1. ALINEA GROUP NEWS

When I interviewed Grant Achatz for my forthcoming book, he described the followups to Alinea—Next, The Aviary, and Roister, as all aiming to be the opposites of Alinea’s modernist cuisine in some way. The Aviary is Alinea for drinks; Next was, instead of modernism, classical cuisines of different types, and Roister was built around a hearth kitchen:

GRANT ACHATZ: Roister again was the same 180 degree turn [from Alinea]. What’s the opposite of molecular gastronomy? It’s primal fire.

And now the announcement is that Roister will be reconcepted as a restaurant simply called Fire. Eater Chicago:

“I’ve been wanting to create something new,” Alinea co-founder and chef Grant Achatz writes in an email. “In my travels, some of my favorite meals have been in restaurants that use the fire in a dedicated, focused way. It was time to try our hand at this level of commitment to the fire and explore its possibilities within the refined rusticity. We think a tasting menu format is best suited to experience the wide range of nuances the hearth provides.”

Since fire has been central to the concept of Roister, I don’t agree with Eater’s take that this is a new restaurant with a new concept for Achatz; it seems to me that the key phrase here is “level of commitment to the fire.” I’ve been to Roister something like half a dozen times, and always liked it, but despite the hearth kitchen being front and center, I rarely had anything that came off of it; what I remember eating on different visits was crudos, a seafood fried rice dish, Andrew Brochu’s chicken three ways or whatever it was called, and a small tray of lasagna, which I guess was cooked on the hearth but certainly did not seem like a live fire dish the way, say, a grilled piece of skirt steak would. Certainly compared to other restaurants with live fire, like John Manion’s El Che (which opened around the same time as Roister in 2016), you didn’t feel it was as central to the menu at Roister.

So I predict not a lot of physical change to the restaurant (the Fire concept will debut this Wednesday, so clearly there hasn’t been demoing and new construction), but a lot of change to the menu.

• In other Alinea and Eater news, there’s an interesting piece at Eater National about how you handle problem customers, that starts with an obnoxious neighboring table at Alinea:

Their desserts arrived, and then just like that, they stood up and left. Meanwhile, I hadn’t even been given my edible balloon. Had I done something wrong by speaking up the way I did?

“Not at all,” one of the staff said to me when I finally worked up the courage to ask. “We just invited them on a kitchen tour.”

My balloon came, with what I was slowly figuring out was a warning: At Alinea, beware of the kitchen.

In this case, the staff was using it as a way to hustle the offending guests out of their seats for what seems like a perk, and from there out the door. This seemed odd to me, that the piece goes on to treat the kitchen tour as a sign that you screwed up, because I thought a kitchen tour was a standard part of the experience (I had it, and I don’t think it was because I was obnoxious). It’s also a tactical opportunity for the staff to clear and reset the guests’ table for things like the dessert that’s painted on the table.

Well, I’ve never been clear on the different levels of dining at Alinea, but apparently Eater writer Timothy DePeugh was having the Salon experience, which is the one that does not normally include a kitchen visit. So it’s an interesting look at one side of guest and atmosphere management, but if you go for a Gallery seating or a kitchen table, don’t worry—Eater’s claim in the headline that you should “Beware of the Kitchen” is probably not why you’re being sent to the kitchen.

• One last Alinea item: Marc Caro’s podcast Caropop normally talks to people in the music world, but he was a food writer as well at the Trib in his day, including writing about Grant Achatz (in fact the first time I met him in person was, I think, at the party for Henry Adaniya of Trio at the Aviary). Anyway, so Achatz was his guest last week, talking about his time with Charlie Trotter (another Caro subject) and other things. Go here to listen.

2. TASTING MENUS: THREAT OR MENACE?

At the Tribune, a boosterish piece on tasting menus in Chicago, beginning with Omakase Shoji:

…where a menu features kaiseki, intricate dishes reflective of the season: grilled Chilean sea bass or house-made chawanmushi, steamed egg custard that they top with truffle and black caviar. And then comes the sushi — pristine cuts of fish the chefs receive throughout the week, thanks to long-standing relationships with purveyors in Japan.

The piece sort of muddies the difference between omakase and kaiseki (the former is supposed to be tailored to the guest, the latter to the season, though I don’t think I’ve ever been to an omakase that wasn’t pretty much set in advance). Anyway, it’s a curious piece, focused mainly on Asian meals explicitly calling themselves omakases (though Mexican spot Cariño turns up in there), while ignoring the tasting menus that have been the most famous and influential here—no Alinea, Schwa, Smyth, El Ideas, as if none of them had Japanese influences.

John Kessler at Chicago mag takes the opposite approach to tasting menus—he seems down on the whole idea—with one exception:

There are more tasting menus than we can or should review in this magazine lest we give short shrift to the other 95% of worthy restaurants. Plus, most of them are showcases for a chef’s technical prowess, eye for creating visual drama on a plate, and storytelling as much as their palates. Yet one exception, which I reviewed last month, is the restaurant Feld. Like it (which I very much do) or hate it (which a lot of early visitors did), this Ukrainian Village spot and its chef-owner Jake Potashnick are really trying to do something new enough that it changes the conversation.

Well, for the few people who’ve been to the tiny, four-night-a-week restaurant, that is. I haven’t been—and the sales pitch on Tock for reservations (“a menu highlighting the winter produce of the Midwest'”) makes me suspect I’ll wait for spring. So what is so different about it—from Smyth curing eggs, or El Ideas telling you to lick your plate, or the mad bomber concoctions at Schwa?

…most of the tasting menu restaurants in Chicago, try to have it both ways, both experiential and hedonistic. You marvel at the technique and artistry that goes into each dish plated like a terrarium designed by Hieronymus Bosch. Along the way you will eat oysters, caviar, fresh truffles (because it’s truffle season somewhere on the planet), and a slice of Japanese beef that will redefine what it means to melt in your mouth.

I kind of see his point—too often we get menus that check off the same luxe ingredients over and over. The magic of that was kind of lost to me when Jake Bickelhaupt (42 Grams) told me that a credit card and FedEx could get him the same things as any chef—and so you now see the same things at every tasting menu joint. (I’ve long suspected that Charlie Trotter threw foie gras under the bus because it was no longer uncommon outside his own restaurant.) Maybe Feld is really different, but they sound like differences, and marvels, I’ve had before, and remembered, at Oriole or Grace or (especially in Feld’s “relationship to table” case) Elizabeth—and remembered.

3. LESS IS MOOR

When he’s not housing tasting menus by the yard, apparently John Kessler digs into red meat at steakhouses. At least that’s how it seems this month, as he takes a look at the state of steakhouses via Hawksmoor, a British import now in the former cable car power house that once held Michael Jordan’s restaurant:

Both a rib eye and a thick T-bone had been hard-seared over charcoal, cut into hefty, three-bite slices, and set inside cast-iron casseroles — the picture of luxury. These steaks aren’t juicy, but they are fine-grained and shockingly tender, with the distinctive nuances I mentioned before. Satisfying if not meatgasmic. The menu proposes many novel ways to dress your steaks, most notably Beefsteak 1984 [sic; it’s 1894], inspired by a recipe from H.M. Kinsley, a famous late 19th-century Chicago restaurateur. Alas, that means dousing your meat with those aforementioned oysters and a gloppy, underseasoned bone marrow gravy.

…That’s the weird paradox of this restaurant. The menu promises such hearty fare, but the kitchen cooks for meek palates.

Which is what I usually feel about steakhouses—they do classics well (they’d better, or why exist at all) but you’re smart not to venture too far off that mark, except maybe when Chris Pandel is in charge.

4. ON THE MUNNO

Always happy to see a place that’s been around a few years continue to get reviewer love, and even moreso when I get credited as the earliest discoverer of same, which is the case for Munno, which I wrote about here. The delivery driver of this order of largesse is Michael Nagrant:

I tell you at Munno I felt more fortunate because I could live in Chicago, the greatest city in the world, and travel to Italy in a bowl if I wanted to.  I don’t mean this in a nostalgic hyperbolic literary way when I say I felt that same warmth and satiety at Munno that hit me while housing salumi at Roma’s candlelit grotto Roscioli restaurant.

The Munno dining room filled by 5:30. Who needs reservations when the whole neighborhood comes to dine?

5. SOMEONE LEFT THE PASTEL DE NATA IN THE RAIN

No, that’s Macarthur Park, and Steve Dolinsky is in McKinley Park, next neighborhood over from Bridgeport, where he finds a Portuguese bakery, Cadinho, and Chile Toreado, a Mexican diner from a Bayless veteran:

Chile Toreado offers Mexican comfort food. Jaime Sotelo worked for Rick Bayless for more than 20 years and his cooking is rooted in the state of Guerrero. One example: updating a Tlayuda, normally a product of Oaxaca.

“The original Tlayuda they came only with the black beans; it was nice and dry. The Chile Toreado they make a tlayuda with more texture,” said Sotelo.

Here he’ll add cheese and grilled steak; pickled red onions, queso anejo and cilantro, for a meal or snack somewhere between loaded nachos and a pizza.

6. OLIVER WENDELL DOUGLAS

Are restaurants more expensive these days? They sure are if Titus Ruscitti, king of $5 lunches, is complaining—as he notes, “I recently paid $26 with tip for a bowl of noodles.” I know the feeling! Anyway, all that is to bring us to Oliver’s, in the former Acadia space in the South Loop neighborhood, which he went to for a special occasion:

The food menu at Oliver’s is short…and expensive. It consists of six starters, five mains, and five sides (plus dessert)… We knew we wanted to try the truffle gnocchi in Comte cheese sauce and we added the fried artichoke side for starters. The gnocchi ($23) was on point during our visit – I’d read mixed reviews as far as the texture goes but it hit both the buzzwords when it comes to good gnocchi – it was soft and pillowy. The black truffle mixed well with the Comte and it was much better than it looks. The fried artichoke ($18) starts with two whole Roman braised artichoke hearts fried naked and dressed with preserved lemon, black pepper aioli, and rosemary. The taste was there but they were a bit greasy from the deep fry.

Somehow I missed Titus’ post last week, which is on a great subject: “Balkan Food in Chicago.” There’s a lot of it, if you look around, but it’s rarely written about—here’s one I did years ago. Titus includes that restaurant (but not the burger I focused on) along with half a dozen others. Me, I immediately heard the siren call of Serbian breakfast:

Stefan Grill sits in the middle of an industrial park where 18 wheelers are commonly parked and picked up but they have a serene outdoor setting that puts you in a much nicer place. Its location is a strategic one though in that a large chunk of Balkan immigrants are truckers and many of them stop in Stefan Grill upon completing their jobs for the day. The breakfast plate at Stefan Grill comes with two eggs and two slices of extra thick and chewy bacon plus feta, kajmak (fresh, unripened cheese), ajvar (red pepper spread), toasted bread and fresh vegetables – nice way to start the day.

Balkan truckstop, here I come.

7. MIRRA MIRRA

Mirra confuses me, because it’s not Miru, and it’s not the Coach House at Wazwan (it’s a new place from one of the same chefs), and it’s not exactly Indian food (it’s a mix of Indian and Mexican). Hey, that wasn’t so hard—though getting a reservation still is. Anyway, The Infatuation managed to get one:

Mirra’s crispy scallop taco with green curry lasts only two bites, but you’ll be trying to decipher the combination of Mexican and Indian flavors days later when you should be listening to your partner. The dishes at this Bucktown spot are bright, spicy, and mostly group-friendly, like the charred cauliflower salad, or a barbacoa biryani with juicy lamb inside a roti seal. So bring some friends who care about heat and analyzing salsas more than interior design. Mirra’s small space is a bit generic—three words: more basket lights—but their menu is so memorable that you won’t mind.

8. DELTA BABY BLUES

Dennis Lee has an evocative piece on an old-school diner, The New Delta Family Restaurant:

God, this place is cute. I mean, just look at it. From the faded baby blue booths and matching stools, to the little knickknacks everywhere, New Delta feels as much like someone’s Chicago home as it does a diner. When I picked a counter seat, I was greeted by the only person working that day — Penny, who identified herself as the owner of the restaurant.

9. KEVIN AND THE CHOCOLATE SHAKE

Kevin Pang did a fun, jokey cheeseburger show back in his Tribune days. After various more serious pursuits, he’s going in that direction again with a new series for NBC 5 teaming him up with Poochie, one of the legendary foulmouthed staffers from The Wiener’s Circle. Poochie and Pang (eat Chicago) launches online Monday night and on TV a week later; the stars talked to WBEZ’s Reset about it here.

10. FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY PURE BEEF HEART

Maurie and Flaurie are tanned, rested and ready to draw you back to Superdawg. Block Club has pics.

11. NAVIDAD SHOPPING

There comes a point in life where you realize you should send food as holiday gifts—because you can send people the same thing every year. (Note to my sister in Virginia—watch for a Zingerman’s package this week.) Rick Bayless is entering that arena this season with his own e-commerce platform which includes things ranging from chef’s knives to his Goldbelly cooking classes to Frontera’s Mole Rojo dinner kit—not to mention his various cookbooks. Check it out here.

11. PHEASANT VALLEY SAMMY

At Sandwich Tribunal, a story that begins in World War II and involves pheasant sandwiches for servicemen. Just a brief clip, because you want to savor the whole thing:

At first, the canteen in Aberdeen typically served ham sandwiches along with the usual candy and birthday cakes, cigarettes and coffee, but as the war wore on, and perhaps as rationing took its toll on the available supplies, the farmers of South Dakota began bringing in the gamebirds they’d shot in their fields and donated them to the cause. The ringneck pheasant was South Dakota’s state bird, and population estimates at the time put their numbers well into the millions in that state alone. The servicemen grew to like the pheasant sandwiches. First-time visitors who had heard about the pheasant sandwiches would request them in preference to the ham sandwiches. The pheasants on the plains were bountiful, and easier to come by than rationed meats like ham; eventually large hunts were organized to supply the canteen.