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.