As you know I was in Chicago this past week for a conference. Several weeks before heading out to Chicago, an email came through on the group's email chat asking if anyone was interested in going to Graham Elliot for dinner Saturday night before the conference. A full minute could not have passed before I responded to Mary Lu's email. Yes! Absolutely, I was in! Mary Lu got a group of 8 of us together from all parts of the US and Canada, only one of whom I had met before.
Once I agreed to go it occurred to me that I had a wedding job booked that morning, so the scheduling was going to be difficult. How to I do a makeup job, drive nearly 2 hours to LaGuardia Airport, make a flight, and arrive on time for an 8:15 dinner reservation?
Well, I was done with the makeup job at 12:30, ran home, dropped off my kit and grabbed my luggage, hopped in the car and made it to the airport, for what was supposed to be a 5pm flight getting my into Chicago at 6:45.
Everything was going along just time until my flight was delayed because of thunder storms in Chicago. My flight touched down at 7:50. I rushed to get my luggage and grab a cab. By now it was 8:15. Shit. I casually said to my cab drive "looks like I'll be late for my 8:15 reservation". He said don't worry, I can get us there quickly. He was right, by driving in excess of 80 MPH, weaving through traffic and mostly driving on the shoulder, you can get anywhere quickly! I walked into the restaurant at 8:30.
Everyone in the group (save for one other who had gotten delayed as well) were already seated and had just ordered a bottle of wine. Perfect timing! After a brief round of introductions and putting faces with the names I had gotten to know over email, Mary Lu slid a container of popcorn over to me. The restaurant's offering in place of bread. This wasn't just any popcorn. This was popcorn with chives, parmesean and truffle oil.
Though I would have loved to do one of the 3 tasting menus, we opted do go for the a la carte instead.
Before our food came out we were brought a amuse bouche: a watermelon shooter with jalapeno oil. Chunks of watermelon in a watermelon juice with a drop a jalapeno oil on top. It was sweet with just the faintest bit of heat.
I had the wagyu tartare with roasted porcini, asparagus salad, pomme frites and a Bearnaise yolk.
The raw beef with the rich creamy Bearnaise was melt-in-your mouth good. A little crunch from the pomme frites and asparagus added a really good bit of texture. This was one of those dishes that evoked a head roll, a sigh, a slight moan a the declaration "god that's good".
Others at the table opted for the deconstructed caesar salad (a signature dish) or the corn bisque (which also has spiny lobster and a vanilla marshmallow...).
For an entree I had the pork belly with puffed hominy, farm egg, breakfast radish and rojo froth.
I was really excited about this, because if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that i absolutely love pork belly. I wasn't in love with this one. It was frankly, a little tough. I love when the belly is nice and fatty and just melts, this had a chew to it. That said, the flavor of the belly with the egg was really lovely (if not chewy).
Others had the Salmon with blis roe, garlic scape, shaved fennel and dill crema. Or the White Fish with smoked mussel, potato confit, artichoke relish and lemon sabayon. Or the Jidori Chicken with dirty rice, country pate, fried okra and gizzard jus. Dennis went renegade and had dessert: flourless chocolate with root beer, port cherry, birch caramel and sasaparilla gelatto.
The service is exactly what I like it to be. Our waitress was extremely knowledgeable. When verious courses came out there were 4 runners/servers for our table. Before each course one member of the team described each plate to the whole table, including the best way to eat it. It was professional and excellent without being pretentious. All of the servers wear jeans, white shirts and fitted grey blazers. No aprons, no ties! Our server had faux-diamond plugs instead of earrings. All the servers just looked comfortable, relaxed and cool. Plus she stretched a bottle of wine into several pours for each person... impressive!
Once I agreed to go it occurred to me that I had a wedding job booked that morning, so the scheduling was going to be difficult. How to I do a makeup job, drive nearly 2 hours to LaGuardia Airport, make a flight, and arrive on time for an 8:15 dinner reservation?
Well, I was done with the makeup job at 12:30, ran home, dropped off my kit and grabbed my luggage, hopped in the car and made it to the airport, for what was supposed to be a 5pm flight getting my into Chicago at 6:45.
Everything was going along just time until my flight was delayed because of thunder storms in Chicago. My flight touched down at 7:50. I rushed to get my luggage and grab a cab. By now it was 8:15. Shit. I casually said to my cab drive "looks like I'll be late for my 8:15 reservation". He said don't worry, I can get us there quickly. He was right, by driving in excess of 80 MPH, weaving through traffic and mostly driving on the shoulder, you can get anywhere quickly! I walked into the restaurant at 8:30.
Everyone in the group (save for one other who had gotten delayed as well) were already seated and had just ordered a bottle of wine. Perfect timing! After a brief round of introductions and putting faces with the names I had gotten to know over email, Mary Lu slid a container of popcorn over to me. The restaurant's offering in place of bread. This wasn't just any popcorn. This was popcorn with chives, parmesean and truffle oil.
Though I would have loved to do one of the 3 tasting menus, we opted do go for the a la carte instead.
Before our food came out we were brought a amuse bouche: a watermelon shooter with jalapeno oil. Chunks of watermelon in a watermelon juice with a drop a jalapeno oil on top. It was sweet with just the faintest bit of heat.
I had the wagyu tartare with roasted porcini, asparagus salad, pomme frites and a Bearnaise yolk.
Others at the table opted for the deconstructed caesar salad (a signature dish) or the corn bisque (which also has spiny lobster and a vanilla marshmallow...).
For an entree I had the pork belly with puffed hominy, farm egg, breakfast radish and rojo froth.
I was really excited about this, because if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that i absolutely love pork belly. I wasn't in love with this one. It was frankly, a little tough. I love when the belly is nice and fatty and just melts, this had a chew to it. That said, the flavor of the belly with the egg was really lovely (if not chewy).
Others had the Salmon with blis roe, garlic scape, shaved fennel and dill crema. Or the White Fish with smoked mussel, potato confit, artichoke relish and lemon sabayon. Or the Jidori Chicken with dirty rice, country pate, fried okra and gizzard jus. Dennis went renegade and had dessert: flourless chocolate with root beer, port cherry, birch caramel and sasaparilla gelatto.
The service is exactly what I like it to be. Our waitress was extremely knowledgeable. When verious courses came out there were 4 runners/servers for our table. Before each course one member of the team described each plate to the whole table, including the best way to eat it. It was professional and excellent without being pretentious. All of the servers wear jeans, white shirts and fitted grey blazers. No aprons, no ties! Our server had faux-diamond plugs instead of earrings. All the servers just looked comfortable, relaxed and cool. Plus she stretched a bottle of wine into several pours for each person... impressive!
that's unfortunate about the pork belly being chewy... kinda like Fatty Crab. You should go to elephant and have their pork belly and pineapple tacos...
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