ELIZABITES

May 14, 2009 · 12:05 am

Alinea 2.0

Continuing onto courses six and seven, you really don’t feel the need to cleanse any of the fantastic flavors still swirling on your palate, until this one-bite work of art is placed in front of you. A green almond gelée flavored on the corners with tiny bits of juniper, gin and lime. It jumps from salty, to sweet and lingers on light citrus for a while.

Green almond, juniper, gin and lime

Foam returns in the delicate lilac course with scallops, razor clams, honeydew gelée and hidden pillows of lilac that emit tiny floral explosions on your tongue. Thin slices of ulta-crunchy celery add more layers of texture amid airy foam, fresh herbs and tender seafood. It was paired with a bright and crisp Paolo Bea “Santa Chiara” Bianco from Umbria, 1994.

Lilac

Lobster with popcorn, mango and curry. A true study in beauty, humor, texture and color, we were told the dish was inspired by butter. Works for us. Popcorn kernels were scattered with juicy, tender chunks of lobster meat, curry, micro herbs, tiny mushrooms and corn while a sweet mango gelée rested in the middle.

Lobster

Served on the side was a slice of coconut toast, just one of the house breads brought out to try with various courses. This sweet slice didn’t really need a spreading of the goat’s milk butter, but we slathered it up anyway. The butter itself (not pictured), reminiscent of movie popcorn, was good enough to eat on its own, or as a dining companion declared, to “bathe in.”

Coconut toast

“The next dish is so well known you can google it,” our server told us. My first guess was the famous single strand of sweet bacon on a wire, but that was yet to come. It was the Hot potato that was placed before us. I had seen it before, but never had the gorgeous course of hot potato covered with a black truffle and resting over a ultra-creamy cold potato soup. The bowl is a wax mold made daily by the servers and a pin is pulled to release the hot potato and truffle into the soup ready to be sipped. Brilliant, delicious, and a great play on temperatures. Bowl-licking may have been sneaked.

Hot potato

Up next, Wagyu with “A-1” sauce, an explosion of truffles, maple sap reduction and more..

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Filed under ..and more, Best bite, I like to eats

May 13, 2009 · 12:05 am

Alinea 1.0

I think it was somewhere between sipping the most amazing Mosel Riesling I’ve ever had and noticing frosty white ice crystals begin to slowly envelop our black vase centerpiece that I started to wonder how the 12-course tasting at Alinea could truly be expressed on a blog. Not a review, post, iMovie (actually considered this one) or tweet can truly capture the full dining experience at Chef Grant Achatz’ award-winning temple of gastronomy. I was lucky enough to go last week and didn’t expect to be torn between taking photos of everything set down in front of me and sitting back and experiencing the sensory overload without the distraction of camera, pen and note pad fumbling. So, I did all of the above. I took notes, only to be reminded by one of our many patient servers that we’d be getting a copy of the menu at the end. My pen would go down just as yet another wildly creative dish was introduced, sometimes including how to eat it and in what order..Wait? Distilled vegetables? What? Wait..proceed to scribbling. A recorder might’ve captured it all, but we’re talking almost 5 hours of serious eating that would need to be transcribed. I later realized my cell phone has voice recording, but why ruin this amazing experience with too much technology? Also, why unveil the entire thing in one post?

So, I will attempt to bring you the first installment of our courses in order of consumption. We were seated a four-top round table on the second floor as the symphony of flavors, colors and textures rolled out..and our party marveled at everything, collectively dissected the nature of each juicy sphere of roe, savory foam bubble or something sweetly poised to be bitten from a burning cinnamon stick. We’d catch a hint of rosemary from another table, bonfire smoke from yet another as a pillow filled with lavender air was plopped down in front of us. At various points throughout the night, fists were pounded, mouths were stuck agape, hands were put on hearts, a laughing fit ensued towards the end, and one dining companion declared the restaurant “A place that makes problems disappear”…I bring you the first few courses of our night. More to come…

Roes. Two types of delicate, hand-harvested roe, airy toast foam and whipped egg cream. The light, fresh roe popped into slighly salty deliciousness onto our tongues while toast (yes, toast) foam played on our palates and egg cream added a lemon-kissed finish. Bowl-licking pondered but resisted.

Roes with traditional garnishes

We were handed these round bowls holding a holy fork-full of two silky foie gras lobes, shiso and daikon with a sweet yuzu foam beckoning below. The heavenly bite of foie paired perfectly with a silky smooth glass of Max Ferdinand von Richter Erdener Treppchen Riesling, 1990. It was sort of like sipping rare jewels in a glass and I could’ve stuck with it for the rest of the dinner if we didn’t have eight more glasses to try.

Foie gras

Pork belly with crisp iceberg lettuce, cucumber, Thai chile paste and Thai distillation. Stunning and well-balanced, the warm pork belly confit was hidden within layers of lettuce topped with dainty microgreens and mushrooms. In the corner, a mysterious shot glass contained mild, clean distillation of Thai chiles and lemongrass. Not at all hot, we detected just a hint of vegetable flavor in the palate-cleansing shot.

Pork belly

White asparagus with sorrel, white pepper and honey. Just as you are about to dip your spoon into this “glass”…

White asparagus

The server lifts it up and the picture perfect contents arrange themselves into pure spring loveliness in a bowl. Honey and what seemed like brown sugar granules rounded out the fresh and savory white asparagus, sorrel purée and white pepper soup. The dish was masterfully paired with a dangerously drinkable Junmai Daiginjo sake.

White asparagus (glass removed)

Next up… a palate cleanser, a bit of shellfish-kissed lilac, a butter-inspired plate and more to come..

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Filed under Best bite, great for date, I like to eats

May 12, 2009 · 12:05 am

On the table: Crisp

Cute logo, great communal seating, fantastic Korean chicken wings

Paper towel roll, ketchup, sriracha, soy sauce, chopsticks, straws, salt, pepper. 2940 N. Broadway, 773.697.7610

Mystery map

This cool map hangs in what Chicago restaurant?

Molly’s Cupcakes

The Ron Bennington..it's as ridiculous as it looks

I know what you’re thinking. Besides, “holy crap does that look amazing,” you’re also all, “elizabites, did you ever meet a cupcake you didn’t like?” The answer is yes, I have, but not this one. The Ron Bennington from Molly’s Cupcakes (above) may be the ruin of my red velvet obsession. With a crushed butterscotch topping, chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, and peanut-butter-butterscotch filling I had to have one. I took a photo of the RVC because they were lovely, but had to cash in the calories on this masterpiece. Not only is the chocolate ganache rich, creamy and heavenly, but the moist chocolate cake is actually filled with an intense whipped peanut-butter-butterscotch center filling. It’s just one selection from the “center-filled” cupcake selections which includes tiramisu, nutella, raspberry-blueberry and pastry cream. The place also rocks because you can make your own cupcakes, pairing your cake with your frosting and your toppings. Mini, vegan and classic cupcakes are on the menu, and a portion of all profits are donated to local schools. There’s also board games, vintage lunch boxes and wooden “swing” chairs hanging from chains at the bar. Did I mention the Cookie Monster cupcake with vanilla chocolate chip cake, buttercream frosting, a mint chocolate chip cookie and raw cookie dough center? Didn’t think so. Um red velvets..you may be going away for a little while… 2536 N. Clark St., 773.883.7220

The RVC looked awesome, but I had to go for the center-filled

Molly's on Clark

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Filed under Best bite, I like to eats, red velvet cupcake report, thick

May 7, 2009 · 12:05 am

Crisp

The Baby Buddha Bowl

A cherry might signify the ultimate culinary topping for some, but I’m pretty sure it’s actually an egg. Poached, sunny-side up or fried, an egg just takes any dish it graces with its runny presence to a whole new level. My egg-topped obsessions around town abound, but the ones that I’m hopelessly addicted to are the Kuma Burger at Kuma’s Corner, the Lyonnaise salad at Le Bouchon, the egg sandwich with grilled bacon and toast at The Bristol, and the Buddha Bowls at Crisp. I love this casual Korean-inspired spot with ridiculous chicken wings, Korean “burritos,” and my favorite, bi bim bap-inspired Buddha Bowls. Even the Baby Buddha at $6 fills you up with rice, spinach, bean sprouts, carrots, zucchini-squash, chicken (or beef or tofu), a fried egg sprinkled with sesame seeds and pungent gochujang sauce on the side. Bigger versions of the bowls come with more veggies, and an organic brown rice substitution justifies the addition of deep-fried mushrooms or mashed potatoes on the side. With wooden communal picnic tables, spools of paper towel on the tables and an ultra-cute bird logo, I pretty much love everything about this place..now if we could get them to open up in Wicker Park. Crisp, 2940 N. Broadway, 877.693.8653

You can't miss the bright orange awning at Crisp, now we just need more of them

Mystery logo

What Chicago cafe is marked by these red (not Bull) wings?

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Filed under mystery spot

May 5, 2009 · 12:05 am

Roast chicken at Branch 27

Half-chicken at Branch 27

I gushed last week about Branch 27‘s cool decor and sun-lit atrium, but I finally had a chance to head in for some actual eats this past weekend. I truly love so many different types of food, but sometimes I just can’t stay away from ordering a good roast chicken. The one at the very top of the Branch menu sounded especially tasty with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts (another strange weakness of mine) so I ordered it with a glass of crisp, white Hirschbach Riesling (and, yet another weakness). Perfectly tender and juicy, the glistening chicken is bursting with flavor from a simple lemon-garlic seasoning and rests in its own light jus. I try to avoid eating chicken skin if I can muster the willpower, but it might be sacrilege to leave its savory-salty-juicy self behind. The mashed potatoes on the side are simple, creamy and perfectly whipped, and the Brussels sprouts (the chef only uses the bright green outer leaves which are less bitter) are paired with mouth-watering pieces of juicy diced bacon. Anyway, I can go on and on, but let’s just say at the end of it all I got one of those, “So I guess you liked yours!!” exclamations from the waiter as he looked down at my plate holding little more than some clean chicken bones and a small pool of jus which I almost asked him to box up. Yeah, uh, so? Other highlights from the delish night include the decadent mozzarella egg roll appetizer and fudge brownie sundae for dessert. I’ll be back for lamb shank, sausage and peppers, and an especially tasty looking bowl of mussels I saw people downing at the bar. Branch 27, 1371 W. Chicago

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Filed under great for date, new restaurants