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Happy Sweet Chicago Birthday
Jennifer W. writes: “I am taking my husband to Chicago for his birthday later this month and am looking for somewhere special to take him to dinner. He is a former pastry chef, so somewhere with a fabulous dessert menu would be great. Do you have any suggestions? I know you know the great places in Minnesota to dine; do you know any in Chicago? Thanks!”
The first place that leaps to mind is Alinea, the ground-breaking Chicago restaurant of Grant Achatz. It leaps to mind because I’m anxiously awaiting receipt of Achatz’ new cookbook, “Alinea”; I paid $50 on the restaurant website so I could get a signed copy, but I now see my copy hasn’t yet arrived and the book is currently available on Amazon for $30. (Ah, now you know the heartbreak and difficulties of the cutting edge cookbook orderer.)
Anyway, if I had one meal to have in Chicago it would be at Alinea, even though it’s only open for dinner—and costs $145 per person. Looking at the current menu online I’m counting maybe 6 courses that are dessert-ish—in a very broad interpretation of dessert—like “bacon with butterscotch, apple, and thyme,” or “chocolate with fig, olive and pine.” Pine? Yeah, pine. If you don’t know about Chef Achatz, he’s America’s leading chef working in bold flavors and molecular gastronomy. In the world of food (give or take a couple detractors), he’s regarded as a stone-cold, once-in-a-lifetime genius.
If you’re looking for something less elaborate, a lot of people I know really adore Table Fifty Two, a sort of Southern contemporary bistro helmed by Oprah’s former chef, Art Smith. A glance at their current online dessert menu includes a fruit buckle with vanilla bean ice cream, a Smith Family twelve-layer chocolate cake, a pecan pie with shortbread crust and candied kumquats, and a buttermilk custard with whiskey sour gelatin.
If you can’t get into Alinea, or simply want fine dining, and not cutting edge dining, another favorite Chicago spot of mine is Blackbird, whose online dessert menu currently features “avocado cremeux with local blueberries, hyssop and charteuse granite,” “caraway pretzels with blackberries, mustard and hopped ice cream,” and “kalamata olive cake with rhubarb, toffee and buttermilk ice cream.” As we in the business say: Neat-o.
Finally, something I’ve never had but is on my life-list: The duck-fat fries at Hot Dougs. They’re only available on Fridays and Saturdays, though. (Incidentally, if any chefs are reading this and want some critic-bait, I hereby solemnly 100 percent guarantee a visit from this restaurant critic to any spot serving duck-fat or beef-tallow fries within 200 miles of the Spoonbridge and Cherry.)
I’ll keep you posted on that last one. But, till then: Happy Chicago Birthday!
Alinea Restaurant
www.alinea-restaurant.com
Blackbird
www.blackbirdrestaurant.com
Table Fifty-Two
www.tablefifty-two.com
Hot Doug’s:
www.hotdougs.com
Posted on Thursday, October 9, 2008 in Permalink
Comments may be edited for length, clarity, or appropriateness.
Reader Comments:
Let's hear it for duck fat fries in St. Paul!
Dara, what are your thoughts on Charlie Trotter's? I've always wanted to go, but these places sound great also. I'm having a big birthday next week, makes me want to take a road trip.
For a truly memorable (that is, colorful) experience, I recommend Blackbird over Trotters. The setting is exciting, the food amazing. You'll talk about your meal somewhat nonstop for another week after having been there, like I did.
Dara,
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I am going to check out the websites and make some reservations. I will let you know which one I take him out to.
If you can't find duck-fat fries, make them at home. I adapted a recipe from a Steingarten article that requires only a minimal amount of oil.
I render lobes of duck fat that I buy from Clancey's. Then I put my cut russet potatoes into a roasting pan and just cover them with melted fat. I place the roasting pan on my gas grill set to high and take the fries out when they are a deep golden brown (around an oil temp of 350).
The method is not quite as good as double-frying the potatoes, but still very, very tasty. And the method minimizes the fat needed and reduces the mess. In these economic times, what more could you ask for?
I have to agree with Carrie: Blackbird over Trotter's. Charlie Trotter is obviously a genius, but... dunno. I don't feel excited about his restaurant, it feels like: Great Chefs of America homework to me.
And Steve? I am officially stone cold jealous of: you, your lifestyle, your friends and family, and everything else that appertains to you. Hot dang!
I had dinner at Alinea last week and it changed my life. Seriously. I can't stop thinking about it. I'm writing about it, telling people about it, obsessively reading Achatz's cookbook. I know that I spent four and a half hours having an honest-to-god genius cook for me. During dinner, I bounced up and down in my chair with delight. I'll never have another meal like that as long as I live.
However. For two of us, the 24-course "tour" menu with wine pairings was more than a thousand dollars after tax and tip.
Now, I wouldn't feel guilty about spending $1K on any other life-changing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. But for one meal . . . wow.
I'd do it again, though. With some sort of atonement plan in place beforehand.
(The duck-fat fries at Hot Doug's are totally worth waiting in line for, and you will indeed wait.)
I roasted some vegies with duck fat last night. They were great. Still want me some duck fat fries in St. Paul, though!
If you are going to dream about fries, dream big. What you want are fried are in beef kidney fat. Nothing, absolutely nothing comes close to them.