Wednesday, December 11, 2013

El Ideas - Michelin Award Night

I haven't been back to El Ideas since my New Years Eve Dinner. Hence, I've been itching to go back. It so happened that the night I visited is when they were awarded their first Michelin Star!! I seriously didn't plan this as I've booked my reservation months in advance, so yeah...I guess I got lucky?

If you didn't know already, El Ideas is located in the southwest of the loop, it's definitely not the safest area to go to at night. But it ties in with their no stuffy tie, no pretentiousness attitude towards food.

Fries and Frosty - Potato/ Leek/ Vanilla

This is one of the most famous El Ideas dish that I've yet to try (my previous time was not a complete version). The dish is a child's play of french fries and ice cream. The creamy potato soup is served together with a crispy potato skin filled with vanilla ice cream, which provides a nice sweet and salty, hot and cold and milky and crunchy combo.  



Geoduck - Yuzu/ Radish/ Tamarind

The yuzu jelly gives a nice citrus flavoring along with the crunchy geoduck, making this a refreshing and appetite-jolting dish for our dinner. 




Monk Fish - Fennel/ Tomato/ Saffron Pearls/ Sundried potato chip

This is one of my favorite dish of the night. The dish comes in by itself and we are instructed to pour the soup into the fish. This is actually my first time having a cooked monk fish. It's a bit squishy, but very juicy and flavorful. The broth is actually a fish consomme finished off with absinthe, which gives off a nice brine aroma. Surprisingly, the fish and broth combo tastes very clean and light. 


Sunchoke - Grayson/ Pear/ Honey

This is a creative "crunchy" dish with sunflower seeds, dehydrated sunchoke, pear and honey. Imagine a nice mixed nuts bag but you throw in crispy sweet pear and honey. That's exactly what's played out here, but this is way more fun and better tasting. 


Nantucket Bay - Salsify/ Concord/ Almond

A nicely seared scallop with a nice salsify puree, which is creamy, sweet and a bit of savory. The salsify fettuccine has a nice chew to it while the grapes provides the citrus sweetness to this dish. Quite a nice bite.



Jidori - Corn/ Spaghetti Squash/ Tarragon

The chicken is nicely sous vide and it is tender and juicy. The squash juice adds to the complexity of this dish as it provides that mild sweetness to it. I can say this is one of the better "clean" version of chicken that I've eaten.


Lamb - Pigeon Peas/ Hops/ Kombucha foam/ Arugula

The Lamb is superbly cooked, juicy and meaty. Eating by itself is a bit gamy, however, when you eat the lamb with the kombucha foam, the gaminess washes away. I love this lamb and kombucha combo as it lets me tastes the best part of the lamb, which is its flavor and meatiness while not worrying about the gaminess. The peas are there to provide a nice textural difference but can be an after thought.


Shiitake - Kombu/ Black Garlic/ Foie Gras

The shiitake mushroom is one of my favorite preparation. It was earthly, juicy and nicely seasoned. Combined with the nicely seared foie, makes this dish a nice little bitee.


Venison - Rutabaga/ Turnip/ Shallot

The venison is perfectly cooked, nicely flavored and juicy. It's nicely complimented by a goat cheese ravioli, which was surprisingly tasty as I am not a huge goat cheese fan.


Quince - Ricotta/ Whey

A nicely cooked quince is complimented by a mildly sweet sorbet. A true nice and easy palette cleanser.


Milk and Cookies 

This is one of my favorite dessert from El Ideas. It's simple, chocolate cookie dough and milk ice cream. The dough has a little chocolate piece that provides a nice crunchy bite, combined with the vanilla crisp, make this a very memorable dish.


Sweet Potato - Huckleberry/ Spices/ Coffee

Ginger bread cake with sweet potato ice cream. This combo makes it the perfect ending to the night. The bread has a nice kick to it, which is smoothed out by the ice cream and huckleberry. 

After, finally , having a full course dinner here, I would say El Idea's level of cooking definitely deserve their Star. The food is fun, innovative and tasty. This time around, I feel that the food has become more complex, while being simple at the same time. Restrain is at times the best way to create some of the best food around. Once again, congrats to El Ideas' team for scoring their first star and I am looking forward to see their progress in the future.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Next Restaurant - Bocuse D'Or

Wrapping up the 2013's Next is the Bocuse D'Or meal. I've been waiting for this meal the entire year as I've wondered how Next will fare when they recreate the meal.

Unlike the prior times, I have the luck to dine at the chef's table this time, which wrapped up my 2013's experience in Next that much more awesome.



Terrine of veal with frisee salad and cipollini marmalade

To start off the evening, we're served with a veal terrine. I like the savoriness of the terrine, as it's meaty, yet very light when combined with the salad.



Osteria Caviar with whipped beurre blanc and pine nut

One of my favorite dish of the night. The caviar provides a nice brininess which is highlighted by the little crispy waffles along with the creamy butter.

Mousse of darden ham, and madeira aspic - Taken from Paul Bocuse's recipe

The mousse actually tastes a bit like peanut butter: savory and salty, along with a light green salad. 

Souffle of Prawns

Another one of my favorite of the night. The souffle encase a small prawn in the center, giving it a lively flavor. The prawn itself actually reminds me of heavily flavored shrimp ramen, but of course, the prawn carries its natural sweetness. 




Just to give the same experience as the Bocuse competition, the Next team tour around the entire restaurant with our up coming entree prior to serving us the dishes.


Custard of Cauliflower with verjus rouge, rose, and foie gras

A rich custard of foie. This is definitely one of the best preparation I've had so far. The foie is light, combined with the creaminess of the custard, made every bite as foie-centric as possible, yet, not too overwhelming. 


Charred lettuce, bottarga, bonito and peanut

A nice charred lettuce providing a refreshing, crunchy refreshment for our palate.


Ivory Char with coddled eggs, celeriac and green blueberries



Quinault river salmon with beets, browned butter, and parsley

The salmon is nicely sous vide cooked. along with the charred parsley and other vegetable, making this dish a very nice bite as it combines the simple salmon along the smokiness of the vegetable.

Consomme of roasted mushrooms - Paul Bocuse's recipe

A very classic soup preparation. I like the crusty skin on top. The consomme is a nice, hearty concentrated mushroom soup.


Phesant smoked in hay with grilled baby leek, caramelized onion, and sauce blanquette

This is actually one of my first time having a phesant. I would describe it as a very juicy, flavorful bird. And it's complimented with the baby leek, figs, pickled apples and some mustard seeds



Ribeye of beef with doudin vert, roasted carrot, sauce bearnaise, and potato marrow

My ribeye is unfortunately a little dry. However, the golden nugget of this dish is actually the potato marrow, which is nicely flavored, creamy and smooth as it can get. 

Tete de moine with cashews, pear, and milk skin

I am usually not a strong smelling cheese guy. However, this cheese smells stronger than it tastes, I actually like the combination of cashew and pear with cheese, as it adds sweetness, crunchiness to the pungent cheese. 

Ice cream bombe in the style of apple pie

A deconstructed apple pie. It's actually fun to eat, especially since the ice cream tastes like an apple pie!


A cube of squash with huckleberry, butter pecan ice cream, and pecan oatmeal cookie

To wrap up our evening, we've got a combination of crunchy nuts, pecan ice cream and huckleberry. A perfect and light way to end our evening.


Mignardises - Lime Macaroon, truffle of chocolate and hazelnut, bitter chocolate taffy

All in all, I'm very impressed with the Bocuse D'Or dinner. As I rub my belly to try to digest all these food, I still have a hard time coming up with a good description of this meal. It's definitely a fine meal, with alot of creativity, fun and familiarity from the normal food we eat but making them taste that much better. Next has truly captured the essence of BOcuse D'Or and I just can't wait for the 2014's lineup. I'll be waiting, eagerly and hungrily. 


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Next Restaurant - Vegan

As you know, I'm a next follower. The Vegan menu at Grant Achatz's next is definitely a nice follow-up to "The Hunt", as there's no meat in the Vegan. Obviously, raving review from Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune helps to solidify the opinion of this meal. However, I always like to make judgement of my own. Nevertheless, I feel fortunate and excited to check out this meal.





The center piece is definitely interesting. Fitting for the theme of the meal.


Frozen baked potato - purple potato mouse, chives

One of the first small bite is a little potato. The potato carried a nice seasoning, with crispy skin along with soft potato center. It reminds me of a mini potato skin. 


Starter and Burnt Avocado" - Mousse of avocado, togarashi, crispy kale bouquets

This is one of my favorite starter. The mousse is nicely flavored but leans more on the hearty side. I especially like the crispy kale, which I initially thought was seaweed as it offers a seaweed consistency of crunchiness but with bolder flavor.


Baby Artichoke - artichoke mousse

Another small bites comes in the form of mousse. The artichoke mousse is hiding in the heart. With a gentle scoop, you can get everything out. The mousse itself is surprisingly creamy but light. However, I don't taste too much of the artichoke itself.


1) Miso Sprouted tempeh - Sprouted tempeh, soy sauce, sprouting basil -
2) Early Grey Rambutan - "Gelee"
3) Spinach Nori "Dumpling"

A trio of appetizer, I started with the Miso tempeh, which tasted rather fishy. The brininess combined with the saltiness of miso and soy sauce becomes quite a nasty bite. The texture is a bit of a mush also. However, the failed tempeh bite is redeemed by a sweet rambutan jelly. It was mild, not overly sweet and light. The spinach Nori was my favorite in this trio. It was nicely seasoned, fluffy and has a nice fish flakes flavor to it. However, no where do I detect spinach flavor. But I still liked the bite.


Fermented apples and Lichen - apple sorbet, rose petals, cashew, reindeer lichen, apple gel.

Our first course is an apple sorbet with cashew. The sorbet carries a nice, mildly sour but sweet flavor. Along with the crushed and powdered cashew, this becomes a really nice starter. I especially like the cold, salty and sour combo of this dish.


3-ways Lily Pond with celery leaf and sorrel

I've had lily pond before, however, this is my first time eating 3 different ways together. The different ways were charred, raw and glazed. The result? A nice combo of texture as the mushy texture is balanced by a more solid/raw texture. Surprisingly, the dish carries a nice hearty texture to it. Just to note, the celery leaf and sorrel used here are actually in the center piece of the table. Pretty cool aye?



Rice Yogurt and Purple Asparagus 3-ways - White aspragus, rice yogurt, rice crackers, tarragon

One of my favorite courses of the night, the rice yogurt shines and, at times, over shadow the Asparagus. It carries a mild sweetness with a rich but not heavy texture, makes me want to lick the plate clean! The asparagus was served in 3 ways: vinaigrette, braised and with pear. I actually like the pear combination the most, as the sweetness of the pair balanced a somewhat blend flavor of the asparagus.



3-ways Salsifies with oyster leaf and dandelion - crispy, charred, boiled, arugular

The Salsifies are nicely cooked and done perfectly to their individual preparation. The boiled salsify is obviously what you expect it to be. However, the brininess from the oyster does a great job in complimenting the salsify. The charred version is nicely flavored and carried a little crunch. The coolest way to eat a salsify is the crispy version. It was practically fried, leaving the skin crispy and I thought I was eating a potato chips at times. An excellent dish and highlighted the different use of it



Swiss Chard leaf and douchi seitan - battered leaf, pepper jelly, Bean curd, onion

I must say, I've never had a Seitan before and I don't think this will be my last. The seitan carries a nice "meaty" flavor, which sort of resembles meat to me. Along with the spices that goes along with the mix, the seitan was a bit tangy too. The swiss leaf is nicely fried and crispy, which provides a nice complement to the seitan.



kombu atoll (tofu skin) - Yuzu

The tofu skin carried a nice yuzu flavor but still has a nice tofu flavor. It's very light, but carries a hearty "umami" tone to it. 



"Mushroom cart" - sunflower seed "risotto", sunflower pedal, maitake, king trumpet, morel and oyster mushroom

I'm a sucker for sunflower seed and this is absolutely my other favorite of the night. It's definitely a heavier dish. With the sunflower seeds providing that risotto crunchiness, the flavor itself is a classic mushroom puree. However, one of my biggest concern is that I can't tell which mushroom am I eating as it's all mushed in together. But the dish tasted great and I believe that's the single most important thing.


red onion - inspired by Stupak - avocado puree, brussel sprouts, serrano pepper, quinoa wire, micro-cilantro

I thoroughly enjoyed the Brussels sprouts leaf in this dish as it carries a nice, heart and crunchy texture. 






Harissa curry roasted cauliflower - tunisian spices

This is one of the most interesting dish. The curry carries a pungent spice to it, which offer a heavy spice flavor. Combined with the roasted cauliflower, making this dish quite the treasure. 



Szechuan Berry & "olive oil jam" and bitter chocolate - chocolate cake, freeze dried strawberry, olive oil

We are instructed to eat the Szechuan Berry first, which numb my taste bud and I really dislike it. However, I guess that's the point of a pallet cleanser, since it wasn't alot of heat, my taste bud is able to come back and taste the chocolate cake, which is mildly sweet. Combined with the freeze dried strawberry, this is a very creative way to restarting your taste bud to transition from main course to dessert.



Hibiscus and Pistachio - Hibiscus cake, vanilla syrup, pistachio.

The hibiscus cake is actually raspberry flavor, while it offers a nice cake consistency. Along with the cake is a nice little capsule of vanilla syrup which is encased by a caramel case. Upon breaking, a coconut flavored liquid comes out, adding sweetness to the cake. 

steamed crepes (kinda like mini pancake really) - vanilla & maple, chocolate, passion fruit

The crepes are all a bit spongy while carrying a mild sweetness of different flavors: vanilla, chocolate and passion fruit. I especially like the passion fruit one, as it carries a citrus sweetness to it. 


This meal initially comes off as a bit blend and I didn't quite understand why am I eating so much spice. But after thinking about it, it hits me with its creativeness: using different spice and flavor to draw out the vegetable. Surprisingly, I did not miss the protein in this course and that's my biggest surprise. Such creativeness between using texture and flavor really lives up to my expectation of next, and I guess being a Vegan isn't all that bad, albeit all the restrictions.