Friday, June 15, 2012

Avec in Chicago

James Beard Foundation Award winner Paul Kahan has many restaurants in Chicago and they are all respected for creative, fresh, delicious dishes. We went to Avec, whose Chef is Koren Grieveson, and had an exceptional dinner.
The space is all wood and modern. The back wall is green glass and it's either bar seating or along the right wall banquette seating. As many restaurants in Chicago, they do not take reservations so be prepared to wait a bit.

Charred monterey sardines with meyer lemon, red endive, nichols fingerlings, dandelion greens and smashed peas. Beautiful combination of flavors and textures. The sardines tasted like the ocean, without the fishiness.
Marinated white anchovies on charred flatbread with cucumber, cilantro and mustard oil. Zesty and vibrant this is a dish I would love to recreate at home.
Wood-fired squid with san marzano tomatoes, guanciale, fideo and fennel aiol. This was my favorite dish of the night (yes, even more than the pork shoulder). The squid was ultra fresh and flavorful and married with those rich tomatoes and all those wonderful Italian flavors, it was fantastically delicious. It smelled so good the people next to us asked what we were eating and ordered it too!
Wood-oven roasted pork shoulder with watercress, wild rice and green tomato chow chow. Mmmmm...pork shoulder. Super moist and tender. Once again, tons of flavor. Fresh, real ingredients treated with respect are truly the most important thing a restaurant should focus on.
615 W Randolph
Chicago, IL 60661
312.377.2002
kitchen
sun-thu 3:30p-12:00a
fri, sat 3:30p-1:00a
bar
sun-thu 3:30p-1:00a
fri, sat 3:30p-2:00a

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