Dining at Avenues in Chicago
It’s time to bring my trip report for Chicago to a close. And I can’t think of a better way to do it than to talk about my dinner at Avenues.
In the few spare minutes I had while I was in Chicago for a conference recently, I was talked into going to one of the premiere restaurants in Chicago. Avenues is located in the Peninsula Hotel, which is like the Ritz or the Pierre but it’s in Chicago. I wound up being quite happy that I bought my first suit the other day as Avenues was a strictly jacket and tie type of place. In the end, my suit cost less than the meal, in part because I paid for a colleague as well as myself. Long story.
Anyway, Avenues is absurdly good. The current master chef (or chef de cuisine if you prefer) is Graham Elliot Bowles, and the man is indeed a culinary master. From what I understand about his work, he takes a deconstructionist approach to food. For example, as you’ll see below, you may still be hungry if you ask him for a BLT and a Caesar salad.
Avenues had three different tasting menus on the night I was there, and I had what might be considered the middle tier:
- An amuse bouche of fennel seed custard with cracked fennel on top - Absolutely delicious and somehow creamy and delightful without any thick cream in it.
- Sevruga caviar atop salmon with cucumber - Wow! I didn’t realize that I liked caviar this much. The flavor combination was absolutely ideal.
- Caesar salad, with a sliver of Romaine lettuce and melting Parmesan Reggiano inside a square brioche - Again, wow! How the heck did the chef make an entire Caesar salad in one bite? Amazing.
- White gazpacho with Meyer lemon and basil - The only thing that was less than flawless was this course…it was a little too sharply acidic, although I think a good wine pairing would have made this soup perfect.
- A “BLT” with sole steamed in a lettuce leaf plus crisp bacon and juicy tomato - Much like the Caesar “salad,” this BLT was astoundingly good. The sole wrapped in steamed lettuce seemed quite French; you certainly don’t find steamed lettuce in many American restaurants. Very, very tasty with the bacon and tomato.
- Seared tuna with olive and artichoke - Delicious fish, prepared as lightly as possible, well paired with the olive and artichoke flavors.
- Bison steak with a sweet corn and BBQ sauce finish plus a watermelon square - Wild, delectable flavors here, mainly a sarsaparilla or root beer essence to the sauce when combined with the watermelon. Crazy, but it all worked perfectly.
- Chocolate, three ways, with a vanilla shake - Very cute and tasty. The shake was the size of my thumb, in a properly-shaped malted milk glass, with tiny straw for effect.
Of course, you must never eat a meal this good without appropriate wine:
- 2000 Pommard - too acidic after 45-60 minutes, sent back.
- 2002 Volnay - amazing, ripe raspberry at first, eventually evolved into a settled blend of vanilla, hay, strawberry, and black cherry; very complex and absolutely delicious.
- 2002 Far Niente “Dolce” - phenomenally rich, sweet, swirling array of honey, almond, and golden raspberry; seductive and lovely, but never cloying. Amazing.
The wine deserves some explanation. First, I don’t recall exactly which 2000 Pommard we tried, but it doesn’t really matter because it turned after 45 minutes or so. It started out nice, but tightly wound, and then it unwound all over itself. The exceptional sommelier, Michael, allowed us to choose a different wine, and we went with his perfect suggestion. The 2002 Volnay was outstanding! Again, though, I don’t recall which Volnay we drank. It was simply called “Volnay.” I swear.
Second, the sommelier and I had some things in common. For example, when I asked for his suggestion from the wine list, he immediately flipped to the California Pinot Noir section and pointed to two wines: the 2004 Radio-Coteau Savoy and the 2005 Radio-Coteau Alberigi. I was stunned! I have both of these wines and I was excited to see they had Radio-Coteau wines at all. The prices were decent, too: around $150/bottle. Their 2004 Williams Selyem Westside Road Neighbors was $350/bottle as a point of comparison. Ouch.
The sommelier also knew Shayn Bjornholm, the distinguished master sommelier who was formerly at Canlis. I mentioned that I had been to Canlis only a week or two earlier and that I had tried a half-bottle of 2000 Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. So that put me in good stead with Michael very quickly, despite a few naive questions from me. I was very excited to hear about his taste for Radio-Coteau; not too many restaurants are so familiar with Eric Sussman’s work. Then again, Radio-Coteau has quite a contingent of Chicagoland restaurants on their list.
In the end, this dinner may be the best I have ever enjoyed from a food perspective. I mean, yes, I have had some fabulous dinners with friends where the food didn’t come close to Avenues, but the company made the dinner great. At Avenues, the food makes the dinner great. I’d go back anytime!