culinary tour, part 2 (Chicago)

After New Orleans came Chicago...

Blackbird - Upon arrival my first impression was that the decor was really sparse. I am a fan of minimalism, but I felt like the interior was so bare as to be uncomfortable. The food was interesting, but occasionally over the top, and the portion sizes were quite small. Things I tried:

- "crispy confit of swan creek farm suckling pig with fresh hummus, baby artichokes, preserved lemon and pork rinds" - My brother had this as an appetizer. The pork was actually shredded and reconstructed into a rectangle shape. It was fairly tasty but a bit too salty:


- "'scotch' quail and egg with fresh bacon, pomelo, marcona almonds, parsnip puree and american sturgeon caviar" - I ordered this appetizer not realizing that the egg would come as a whole yolk. The quail was good but I barely touched the egg:


- "braised organic pork belly with grilled spot prawn, boiled peanuts, sugarsnap peas, cornbread and gumbo consomme" - I had a bite of this off of my brother's plate; it was basically Chinese-style "wu3 hua1" pork but was cooked Western-style. I especially enjoyed the peanuts and sugarsnaps:


- "cable farm country fried rabbit leg and chorizo with wilted romaine, baby carrots, candied pecans and spring peas" - This was my entree. The rabbit was decent, but the chorizo was only so-so.

- "bittersweet chocolate pave with caraway ice cream, roasted pears and candied olives" - I felt like dessert was actually the highlight of the meal. The bittersweet chocolate pave was done very well; it was like a heavy mousse texture and was sandwiched between two flaky pastries. I liked the strongly flavored caraway ice cream, but the pears got overshadowed by all the other things going on in the dish:


Oberweis - After dinner at Blackbird we actually still had room for more dessert, so we headed to Oberweis. The ice cream was amazingly creamy, and there were several interesting flavors. My brother and I shared a (huge) double scoop of "chocolate caramel crunch" and "apple strudel". I liked the former much better than the latter. I was also intrigued by the "butter brickle" flavor but decided I'd had quite enough dessert already.

Fornetto Mei at the Whitehall Hotel - I had lunch here one day, and tried a variety of items: the "handmade potstickers" (pretty good for a non-Chinese restaurant), "seafood fried rice" (excellent, with large chunks of crab & shrimp), and a "sausage, grape, & goat cheese pizza" (sounds horrible but was delicious; an amazing taste combination).

Charlie Trotter's - I'm a slacker of a sister and don't buy my siblings birthday presents very often, so I took the opportunity of being in the same town as my brother (for once) and took him to Charlie Trotter's for a belated birthday dinner. We had a 9pm reservation but actually had to wait a good 20+ minutes for a table, which would have annoyed me except that the hostess treated us to complimentary sparkling wine (I think we had four glasses) and a kitchen tour. The food was mostly excellent, although like at Jean Georges, I started to get sick of foam. Some of the desserts were also a little over the top, with too many flavors that weren't super well integrated. Notable courses:

- "Four Story Hills Farm Poularde with Sesame, Thumbelina Carrot & Elephant Garlic" - The poultry was flavorful, tender, and generously portioned:


- "Saffron Risotto with Orange, Parsley & Picholine Olive" - This was actually a substitution from the vegetarian menu; I requested it in lieu of a cod dish, and it ended up being one of the highlights of my meal:


- "Roasted Squab Breast with Hazelnut, Pearl Onion Marmalade & Cocoa Nib" - This dish was less memorable than some of the others. I continue to be not a huge fan of foams (I like texture!) and I think I expected more cocoa nib. The squab itself was of course, perfectly done:


- "Millbrook Farm Venison Loin with Tortellini, Dried Plum & Salt Baked Rutabaga" - I liked the accompaniments very much, but the venison itself was unremarkable in taste. The dried plum was especially yummy.


- "Venezuelan Chocolate Custard with Kaffir Lime, Grilled Cactus & Agavero Jelly" - Both the chocolate and the lime mousse(?) were delicious but the pairing was a bit odd, and I couldn't tell what the cactus was without looking at the menu:


- "Okinawan Sweet Potato with Sweet Stout & Vanilla Bean Marshmallow" - This dessert wasn't listed on our menu so I'm guessing that this is what it is (it's the closest thing on any of the other menus). Anyway the marshmallow part was amazing; perfectly gooey but not sticky, slightly caramelized on top but not burnt, and just the right amount so that it was satisfying but didn't make me fill ill. The purple part was good also but didn't make as much of an impression: