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First stop of our Chicago Culinary Weekend Extravaganza. The room is set up to enable mostly communal dining. We actually got a table for two by the window. Being a large room with high ceilings, it is quite loud, but a certain energy flowed from the buzz as well.
We started with a few beverages. Sue ordered the Gin & 'treuse (Hendrick's gin, green chartreuse, cucumber, lime & Fentiman's tonic) and Mark ordered the Bloody Mary with the side beer of Wells & Young's double chocolate stout. The Gin and 'treuse took a little time to make it to the table, but was worth the wait.
The Bloody Mary was really good, the double chocolate stout was just okay.
As usual we like to order some things that we're not necessarily used to ordering, beginning with the Chef's Selection of Oysters. We have been hearing that oysters are a lot like wine in that they pick up unique flavoring based on the where they're grown and we wanted to see this for ourselves.
Included in the Chef's selection (starting from the lemons, going clockwise) were:
Pebble Beach - Hood Canal Washington
Kusshi - BC, Canada
Fanny Bay - BC, Canada
Watch Hill - Winnapaug Pond, Rhode Island
Peter's Point - Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Wellfleet - Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Mark's favorite were the 2 from BC. While Sue liked those as well, she also liked the oysters from Cape Cod. Glad we tried them and we're now more willing to do something like this again, to compare flavors.
Next we ordered the Chorizo Flatbread (fried egg, cucumbers & cumin raita). The flatbread seemed more pita than flatbread and while it was flavorful and the raita was an interesting and contrasting offset to the Chorizo, it was kind of unexciting. This isn't something we would reorder.
We also ordered the Publican Bacon (Burton's maple syrup-braised publican bacon - think slab pork belly, smoky but offset nicely with maple syrup. ) This was tasty, but not quite what we expected either.
We also ordered French fries, which we didn't bother taking a picture of because, well, it's french fries. They came out incredibly hot! But perfectly seasoned and crispy. Unfortunately, once they cooled down enough to eat safely, they did get a little soggy, but were still tasty.
While the meal was good, it wasn't the wow we were hoping for. I would like to go back for dinner some night and see what their full menu has to offer.
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