At Zeroes End Chicago Restaurants 2000-2009
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Along with his wife Allison, they’ve created one of the most soulful BYOB places around. Matsumoto at Chicago Restaurants This restaurant closed over three years ago, but only because it was ahead of it’s time. Maybe it was the chilled monkfish liver or sea zeroes 2000-2009 urchin with quail egg yolk, but Chicago just wasn’t ready for Chef Seijero Matsumoto’s exquisite, authentic, seasonal Japanese kaiseki end By Michael Nagrant experience. Drop Matsumoto in Manhattan with the right investor and he’d have a go at Masa Takayama. The good news is he’s back at Mizu Yakitori in Old Town and will prepare kaiseki for Since 2000, Chicago has gone from being a Avenues The temptation is to go with Spring, the first a minimum of six people with five days advance Rat Pack-worthy steak-and-potato-slinging of Shawn McClain and Sue and Peter reservations. So grab your friends and don’t stereotype to a destination for international Drohomyrecky’s restaurants (also Custom miss out in the next decade. culinary travelers. Chicago’s affordability, its House) and where Top Chef Stephanie Izard Mercat a la Planxa diners’ willingness to suspend disbelief and its once worked. But, until Jill Barron’s Mana proximity to the sublime bounty of the Midwest opened, Green Zebra was really the only restau- all play a role in that transformation. Most rant of its kind, a meat-substitute-eschewing important to the renaissance are the places vegetable-focused gourmet restaurant that that put everything together to inspire our col- delighted carnivores and vegans alike. lective culinary imagination, the best restau- L20 rants that opened in Chicago this decade. Alinea Iron Chef Jose Garces may live in Philly, but the Chicago native can be a culinary carpetbag- You probably don’t remember Gerhard Doll ger anytime he wants. Though places like Ba Ba or David Hayden, the chef-stewards who drove Reeba, Emilio’s and Café Iberico serve decent the good ship Avenues through a successful food, this was the first tapas spot I wasn’t seafood-driven era, but there’s no doubt you depending in some part on syrupy sangria and won’t forget the Pop Rock and foie-lollipop fan- the comfort of a big group of friends to make Photography by Lara Kastner tasia, the convenience-store chic of Graham the night unforgettable. Honorable mention in Courtesy of Alineabook.com Elliot Bowles. Without Bowles’ whimsical, the Spanish arena would go to Del Toro, though The history of cuisine was written in the accessible style, the emotional roller coaster of it’s now closed and wasn’t really a tapas spot, feature kitchens of millions of chefs, but we only Grant Achatz’s cooking and the theater at as much as it was a deep-fried chickpea-serv- 3 remember a few by name, guys like Escoffier, Homaro Cantu’s Moto likely wouldn’t have quite ing, house-cured blood-sausage-and-bacon- Careme and Robuchon. There are probably only captured the nation’s imagination, nor garnered curing proving ground for top chefs Andrew three Chicago chefs, as of now, who have a shot Chicago cuisine the countless magazine fea- Zimmerman (Sepia) and Rob Levitt. at making that list: Jean Banchet, Charlie tures it received mid-decade. Today, Curtis Chef Laurent Gras reminds me of “Rocky IV” Moto newcity Trotter and Grant Achatz. Though Achatz start- Duffy, the culinary love child of Achatz, Thomas villain Ivan Drago. He’s ruthless, a tireless With chefs as waiters, laser-burned vanilla ed making a name for himself at Trio, Alinea Keller and Alice Waters, is executing some of worker and insanely precise. After recovering beans and edible menus, this was the first was the game changer, the restaurant where the most exciting cuisine Chicago has to offer. from a bicycle accident that shattered a bunch place to successfully execute dinner as edible 12.24.09 every aspect of dining from menus and silver- Chilpancingo of bones and punctured a lung last year, he’s performance art. Homaro Cantu and his part- ware to the wine service and emotional content In 2000, most people thought mole was that also seemingly indestructible. However his ner-in-crime pastry chef Ben Roche make their of the food was reimagined. cute mark on Cindy Crawford’s face, not the lay- robotic technical prowess and attention to hero Salvador Dali proud. Dali was famous for Avec ered earthy Oaxacan traditional sauces that detail yields some of the most breathtaking saying “The only difference between me and a Geno Bahena introduced a whole generation to innovative seafood dishes anywhere, including madman is that I am not mad.” I’m still not sure at this River West spot. Sadly, because he sells those found at seafood superpower Le the same can be said for Cantu and Roche. his name to every new Mexican spot in town as Bernadin. Naha a consultant, you can’t really count on the Mado Bahena name anymore. But, thanks to the road he paved, you can score great mole at a lot of local spots today including his brother-in-law’s Sol de Mexico. Green Zebra Credit: Doug Fogelson/DRFP Love it or hate it, this was ground zero for what is now today’s communal table free-for- all. More importantly, Avec was the place that Head-to-tail dishes are all the rage, but the launched a thousand salumi, the fringe of truth is most places serve maybe one or two Chicago’s now-burgeoning charcuterie move- courses of the stuff. Who can blame ‘em? You ment. Koren Grieveson’s restrained soulful gotta stay in business, and though the dining style is still the late-night hang of choice for public is more accepting, it’s not quite chucking chefs. back bull’s testicles like popcorn, yet. Chef Rob Chef Carrie Nahabedian’s neighbor across Levitt somehow didn’t get the memo and so he Clark street, Rick Bayless, demonstrated that serves whatever odd parts he damn feels like. you could successfully reintroduce diners to an authentic luxury version of once marginalized ly the best neighborhood Italian restaurant in offers is local, artisanal and/or consciously The Rest: Cafecito, Cemitas Puebla, Double and diluted ethnic cuisine. However, we all had the city. grown. His volume and his dedication to local Li, fRedhots and Fries, Hoosier Momma Pie tacos as a reference point, while merging Schwa farms created jobs and a market for well-raised Company, Katy’s Dumpling House (Westmont), southern California sensibility with pre-commu- In his own parlance, chef Michael Carlson is food that didn’t exist before 1990. The quality Kuma’s Corner, Lagniappe, Pasticceria Natalina, nist Armenian culinary history was a little trick- one talented cat. He’s also operates like the of the bread alone (though we sure don’t mind Smoque, Spaccanapoli, Uncle John’s BBQ and ier. Eight years later, it’s still one of the few love child of Johnny Rotten and Ferran Adria, the wood-fired in-house-butchered achiote- Violet Hour also deserve a mention. Places like places in the city I could eat at every night. and is probably the most idiosyncratic restaura- rubbed suckling pig that comes with it) is worth Hot Doug’s, Kahn BBQ and Sun Wah BBQ which NoMI teur on the planet (Jerry Kleiner, who I once the price of the sandwich. re-opened or remodeled spots in the last ten This was one of the first spots outside of interviewed while he wore a sweatsuit and years, but were open prior to the beginning of Charlie Trotter’s that didn’t define luxury as old- white snakeskin boots, is a very close second). the decade were not considered for this list. school French or lobster tails as big as a whale. Carlson closes when he wants, answers the Opening chef Sandro Gamba offered a reservation line when he wants, and might just Michelin-star level of quality that attracted swap out your bottle of BYO wine for another European foodies. The tradition continues bottle in his private restaurant stash to provide at zeroes end today under Christophe David and sommelier a more suitable pairing with your course. He’s Fernando Beteta. also the only dude who makes sea urchin ice Opera cream in pine-flavored ice-cream cones that will blow your mind. Vie Dance in Chicago 2000-2009 By Brian Hieggelke I hesitate to include this spot, because it really doesn’t stand the test of time, but when Paul Wildermuth was at the helm this was my With his commitment to canning, preserving Dance exploded in the zeroes, fueled on by 2003. In 2007, company co-founder and long- favorite jewel in the Jerry Kleiner empire. While and sausage making, Chef Paul Virant is the successful transitions at major establishments time artistic director Gerald Arpino retired (he it never really reached the ideal of celebrating modern manifestation of Ma and Pa Ingalls and the opening of significant new venues. Any died soon after), to be succeeded by Ashley authentic regional Chinese food, it was one of from the Little House books. No word on consideration of dance in Chicago starts with Wheater. A year later, the company moved into the most successful interesting upscale ver- whether he makes his own candles or soap, but our world-renowned homegrown company, the Joffrey Tower at the edge of the downtown sions of Chinese food in the city. one thing’s for sure, this is probably the only feature Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), which theater district, establishing the Joffrey 4 Publican suburban fine-dining restaurant most people commenced the decade with the transition in its Academy of Dance at the beginning of this year.