A phenomenal dinner, with about 15 small, interesting courses over the course of three hours. Tiny intense burst of flavor from small flowers, herbs, and berries (nightshade, queen anne’s lace, fennel pollen, and other flowers) on top of a range of creative and perfectly-seasoned dishes each highlighting a few beautiful ingredients (including malted barley, bear jerky, beets, a few kinds of mushrooms, tomatoes, and roe).
And by lucky chance they sat us right next to the kitchen. I do always enjoy that.
My favorites were the greens and flowers on malted barley and hazelnuts, the tart sourdough, the smoked cabbage, the beet soup with a variety of accents (see the first photo), and the tomato sorbet with polenta and peaches and dried plums (one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time), but I enjoyed pretty much everything. Very highly recommended if you’re in Chicago and it works with your budget.
I also liked the not-too-loud background music– mostly various good music from the 80s / early 90s, but I also noticed Parentheses by The Blow (2006’s Paper Television was one of my favorite albums).
