On
my recent trip to the US I stopped for a few days in Chicago to visit my
College roommate and check out what Chicago had to offer. Chicago has an
abundance of good restaurants and an innovative dining scene. It’s also home to
some of the top restaurants in the USA if not the world (Alinea, Next etc.).
Unfortunately my quest to get tickets to Next Restaurant was unsuccessful thanks
to a lack of understanding and a billing system that doesn’t accept foreign
credit cards (tsk tsk it’s 2011 get with the program). Instead I had to ‘settle’
with going to a few different restaurants to sample the variety available in
Chicago.
The French
Market
Before
lunching at Blackbird KC and I wondered around admiring the red brick buildings.
We wandered into Chicago’s French market to admire the baked goods and see what
kind of produce was available...
 |
| Macarons |
 |
| Pastries |
Blackbird is the flagship of the James Beard Award winning
chef, Paul Kahan, a Chicago born and bred culinary master. Its fit out is very
modern and light filled with non-offensive white façade and white/grey and dark
wood interior. Despite the modern touches, the main dining room is charming, no
doubt assisted by the sunshine streaming in from outside (lunch visit) to warm
diners accompanied by extremely competent staff that one would expect at a michelin starred restaurant.
Upon entering the well oiled machine that is blackbird, KC
and I were made extremely welcome by our server. We chose the extremely good
value $22 (plus tax & gratuity) three course prix fixe.
We began our meal with brilliant cocktails ($12). Blackberry Betty: a sophisticated short cocktail combining Plymouth
Gin, crème de violette, basil, blackberry and lime.
Blackbird Orange: a sweet, sour and caramelised concoction
of Moon Mountain Coastal Citrus vodka, Punt e Mes vermouth, orange marmalade
and ginger beer.
Very good sourdough
with cultured butter.
An entrée of chilled vichyssoise with parmesan gourgeres
(croutons) and ginger cream was poured at the table and deliciously creamy.
The other entrée of charred baby sepia (cuttlefish) with
green tomatoes, blueberries, chamomile almonds and cynar was beautifully presented
and an interesting combination of flavours and textures.
A main of roasted chicken and sausage with lime onions,
tamarind and smoked cucumbers was also impeccably presented. The roast chicken
was deliciously succulent and well accompanied by the cubes of tamarind and
smoked cucumber; however the sausage was quite dry.
The wood grilled sturgeon with chantarelles, kohlrabi,
plums, thai poppy jam and brown butter fish sauce was good, the only discordant
note for me was the poppy jam.
For dessert my highlight was the vanilla parfait with
blackberries, saffron honey and milk meringue. The milk meringue was extremely
light and combined wonderfully with the berries, honey and parfait.
The milk chocolate mousse with grilled corn and silk, frozen
peaches (sorbet) and mesquite was also delicious. The slightly off beat flavour
combinations corn, chocolate, peach and mesquite worked well for me but scared
KC a bit.
Rating: highly recommended
Next Chilam Balam...
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