had my favorite brunch in the same week that I went to my favorite restaurant of the year.  I had been to Elizabeth several times for different themed dinners, so the restaurant was "dressed" differently.  It's a small space with an open kitchen in the back corner and a very nice tin ceiling (painted).  From the outside, unless you knew where to look, you would probably never find it.  Located in the middle of a retail strip in Lincoln Square, it has a glass front with curtains covering the interior and a glass door.  There is a small logo on the door, but unless you're looking for it, it would be easy to miss.  Inside, there is a small entryway also obscured by curtains, before you enter the small dining room which seats about 30.  When we entered, we were seated near the front of the restaurant and were served by the wife of the chef, which was very nice.  While the more elaborate decorations were absent, there was still a lot of pottery with natural greenery on the shelves to the sides of the dining room.  There were also owl figures decorating the space if you knew where to look.  All of the table ware, though served mismatched, was very colorful and nice, many pieces having images of wildlife or flowers.  Tickets for brunch did come with an option for a wine pairing, but we decided to pass on that, and just stuck with coffee.  Which was a medium roast from a local roaster and was very good and served in a delicate looking cup and saucer.

Our food started out with what was essentially cereal.We were served Toasted Rye Crumbs, which really reminded me of Grape Nuts, though the nutty flavor also came from the fresh and juicy Blackberries that had been soaked in Pistachio Oil, and the Cashew Milk, which the rye crumbs and blackberries were soaking in.  While this was already Grape Nuts with a fine dining spin, the Edible Flowers that garnished the dish brought it there emphatically.  It was crunchy and nutty with the fresh and juicy blackberries and creamy and nutty cashew milk.

 

The first dish was served individually.  The rest of the dishes were served family style.  While we were sharing dishes, there was still almost too much food to eat.  Our next course was a course in two parts.  It started with a Kale Salad with Green Goddess Dressing.  It also had edible flowers, but I think that it also had julienned carrots for color if for nothing else.  The Kale was very crisp and there was enough Green Goddess Dressing to add both moisture and flavor (Green Goddess Dressing is made with mayo and various herbs, but also anchovies).  While I will generally not get excited about salad, the flavor and color of this was very good.  Part 2 of the second course was a spin on Chicken and Waffles, which would have been a win even as such.  This had the Waffles, which were very good, but it was also served with Grilled Peaches, Quail Terrine, and lightly topped with Maple Syrup.  Everything about this was good, though it was best if you could get a piece of everything at once.  The Waffles were fluffy and buttery, the Grilled Peaches were caramelized on the outside, but were still juicy inside, and the Quail Terrine had a nice exterior crunch with a soft interior and was very flavorful.

 

The next course, another course in two parts, was the star of the show.  both parts were good enough to stand on their own and I would have been happy with just either dish.  On the first plate, we were served Michelin Star Hash Browns topped with a Sunny Side Up Eggs (Elizabeth is a One Michelin Star Restaurant) along with the best veggie sausages that I have ever had.  The second part of the course was Poached Lobster and Grits topped with Arugula.  I have said in the past that I am very picky about my Shrimp and Grits, which I am.  This blew the best Shrimp and Grits that I have had out of the water.  The grits were very smooth and had a lot of butter which seems to have been what the lobster was poached in.  The lobster was also very buttery, sweet, and tender, and very flavorful.  The arugula added a little fresh crispness and peppery bitterness which complemented the lobster.

Our last course was a dessert.  We were served Brioche Apple Fritters, which were round enough that they looked like batter fried apples, served with Housemade Vanilla Ice Cream topped with Whiskey Caramel.  The fritters were iced and contained a lot of apples.  While the ice cream and fritters did go together well, they were both good enough to each enjoy on their own, though the whiskey caramel did add to the ice cream.

Everything about this brunch was good.  The food was fantastic, the place was cute, Our diningware was very nice, and the staff was very friendly and attentive.  We even got a vision from the chef!  While Elizabeth isn't a place I can visit with regularity, I really do like it and will continue coming here when I can.        

Elske

 

While I do like to go to restaurants with Tasting Menus, it isn't my normal dining choice and the fact that dining at two tasting menu restaurants came so close together was highly unusual.  I had planned a couple of months in advance to go to Elske.  Claudia, the previous restaurant/pop-up that I had gone to with a tasting menu came very quickly and was a quick decision.  Elske has been open for about a year and I have been very interested in it since I heard about it.  Run by husband and wife team, David and Anna Posey, formerly from the One Off Hospitality Group (Blackbird, The Publican, Nico Osteria, etc.), the restaurant is listed as New American, and while many of the ingredients are Midwestern, the recipes used have a decidedly Danish spin (the name is Danish for love).  The place has received a lot of buzz, garnering Best New Restaurant lauds from both Bon Appetit, and Eater, and a Michelin Star in it's first year.  The outside of the building is light colored with large windows, but is otherwise pretty non-descript other than the script neon sign that says "elske" in the corner of one window.  The entrance is hidden.  There is a tall wooden fence next to the building with a large gate door that opens into a very quaint courtyard with crushed stone, lawn furniture with furs laying on them, and a fireplace (which I neglected to photograph).  The entrance to the restaurant is in the back corner of the courtyard.  The only reason that I knew this was because I had been to this building in it's previous restaurant incarnation, though the fence was not there to shield the courtyard.  The inside of the restaurant is simple with both a feel for both retro and Euro simplicity.  We were seated at a table in the center of the room where there was a good view of the dining area, but also of the open kitchen and of the small bar area.  While the restaurant serves both a tasting menu and a la carte, we came interested in the tasting menu, though looking at the menu, there were also some very good things on the a la carte menu.  Both were presented in a very nice menu that looked like a greeting card with a nice and simple hand drawn design of herbs, flowers and mushrooms.This was appropriate because a menu is just that, a greeting card into a chef's establishment, and the design gave us a hint of what was to come.  While we discussed what the plan of attack might be, I ordered a cocktail.  Called a GinTonic, as might be gathered from the name, it was a spin on the standard Gin and Tonic.  This was made with 4 different gins, City of London Dry, Old Raj, Tanquerey, and Citadelle, Elske's Housemade Tonic Syrup, and a Dried Lime.  It was served in a tall glass with a cylindrical ice cube, a mint leaf garnish, and a paper straw.  A good gin and tonic is smooth, sparkling, and sweet, with a generous amount of herbal flavor.  This was that with the complexity that came from the herbal mixtures from the different gins.  It was a nice and refreshing start before we actually ate anything.

Talking to the waiter we found, like many places, if one person was to have the tasting menu, we all would.  We also found that we could augment the tasting menu with dishes from the a la carte menu which we decided to do.  We would be getting an additional course that our waiter helped us to decide when in the progression that it would arrive.  Our first course looked both simple and complex and was very pretty.  Called a Tea of Lightly Smoked Fruits and Vegetables with Radish and Caviar Toast and it served as sort of a prelude to the meal. It was a simple cup with a tea with a lightly smoked flavor and a thin slice of buttered toast with julienned radishes and bites of caviar.  The toast was light and crisp and with the radishes and caviar tasted very fresh and had a nice saltiness to it.

The next course was Sprouted Lentil Crepes with Smoked Whitefish Salad and Tarragon.  It actually arrived while we were working on our first course.  Also meant to be eaten by hand, it was presented folded in wax paper which made it easier to handle.  The crepe was like a thin and delicate pancake, which is how a good crepe is supposed to be, with sprouted lentils used in the batter.  The smoked whitefish salad was both smooth, smoky, and a little salty, which provided some nice flavor.  The tarragon added a nice herbal flavor.  This was a favorite and it was very difficult not to wolf it down and ask for more.

The next course was also hand held and it was beautiful in it's simple presentation.  It was a Duck Liver Tart with Salted Ramps and Buckwheat.  They were presented in simple wedges on a cutting board that sort of reminded me of a backgammon design.  The tart itself was excellent (although not as good as the previous dish).  The duck liver mousse had a nice flavor that was augmented with the green salted ramp topping that provided a light garlic/onion flavor.  The buckwheat crust provided a firm backbone and was slightly sweet that played to the sweetness of the duck liver mousse.

We went back to vegetables for our next course.  The dish was simple in it's presentation, but it looked very nice on the black plate that it was presented on.  While I will try anything that I see on a menu that I haven't tried before, I was really unsure about the combination of this dish in my head.  It was Salsify and Endives with Delice Cream, Burnt Bread, and Black Truffles.  Salsify is a flowering plant (also known as oyster plant) with an edible root used in French and German cooking that is texturally like asparagus, but tastes vaguely of oysters.  Endives are a bitter leafy vegetable of the Chicory family and Delice is a French Cow's Milk triple cream cheese with a very soft and buttery texture.  There were several bitter components in the dish, the Endives, the burnt bread, which was in crumb form and the salsify was rolled in, and the truffles.  I did like this, but I think it was because the Delice moderated the bitter and tied everything together.

The menu was following a fairly standard course progression with opening bites, appetizers, and vegetables, next would be fish, which it was.  We had Roasted Monkfish with Onion Soubise (a Bechamel Sauce with Onions and Rice Puree), Parsnip, and Preserved Meyer Lemon.  Monkfish is an ugly fish with an enormous head and a large mouth with the only thing eaten is the meat around the tail.  It is very tender and has a flavor similar to whitefish.  The white sauce added a nice onion flavor and the preserved meyer lemon was presented as a topping that gave the entire dish some tartness.  It wasn't bad and on it's own might have been considered pretty good, but with the other courses that had been presented so far, this fell in the lower half.

Our next course was a feast in and of itself and it's where our additional dish was added.  The course was mostly about duck, with 3 of the 5 courses on the 4 plates including something about duck in the dish.  The main plate was Aged Duck Breast and Mustard Seed Duck Sausage.  The vegetable plate was a Leek Barigoule (a Provencal dish typically using artichokes but in this case using Leeks, braised with Garlic and Carrots in a seasoned broth of water and wine) topped with Creamed Duck Fat.  A very nice and large Dinner Roll was included, and then our supplemental plate, Confit Hen of the Woods Mushrooms, with Chestnut, Pear Cream, and Thyme.  I like duck, so the aged duck breast was a win.  The mustard seed duck sausage was spicy and very tasty.  The leeks were perfectly cooked and were served at the point where the vegetables were between crisp and soft with the creamed duck fat providing a nice bit of savoriness.  The dinner roll was one of the best rolls that I have ever had and I would have been happy to eat it on its own.  It had a nice crust and the inside was just tear apart soft with a nice flavor.  With the extra course, my dining companions liked it and I liked the mushrooms, which were thinly sliced, but the pear cream included pears and I didn't care for it.  The main course was very good and our supplemental had good elements.  I could see how it was all supposed to work together, I just didn't care for the entire combination together.

As might be guessed, the last course was our last savory course.  Our next course was a very simple and cute palate cleanser, Frozen Fennel Jelly with Mint.  It was a simple bite to be eaten by hand with light mint flavor.  It was like a a mint gummy cube and I really enjoyed it.

Palate cleansers are pre-desserts to bridge the gap between the savory main course and the sweet desserts.  Having said that while our dessert was very good, it wasn't exceptionally sweet.  It was Whipped Whey with Earl Grey Ice Cream, Parsnips, Buckwheat, and Lemon.  The whipped whey was very light and interesting.  It was similar to Whipped Cream, but the texture wasn't quite the same.  The Earl Grey ice cream added an herbal and sweet tartness, which the lemon used to tie to the whey, and the buckwheat added a little crunch.  Overall it was a very good meal with some good friends that was enjoyed by all.  I'm glad that I was able to go and was happy to have friends to share it with.

 

  

Band of Bohemia - Brunch

While Green River was an unplanned brunch, however good it was, I returned to my regularly scheduled brunches soon after with a trip to Band of Bohemia, the first brewpub ever to have been awarded a Michelin Star.  Run by Alinea vets and located in a former warehouse in Ravenswood, from the outside that is exactly what it looks like.  The inside is something different.  It uses a bunch of vintage furniture, book cases, upholstered chairs, dressers, heavy curtains, and long wooden tables in a room that retains it's industrial feel with white brick walls and an open unfinished ceiling.  There is also an area off to the side that's like a salon where I had been seated before that had couches, arm chairs, side tables, and coffee tables.  The bar is long and dark colored wood and looks into the modern kitchen on one side, the other side looking at the taps.  We were seated at one of the long tables in the center of the dining room.  As this is a brewery, I figured that it would be a shme not to try the beer, so I ordered a flight.  The beers served are mostly ales, but they do not precisely fit into common styles using many different fruits and botanicals.  The beers were all served in crystal goblets that let them breathe.  We started with Peony Starflower Ale, an ale made with White Tea and Starflower.  It was very clear and almost looked like apple juice, but it was definitely beer and had a light botanical flavor to it.  Next was Guava Pink Peppercorn Rye Ale and with that came all of the flavors of fruit and spice that you might expect.  Constellation's Kiss, the center beer, was brewed for Next Restaurant and included Jasmine Rice, Lemongrass, Thai basil, and did nothing for me.  Beer number four is a regular on their menu, The Noble Raven Ale.  It is a light and crisp German style Ale, which while not really surprising, is very solid in its execution.  The final beer was (Sitting on) the Dark of the Bay.  A dark colored beer made a play on words of it's name.  When I think black beer, I think heavy.  This was very definitely not that.  It was a Black Wheat Ale that used Bay Rum, Bay Citrus, and Bay Laurel.  It was very flavorful but surprising in that it was not heavy and did not have the bitter flavor of a stout or a porter.  This was probably my favorite beer.

For the sweet side of my brunch we started out with Donuts, specifically started out with Brioche Donuts with Cinnamon-Cardamom-Vanilla-Maple Sugar served both as donuts and the holes.  The donuts were of the yeast type so were pretty light and I would imagine that if it were not for the sugar, they would have a salty, buttery, and savory flavor being as it's made from an egg washed dough.  The mixed sugar though, gave it a pretty complete covering and a sweet, spicy, nutty flavor.  I also got a cup of their house Dark Matter coffee, which was a dark roast and had a good rich flavor to it.

When everyone was brought their main course, I was brought a pancake, which was not what I ordered.  The waiter very quickly noticed that it was not what I ordered and said that my order would be out quickly and that we could keep it.  It did look pretty good, so it couldn't go to waste, and we had a bonus sweet plate.  The Pancake was an Oat and Buttermilk Pancake with Oats, Rye, Hemp Hearts, and Buttermilk with Cherry Bourbon Maple Syrup and Whipped Creme Fraiche.  It was a little more dense than your standard pancake with a strong flavor of grains and some tartness from the buttermilk.  The cherries on top were sweetened tart cherries which went well with the buttermilk and the creme fraiche.  The bourbon cherry syrup was sweet, and woody and went well with the cherries and tempered some of the tartness of the pancake and creme fraiche.

My main course, the one that I actually ordered was Fried Chicken and French Toast.  It was had a lot of tropical flavors and was very good.  It started with Caribbean Fried Chicken (boned) served with Papaya - Jalapeno French Toast, Bananas, Orange, Mint, and Mango-Passionfruit Syrup.  I like Chicken and Waffles, but this was taking things up a level with peppers and flavors of tropical fruit adding both sweet and tartness. 

After sharing the pancake and  eating this, as well as a donut, I was pretty full, but in a good way.  The food and beer were very good, as was the service and I did like the design of the place down to the box that looked like a leather-bound book that held the bill.  In it's early days, they used actual books as bill holders, but decided that that was difficult to hold the money, so they went with the box.  In any case, it looks cool and I will definitely return.         

Green River- Brunch

While there are many restaurants that offer brunch, even many that offer a very good brunch, the number gets smaller when I have to consider party size.  There are a few places that I like, but would not set a brunch up there because I don't think that they could easily handle the large parties that I frequently have for my large brunches.  Green River has been on my to do list since shortly after it opened, but I had the idea that it was a smaller place so I thought that while I could come for dinner, they would be hard pressed to handle a larger party.  A couple of friends wanted to meet for brunch, though, and wanted to do a rooftop, so I decided that it would be a good time to check it out.  Located on the 18th Floor of Northwestern Hospital in Streeterville, there is a sign for direction on the main floor.  The elevator opens to a hall with the main restaurant and the host station to the left.  Located near, and named for, the river that gets dyed green for St. Patrick's Day, the restaurant is known both for it's fantastic terrace and it's nod to the cities Irish heritage which can be noted in their fantastic cocktails.  While the interior did look very nice with a lot of marble used on the floor and bar as well as with dividers between the booths.  Heavy light colored wood is used for the chairs and the booths and couch are upholstered with leather.  The main room did look very nice, but we were interested in the terrace which used modern and well made patio furniture.  The tables were dark wood and the chairs were stainless steel with a woven seat and back.  While we sat close to the building, there was nowhere that didn't provide a great view (and there were areas where there weren't tables that seemed to be made for balcony pictures).  Green River quickly became a Michelin Star restaurant, but they are also very well known for their cocktails.  That being said, trying at least one cocktail was a must.  The cocktails are divided on the menu by the grain, seed, or fruit used in the base spirit.  For my first cocktail, I started with Juniper.  There were two spirits on the menu based on Juniper, Gin and Genever.  I started with Gin and a drink called Haley's Comet.  It started with Sipsmith Gin, and used Aveze Gentiane, a French bitter using the Gentian root, Passion Fruit, Lemon, Kaffir Lime Leaf, and topped with Cava.  This was a tart, sparkling drink served in a cava glass.  It was very refreshing and a nice sipping drink.

When I go out for brunch, I do like to hit both sweet and savory.  They had a Cinnamon Roll on the menu that I happened to see before I ordered and saw that it also was a must.  It was big and sticky looking and served on a board.  It was topped with a Cream Cheese Frosting that did make it very sticky.  There was a lot of cinnamon and it had a crusty outside and a very soft inside.  While I would normally eat a cinnamon roll by hand, it was so sticky that I would have ended up wearing as much as I ate.  It was very good and I really enjoyed it despite having to eat it with knife and fork.

For the savory side, I went with  Fried Chicken and Cheddar Biscuits with Sausage Gravy and an Arugula Salad.  This reminded me of three brunch favorites, a breakfast sandwich, Chicken and Waffles, and Biscuits and Gravy.  While it couldn't be eaten by hand as a sandwich could most of the time, it presented the best parts of all of these dishes.  The biscuits were flavorful and tender, the arugula provided some peppery green, the sausage gravy, was rich, with a lot of sausage and pepper and went well with everything, and the chicken had a crispy breading and was juicy and tender.  Minus the gravy, it might have been eaten with difficulty by hand, and that probably would have been the easiest way to achieve the correct ratio of everything in a single bite.  It could be done with knife and fork, but it was a little more difficult, but it was good and everything went together well.

To finish things off, I had another cocktail, this one from the Grape and Apple section.  Called a Tommy Gun, it had Kappa Chilean Pisco, Pineapple, Lime, Garam Masala, and Aromatic Bitters.  This drink was very complex and very good.  It had the flavors of a Pisco Sour, and a Tiki drink, with flavors of Curry.  As odd as it might sound, it was very good, and a very good finish to our brunch.

Looking around the space, I wondered about the possibility of doing a larger scale brunch here and talking to the manger, I found that it could be done although probably not on the terrace.  I was shown around and got to see their event space/alternate cocktail lounge, The Annex.  When it is operating as The Annex, it has it's own food and cocktail menu, but it can be used for larger parties and brunch and it also has a fantastic view even if it is enclosed.  I really enjoyed my time here, so I will have to include it on my list of upcoming restaurants to visit.

42 grams

A Chicago food writer made a comment about the Chicago food scene and Michelin Stars and said that with few exceptions, Chicago is a One Star town and that is what most restaurants should aspire to because Chicago is very relaxed about their dining and as the number of stars goes up, so does the formality.  While I would agree with this in many cases, there are notable exceptions.    Alinea and Grace are both Three Star restaurants, but they are also both very formal.  42 grams, which I went to recently, is a small BYOB (18 seats total) with a tasting menu with two seatings a night.  The first seating is at the Chef's Counter, which overlooks the open kitchen and has eight seats.  The second seating is at a communal table seating 10.

I chose the counter because I always like to watch what is going on in the kitchen.  I was seated at one corner, which was ideal because I was also sitting next to the staging area and was able to watch what would be coming out next and how it was plated.  With 18 seats, it was a very intimate setting to the point that there are only four people that work there, Chef Jake Bickelhaupt, his assistant, whose name has escaped me, Chef Jake's wife, Alexa Welsh, who runs the front of the house as hostess and server, and a 4th employee who works as a busser and dishwasher.  Aside from the counter and table, the room was fairly spartan with one major wall hanging consisting of wine corks.  As 42 grams is a BYOB and I was by myself, I didn't want to bring a bottle of wine because I wanted to be able to bike home so I brought a Belgian-Style Sour Ale from Une Anee called Le Seul V which was flavored with Kiwifruit.  While I didn't know what the menu was going to be beforehand, I figured that a fruity sour ale would go well with many things that might be served in the spring.  For the most part, this was the case.

Our first course was served on what looked like a pewter oyster shell.  The dish did feature an oyster so it was appropriate.  The Golden Nugget Oyster sat on top of a Sweet Corn Panna Cotta and a slice of Speck.  It was framed with the leaves of a plant called Oysterleaf (which is named such because it tastes of oyster) and crowned with fried Cornsilk.  It was small enough to be eaten in one bite which was how it supposed to be eaten.  Despite the small size, it had a wealth of textures and flavors and was a great start.

Dinner proceeded with another seafood course which was served in a bowl similar to a ramen bowl, deep with concave sides.  In the bottom was a Gyokuro (a green tea grown under shaded conditions) Gelee with Tofu, Carabinero Shrimp (with Head Foam), Finger Lime, and Rice Noodles flavored with Phytoplankton.  Looking at the dish left many people wondering how to eat this.  The noodles were light and crisp and couldn't really easily be separated from one another.  We were instructed to use the back of the spoon that we were given to eat the dish with to crush the noodles into the dish and to mix everything together.  It had a very saline flavor from the noodles and the shrimp (which was cooked perfectly) with some creaminess and a light green tea finish.

The next course was one of the most beautiful courses that we were served.  It started with thinly sliced Hamachi served with with Tom Kha (Chicken Coconut Soup), Dulse (Red Algae or Sea Lettuce, which was fried), Cucumber Blooms, and Radishes.  The hamchi was tender and delicate, which went well with the textures of the flowers and the flavor of the soup.  The dulse provided a little crispness to the dish.

The last of the seafood courses finished with Mussels which were served with Curry, Cauliflower, and Wild Fennel Foam.  This was one of my favorite dishes and I am generally not a huge fan of mussels.  It had a multitude of colors, flavors and textures.  The mussels sat in the curry broth which was thick, creamy and very flavorful and went well with the multicolored cauliflower.  The wild fennel foam was surprisingly flavorful and also went well with the curry as well.

The first of the meat courses was not something I would have expected, Lamb Neck.  It was braised so it was very tender and was served with Fermented Lily Puree, Fried Enoki Mushrooms, Cara Cara Orange, Carrot, and a Dandelion Green to provide some bitterness.  Lamb has a bit of a strong flavor although I imagine it would be less so in the neck because a lot of the flavor of meat resides in the fat.  There was a definite strong flavor with the meat although it was moderated by the bright flavors of the vegetables and the bitterness of the dandelion.

From tender meat and a lot of brightness, we went to Thanksgiving.  It wasn't actually supposed to be a Thanksgiving dish, but that's what the flavors and spices reminded me of.  We were served Squab Breast with shredded Black Truffles, Ground Cherry, Caramelized Onions, Ancient Grains Porridge, and Sage.

If there is anything like a signature dish at 42 grams, it would be the next course, which has never left the menu.  It was a slice of A5 (highest grade) Miyazaki (breed of cattle) Wagyu Beef served with Baby Bok Choy, Umeboshi (Salted Asian Plum Sauce) and a line of white powder that turned out to be a mixture of Bone Marrow and Beef Tendon.  The meat was very tender and there was a lot of umami.  It was a very good dish, although for me, I would say it was only my third or fourth favorite (out of 11 courses).

There was one more meat course after the Wagyu that, while it was kind of a step back in formality, it was one of my favorite dishes.  It was Jamon Mangalica, a Hungarian Pig sent to be finished in Spain like Spanish Iberico served with very fresh Cheese, Flax Crisp, and Siberian Pineapple Jam.  We were given a spoon to eat this with and instructed to spoon the very soft cheese with some ham onto the flax crisp and eat it like cheese and crackers.  The crisp was very delicate, so the operation was to break off a piece of the crisp, spoon the cheese and ham with some jam onto the crisp and bite carefully to prevent it from shattering.  The cheese was very soft and tart, the ham was tender and flavorful, and the crisp was delicate.  It was fantastic in it's simplicity.

In a standard progression, there will be a palate cleanser between the savory courses and the desserts.  This is generally a tart sorbet.  In this case, the progression followed tradition, although it was very different in form and very creative.  It was simply called Tart and consisted of a very thin globe of White Chocolate fixed to a spoon with Honey, topped with a Pineapple Sage Flower, and filled with Calamansi Juice.  Because the shell was so thin and delicate, we were instructed to have it completely in our mouth before biting down because it would shatter and make a mess for the diners if they did not.  Despite having said this, there were still some people that kept their moth open or tried to bite into it and had the sour juice dribble down their lips.

Like the previous dish, Tart, our dessert was simply called Sweet. It consisted of a scoop of Aloe Vera Gelato with Miso Caramel, Oxalis (Red Clover), Dried Pears, on Ginger Carrot Cake.  It was sweet, but it was a lot more than just sweet.  The aloe vera added a floral flavor, the miso caramel brought some savoriness, and the ginger carrot cake added some spice.  It was complex and I really enjoyed it.

To finish things we had Coffee.  It was a special blend made by Sparrow Coffee called the 42 grams Blend and was served as a Cappuccino with Cardamom.  It was a nice looking cappuccino, but it wouldn't be a fine dining restaurant if there wasn't a twist.

 

The coffee was semi-solid, like pudding.  I didn't get a picture of our hostess turning it upside down, but I did take one of my own.  It was a nice cappuccino and the cardamom added a nice twist  9not to mention the creamy texture).

I really enjoyed my dinner here.  It was one of my favorite fine dining experiences.  I enjoyed the intimacy and Alexa explaining the dishes, not to mention the great flavors and textures.  After the dinner service was finished they actually took pictures with us.  It was a lot of fun and I would definitely do it again.  

Mexique

While there are a lot of Mexican restaurants in Chicago, I tend not to go to them often.  It isn't that I have anything against Mexican food, in fact I quite like it, but when I go out, I like to explore, and Mexican food generally feels too familiar to me.  I had heard of Mexique, a few years ago, and while a Mexican-French fusion sounded really interesting, I still battled familiarity issues so it was always "another time" when I chose a place to go out.  When Carlos Gaytan, the executive chef at Mexique was on Top Chef and when the restaurant won a Michelin Star, it moved up on my list of places to go, but it still took a while to get here.  The day finally came recently.  I didn't have a reservation so I made a plan to get there early when it would probably be easier to get a seat.  I was correct.  When I arrived, the dining room was mostly empty, but by the time I finished my dinner, it was mostly full.  The place is very unobtrusive from the road, so if you don't know the address, it's easy to pass without noticing it.  The color of the restaurant is done in shades of brown.  The space is narrow, with banquette seating on one side and a bar on the other, with a row of tables in the center of the room after the bar ends and another row against the wall.  I was seated in the center row, which gave me a good view of the restaurant flow.  The kitchen was at the rear of the restaurant with the serving line parallel to the line of the tables.  The walls on either side of the restaurant had large solid color block paintings with wall cutouts exposing the brick behind the wall on either side of the paintings.  I think that this was supposed to parallel the contrast between the fine dining and the rustic elements of the menu.  The white tablecloths also implied the fine dining aspect of the cuisine.

There were a lot of things on the menu that looked really good, so it was going to be a little difficult to make a choice.  Fortunately, they also had a tasting option that offered six courses and took the choosing out of the diners hands.  I went this route.  Before my first course arrived, I was presented with the bread plate.  This started showing the fusion aspect of the restaurant.  The bread was a white bread with a crusty exterior and a soft and fluffy interior.  With it, instead of butter was served Chicken Liver Pate on the right side with Black Bean Puree on the left.  Both spreads were very flavorful and tasted good, but the black been puree was easier to spread.

Dinner in a French/Fine Dining restaurant follows a standard progression:  Appetizer, followed by soup, salad, fish, fowl, light and dark meats, and finishing off with dessert.  Dinner at Mexique followed, more or less, the standard course progression.  When the first course came out, I sort of thought it was a salad of some sort.  It was a bowl with sliced Tortillas, with cubed Zucchini anf Potatoes, Corn, and dollops of Goat Cheese.  I found when they poured the Cream of Poblano broth over it that it was the soup.  It was creamy, flavorful, and very fresh with a mildly spicy finish.  This was very good and while it did make me look forward to the rest of the meal, it also made me wish for a bigger bowl of this soup.

The second course looked very nice and tasted very good.  As far as the course progression is concerned, it was fine where it was, although it could have been also presented as the first course.  It was a Steelhead Trout Ceviche with a Mango Puree to provide the acid to cure it, and served with Zucchini, Avocado, Mangoes, and Black Radishes.  It was tart and the fish was very tender, but the radishes provided a crunch to the dish.  The Tomatoes and Avocadoes almost gave it a Guacamole flavor and the sliced Mangoes provided some fruit sweetness.

 

The fish course looked, on the surface, pretty simple, but had some amazing complexity.  It was a pan-seared Swordfish served over Caramelized Mushrooms and Lentils with very finely pureed Potatoes and Fennel with Fennel Shoots.  The top side of the plate was layered with Parsley Oil and the bottom half with Paprika Oil divided by the potatoes and the mushrooms and lentils.  The swordfish was garnished with thinly sliced Radishes and Fennel Fronds.  The swordfish was tender and flaky and the mushrooms and lentils tasted really good.  The potatoes were actually a little finer than I would normally prefer and the oils added some additional flavor and spice as well as giving the plate a look similar to the Mexican flag.

The next course, as far as a course progression is concerned, may have fit as the last savory course, although it could be argued that they were in the right order because the most savory course was the last course presented before dessert.  This course was a Mole Glazed Braised Pork Belly topped with Apricots, Radishes, and Fennel, and served with Fried Brussels Sprouts, and More Mole topped with Sweet Potato Puree with Cocoa Nibs.  This was sweet and spicy, but it was also also very complex.  The mole was made with 27 ingredients and while chocolate and spice were key flavors, there were also many flavors that presented themselves like garlic and cinnamon.  

The last of the savory courses was a Seared Duck Breast served over a Tamarind Chipotle Sauce and Parsley Oil.  The plate was dotted with more Tamarind Chipotle Sauce, which was dark, and some Mango Habanero Sauce, which was light colored.  On the side was served a Corn and Blackberry Tamal topped with a fried Kale Leaf.  It was a very nice presentation, but since Duck is my favorite meat, I may have liked it without the fancy presentation.  The duck was very good and I was happy to see it, but the sauces and the tamal added a wealth of additional flavor.

 And then came dessert.  Dessert was a tasting in and of itself.  It started, on the left with a Blackberry Sorbet which was sweet and tart with a lot of blackberry flavor.  Next came the Tres Leches Cake topped with Strawberries.  The cake was rich, sweet, and very moist, with the very fresh strawberries on top.  The last of the major portions of the dessert was the Mango Panna Cotta which was very tart and reminded me of the Key Lime Panna Cotta that I really enjoyed years ago at the late lamented restaurant onesixty blue.  All of these together would have made a great dessert tasting, but there was also an Apple Coulis (like a thick sauce) between the main pieces and Nutella Powder was spread liberally around the three pieces.  It was a great finish to a great dinner.

I'm glad I was finally able to make it to Mexique.  The food was great, it was a true fusion, and the service was excellent as well.  It very definitely does not fall under the standard Mexican restaurant and I would be happy to return.