Avenues: An ideal Valentine's Day for a couple of foodies

Husband initallly wanted to surprise me with his choice of Valentine's Day restaurants, which is difficult because I'm at a point where I know the ins and outs of most Chicago restaurants.  So, after bugging him for clues and hints, it spilled - Avenues!  I was totally excited since I'd heard great things about Chef Curtis Duffy (who was just announced as a James Beard semifinalist - congrats!), and how the restaurant has taken shape since his arrival.  I even tweeted my excitement and got a reply back from both the restaurant AND Chef Duffy!  Husband and I couldn't wait!  In case you don't know, Avenues is located in the Peninsula hotel right off the Mag Mile on Superior.  You take a little walk through the lobby and The Lobby (its other restaurant) into a comfortable, quiet room with big tables and an open kitchen.

There was a prix fixe Valentine's Day menu, but we were lucky enough to try a few more of Chef Duffy's creations.  I tried to take notes but the number of elements in each dish and perhaps the glass of Veuve, made me lose track of things throughout the night.  I will do my best with my memory, but we were having such a great time, I couldn't help but sit back and enjoy the dinner with my dear husband.  And take photos, of course.

We started with caviar, which is a special treat to me, but this bite was beyond special.  It was so creamy.  That's the one thing I remember about it - creamy.

Next we had some tapioca balls with Parmesan sorbet (or some type of ice cream-like concoction) and look, truffles!  I can't tell you how much I liked this, and I think Husband's going to have to make me some cheese ice cream in his new ice cream maker I got him for Valentine's Day!

One cool and unique aspect of the meal was that they had BREAD pairings.  No wine pairings in sight, but oh, the bread!  We started with a hearty Italian roll, then a brioche (below), and even, get this, a savory waffle (also below)!  It was stuffed with herbs.  Maybe I should put my cheesy ice cream on my herbed waffle and make a weird Belgian waffle - maybe with tomato?

The bread was served with a trio of spreads.  The two on the ends are butter, one cow's milk and one goat's milk.  In the middle is an olive oil and herb spread.  Yes, it does kind of look like a Halloween treat, but it tastes like heaven on a roll.

Next, and here's where it's starting to get fuzzy, was this king crab dish.  I'm going to admit that I'm cheating a bit and looking at Chef Duffy's blog.  The top was a thin sheet of sweet rice paper (?) with flowers and roe (like on sushi), and we had to gently crack it and mix in it with the crab and consomme (soup) mixture below.  The crab was very tender, and despite the work involved in eating the dish, still much easier than cracking a whole crab (I need a bib for that!).

Next on the plate was salmon belly with this amazing foam at the end.  This one left me wishing I could ask for more.  I also had to warn Husband that the salmon I planned on making for dinner the next night probably would not be as good as this.

Now here's the kicker, and the course that really won me over (not that there aren't a zillion left).  Three things that you will probably never eat together 1. duck confit (basically duck poached in its own fat) 2. pumpkin soup 3. chocolate ganache.  You can see that there were other elements in the dish as well, but those were the three main ones.  It was totally unexpected and awesome.  Weird meets wow.

I had an aversion to beets for a number of years due to some fad high school diet that had me eating nothing but beets for two weeks.  In any case, I sure like them now and got to try many forms of them in this dish I like to call "Charlie and the Beet Factory."  It's like a roller coaster of beets (frozen puree, pickled, gelee'd, ice creamed, coated, crammed, cooked, raw, you get the picture).

For a little refreshing intermezzo (in between course bite), the server brought this giant block of ice to the table with our two little pieces on it.  I cannot for the life of me remember this but learned from Chef Duffy's blog that it was frozen quince puree, bitter orange puree, and freeze-dried mandarin.

At this point our server informed us that Chef Duffy invited us to come sit at the kitchen bar to meet him and watch him and his team prep the dishes while we finished our meal.  We sprang up from our chairs and took a front row seat to see the chef in action.  Chef Duffy and his staff were so friendly and clearly skilled.  It was like a fine-tuned machine getting all of those very detailed plates out to the right tables efficiently.

Please forgive me.  This was delicious, but I cannot remember what it was.  Let's just enjoy the beauty of it....aaahhh...

I'm never had gnocchi this fresh and light-tasting.  The chive puree (green blob) was strong in a good way.  The dish even had prosciutto and grilled prosciutto consomme.  This is my pork exception.  I will totally eat it in this context.

And our last savory dish for the night was the waygu beef with short ribs on top.  It was tender and so juicy good.  You'll also notice the truffles.  I ate every last bite of it even though my fullness was starting to creep up on me.  Husband, on the other hand, looked a little like he might explode.

Our first sweet course was a tangerine and orange hybrid skin filled with a tasty custard.  We weren't supposed to eat the sugar on the dish (it was just for presentation although I did taste it).

Next was the Concord Grape dessert, which looked like a cute little jar of jam.  It was filled with concord grape custard plus dried grapes (aka raisins).

After that one, we were treated to a dessert that is really escaping me.  I know there's a sorbet and I know there's fennel, and I know that I liked it a lot.  Fennel in a dessert is amazing.  Sorry, Chef Duffy.  I should have taken notes.

The next one is another participatory dessert because shell cracking of this sweet milky creation was required before we could dig into it.  "Sweet milky creation" was actually cassia bud custard, tropical granola, banana puree, among other items.

Our final dessert of the night was an ode to chocolate.  The chocolate ice cream/gelato/sorbet in the back left corner was so creamy and delicious that I almost ate Husband's as well since he was keeling over from the volume of food consumed (light weight!).  The berries on the plate were huckleberries!

Ok, I lied.  We also got housemade truffles (the chocolate kind).  I ate one, but they sent us home with the rest.

Overall, the night was one that I will not soon forget.  Everything from the food to the service exceeded my expectations, and if you care anything about food, you must check it out.  I mean it, go now!

 

 

Avenues Restaurant
www.peninsula.com/Peninsula_Hotels/en/default.aspx#/Chicago/en/Dining/Avenues
108 E. Superior
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 573-6754

 

Comments

[your husband]

what happened to those chocolate truffles, by the way? I have not seen them and suspect they may have been eaten by someone who did not want to share...

[Elizabeth]

I have no idea what you're talking about. Go eat the giant tub of raspberry gelato in the freezer.

[Vivian]

What a great post! I can't wait to try this place out! It looks, maybe, yummier than Alinea! What was the price like? I just showed my husband these pics and he was wowed!

Vivian / Chicago Food Whores
PS thanks for the blog roll!

[Liz]

Thanks, Vivian! We've been to Alinea too, and while both deserve lots of attention and accolades, we have been raving about Avenues since going in February. We highly, highly recommend it... if you're willing to spend a little more on dinner. It's up there in price with Alinea, slightly more cost effective. :)