I'm a big food person, but I've never experienced fine dining on the level of a Michelin stared restaurant. Soo naturally when my two friends who run a business that revolves around food, invites me to partake in a trip to Chicago for the sole purpose of eating. I had to join along.
We arrive on a thursday night in december, and the place is just swarming with people. We're greeted by the hostess and we're informed of a slight wait, then asks for our coats. Which I was surprised by, but I assume this is the norm for Chicago. (I live in TX). A few moments later, we're all seated in a nice corner by a wall of wines. He runs through the usual specials and we decide to all get something different so we can share. We decide to turn this into a competition as well, we'll all rate each item (unbiasedly, i hope) and whoever gets the least amount of points will buy drinks!
Let the games begin!
Appetizers - I scan the menu and found the chicken fried sweetbreads my choice naturally, as I love anything fried. My friends chose the Seared Sea Scallops, Braised Lamb Ravioli.
The appetizers arrive, i've never seen food displayed in such a intricate fashion, its visually amazing. But appearances won't get me out of a bar tab. We start at the Scallops, the scallops have a nicely seared edge and looks to be done to perfection. I open wide and take my first bite as a Michelin star diner. It was delicious and soft like butter. It awesome. Next was the Lamb Ravioli, it looks to have been made with care, the ravioli crimps (?) were neat uniform. I take a bite and found it rather bland, nothing really stood out. Last up was the Sweetbreads. To me, it found it had a southern flair, with the waffle and sweetbreads. It was AWESOME. the crispy waffle with the nicely fried sweetbread was great combination!
To the scoring! We unanimously declare the sweetbreads No.1, followed by the Scallops and disappointing ravioli. I'm currently in the lead followed by my friend F and D..who ordered the lowly ravioli.
Main course - I took too much deliberating between the choices, and found that my friends chose the Duck and the Pork Shank. After looking around for what's left, I decided to try my chances with the Sous vide'd Chicken.
Moments later, Dinner is served! The amazing presentation continues as these dishes look like a work of art. First up is the Pork, it has a rich cider porky taste that was tender and good savoriness to it. My pick in the race was the chicken. Which looks rather bland and uninviting. (see picture) I thought for sure I was going to loose this round. I take a bite, and found it rather very flavorful. It had a taste of mashed potatoes and gravy creaminess. I was in joy. Not sure if that was the chef's intention or if I was just delusional. Next up was the duck. I love duck and knew i was screwed. Hoping it would really disappoint. Sadly I was wrong, the super tender, savory and flavorful.
Score cards, were similar to my reactions. Duck was out in front, followed by Pork and the chicken... =
Side Notes.... We got Duck Fat fried Potatoes and the Caramelized Brussel sprouts, as if we didn't have enough food. I enjoyed the potatoes, but wished the duck flavor was more. The sprouts were delicious, if I had sprouts like these, I'd eat them alot more often.
With my last place finish, i have 4 points, F chose the Duck, 5 points, and D with 3.
Dessert - I knew, i needed to avoid getting beat by D, to dodge the bar tab. I'm a fan of bread pudding, sooo i chose the gingerbread pudding for my choice to win! The other choices were Chocolate Mousse Chocolate cake and Apple Spice Cake.
Dessert arrives and we start with Mousse cake, ooooh man, it was perfect, not too overly sweet. Nice smooth finish. Next was the bread pudding, It had a nice sponge like consistency to it, flavor had good consistency but not strong enough for my liking. Apple Spice cake was great, the Maple ice cream and caramelized apples brought wonderful memories of my experience at La FondueMental in Montreal. It had the perfect combo of mapleness.
The last event score cards....F with the Apple Spice Cake took 1st, then the Mousse and then pudding.
Points were tally'd up and found F had 8 points, while me and D were tied 5. Even though I knew I lost, I really won after experiencing all these great food and that the bar tab was being split with D.
That's it from Sepia, Thanks for reading, till the next installment from the Chicago food adventure! read more