![]() ![]() Green St., /chicagoĪndros Taverna: Chef Doug Psaltis is offering a la carte Valentine’s Day specials Feb. The restaurant is also offering to-go meal kits available for pick-up or delivery the whole weekend that include dolmas with coconut rice and pomegranate, beef tenderloin kebab with lemon dill basmati rice and Isot double chocolate cake. Many of the eateries require reservations, so check websites before arrival.Ība: The West Loop Mediterranean restaurant is offering a four-course mezze feast for two, featuring halloumi with spicy turmeric cream and grapes, grilled shawarma spiced shrimp kebab with fennel and herb salad, crème brûlée pie and a bottle of Giuliana Prosecco, for $139.95, plus tax and tip. The menu item descriptions have been provided. Here’s are some of the Valentine’s Day dining options from area restaurants. The rotisserie chicken offers clean and familiar flavors (and is the star of Ema's carryout kiosk adjacent to the dining room), the skinless striped bass gets a vibrant accent from pistachio pesto, and the salmon - over a ginger- and jalapeno-infused broth and accompanied by fruit (sliced peaches when I tried it, marinated persimmon these days) - is perhaps the most Californian dish on the menu.“We’re just trying to make it as special as we possibly can, in a tough pandemic that we’re living in.” There are kebabs in various forms, accented by tzatziki sauce or zhoug (spicy green pepper sauce), as the case may be. Larger plates appear designed for more timid palates. As I alluded to earlier, Jacobson knows how to entice with vegetables. Stalky and vivid-green, this cauli-cousin is definitely worth your attention, especially in this preparation - lightly charred and very firm, dusted with powdered Aleppo pepper and plated over yogurt and honey. Romanesco is billed, redundantly, as "romanesque cauliflower," but Jacobson says no one ordered the dish under the "romanesco" title. Visually a bore, the dish abounds with nutty flavor and chewy texture I kept thinking what a great breakfast dish this would make. (Halloumi itself is rather bland, but the peppers compensate nicely.)Īlso unusual is the risotto of bulgur grains, with accents of Meyer lemon, black walnut, Parmesan and Honeycrisp apples in irregular chunks. ![]() The dish is served ice cold (placed over a bowl of ice, in fact), and while it strikes me as a summer dish (no doubt it'll be off the menu soon), between the vibrant red of the shaved granita and vivid-green peas, one could view it as a Christmas-wreath presentation, if one were to squint hard enough and drink long enough.Īnother favorite is the halloumi, a brined cheese with a high melting point and a cheese-curd texture Jacobson quick-fries it in chunks, to be tossed with dates, various peppers (Fresno, bell, piquillo, marinated in fish sauce) and chicory in a textural playground. English peas, mixed with tart, housemade yogurt and blackberry-sumac granita. ![]() One of Jacobson's oddest dishes is also one of my favorites. ("I didn't want it too Starbucks-ed out," Jacobson explained.) I assumed the recently added "pumpkin hummus" was a seasonal gimmick, but the spread, made from kabocha squash and drizzled with pumpkinseed oil, is delicious, accented sparingly with cinnamon and nutmeg. There are hummus spreads at different spice levels, including one fortified with lamb ragu and spicy harissa, and housemade labneh (Lebanese cream cheese) with crushed almonds, lightly grilled grapes and honey. You'll start with spreads, if only to get at that soft, warm, naan-like bread that's included. ![]() At Intro, Jacobson was serving, perhaps, 60 tasting menus per night Ema seats nearly 150 and offers an a la carte menu listing more than 30 dishes. If you dined at Intro during Jacobson's time there, you'll have just the barest inkling of what awaits you here. (Yeah, they're silk, but it's the thought that counts.) This is Lettuce's most resolutely summery interior since Summer House Santa Monica opened three years ago. Walnut-colored wood tables, linen napkins, plank-look flooring and woven-basket fixtures speak to natural materials suspended-ceiling hardware is repurposed as an industrial arbor, allowing green vines to snake overhead. Oversize windows, which slide open in good weather, coax in all available beams of sunlight, which bounce off the white-wood and white-brick walls. Lighting is generously, almost aggressively, bright. Chef CJ Jacobson, who was the inaugural chef-in-residence at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprise's groundbreaking Intro restaurant, is a California boy with a forage-friendly bent, and the restaurant, built from the ground up with Jacobson in mind, reflects that. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |