As many of you know this is quite an event for Brian and I. This year Brian started planning back in the fall. We saw a segment about a fine dining micro restaurant called EL ideas. So Brian checked into it and found he had to enter a lottery to win a seating. Talk about Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. We were lucky enough to be selected after a few months and Brian postponed our reservation until my special day. EL ideas is in southwest Chicago in an industrial neighborhood and without a GPS you could certainly miss it. To say it's small might be an understatement, their large seating is 16 diners. It's also BYOB which we received suggestions from the chefs a few days ahead of time. Thanks to Binny's they did some really great pairings for us.
The kitchen was open to the dining area so you could see the chefs working the whole time. A few of the patrons stepped in to watch close up, but I know as a designer I'm not much of a fan of having someone watching over my shoulder as I work, so I wouldn't impose it on someone else. One of the other diners did appear to be a food writer since he was taking pictures with a pretty nice camera and not just his camera phone like me. Oh, I didn't get all of the courses photographed, I was too distracted by the eating. To add to the intimate atmosphere our server was playing quite an interesting selection in music. Things like C is for Cookie, Green Acres theme song, and Solo Cup song. After hearing the Sesame Street theme song Brian mentioned we were curious if something from Schoolhouse Rock would be played. Later that evening we heard Three is the Magic Number. The slightly humorous music seemed to get all the patrons in good spirits and by our third course we started chatting with other tables. Primarily with comments about licking the plates but also about the wine we were enjoying.
So enough of my blathering here's the goods:
Crab featuring roe, grapefruit and lemongrass
Tuna with beans, anchovy and olive (This had a spring of lavender on it, which was a first for me.)
Turnip with cider, cinnamon and dijon (Bri was amazed by this course – and I was amazed he was excited about a non-meat course.)
Turbot featuring lobster, salsify and sherry vinegar (Here's where we wanted to start plate licking and yes I had to google salsify. It's a root vegetable.)
Truffle with potato, popcorn and romaine (Not real popcorn, but they capture the flavor in a dollop of heaven)
Jidori Chicken with sweetbreads, celeriac and raisins (more googling here)
Scallop with cauliflower, black garlic and radish (Brian I'm sure will be scouring markets looking for this black garlic)
Snail featuring pine nut, brioche and garlic
Marrow with chestnut, chard and blood orange (We were both surprised that this was not as rich as we imagined it would be.)
Lamb with couscous, harissa and cumin (More googling, a hot chili sauce. We had to mention to our server that this dish really need to come with a spoon, since it was served in a bowl and we couldn't quite get all of the last bits to our mouths.)
Venison with sassafras, date and pecan
Explorateur of grape, peanut and bubble gum (Here's where they lost me. Unfortunately I have a life-long hated of bubble gum flavor. It comes from having to choke down too many doses of antibiotics as a child.)
Chocolate with forbidden rose, cookies and pomegranate
Our chefs were Phillip Foss, Andrew Brochu, Michael Destefano, and Kevin McMullen
It was a really lovely meal and definitely ranks in the top five.
