Restaurant Takashi

[cbarre02]

Has anyone been over yet? I believe opening was on new years eve, but i have yet to see a menu posted.

[maftoul]

Has anyone been over yet?  I believe opening was on new years eve, but i have yet to see a menu posted.

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Where is Restaurant Takashi? Chicago?

[nr706]

Has anyone been over yet?

Do you mean the one on Damen, or the one in Marshall Field's (I refuse to use that other M-word)?

[ronnie_suburban]

Has anyone been over yet?

Do you mean the one on Damen, or the one in Marshall Field's (I refuse to use that other M-word)?

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LOL! I think they mean the one on Damen, which is in the former Scylla space. I personally don't know yet if it's officially open.

=R=

[molto e]

Has anyone been over yet?

Do you mean the one on Damen, or the one in Marshall Field's (I refuse to use that other M-word)?

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LOL! I think they mean the one on Damen, which is in the former Scylla space. I personally don't know yet if it's officially open.

=R=

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It is open, my cuz ate there a couple nights ago and said it was packed and VERY GOOD.

[ulterior epicure]

jesteinf, looking forward to your report on dinner tonight!

[jesteinf]

We went to Takashi last night and it was really a mixed bag. I think that this will be a very good restaurant, it just isn't there yet. Short summary, food was good to very good, service was strange and somewhat unfriendly. To the details...

The menu is divided into small cold plates, small hot plates, and large plates. I asked our waiter to recommend how much food we should order and he suggested one of each category for each person at the table. I'm glad we took his suggestion because all of the portions sizes were definitely on the small side.

I started with thinly sliced kampachi. 4 thin slices of kampachi served on top of shredded Napa cabbage. Each slice of fish was topped with a small piece of monkfish liver. I really liked this dish because it was full of contrasting flavors that all seemed to go well with each other. The cabbage was dressed with a nice vinaigrette, so the acidity played nicely off of the sweetness of the fish which also played nicely off of the richness of the liver. Again, a really nice dish. I also had a bite of the Wife's tuna tartare which was also very good.

Next I moved on to the soy-ginger-caramel pork belly served with steamed buns and a daikon salad. I had really high hopes for this dish but it fell just a little bit short. The pork belly itself was a bit too skewed towards "meaty" in the meaty to fatty ratio that you deal with when eating pork belly. As a result it was a bit chewy. Also, if there was caramel involved in cooking this dish, I couldn't taste it. On the other hand, serving steamed buns with the belly was a neat idea. The dish also came with a bit of Japanese mustard, which added a really nice kick when spread on a bite of bun with some belly on top.

For my large plate I went with the duck. Sliced breast with confit leg all served with kumquat and something else I can't remember. The breast was underseasoned but the confit was really good. The confit was served under a nicely crisp piece of skin with a thin and tasty layer of fat underneath. On the other hand, my wife's salmon was probably the best salmon dish I've ever had in a restaurant. It was nice sized chunks of salmon wrapped in spinach, potato, and prosciutto. The salmon was a nice medium rare and the prosciutto crust was almost crispy, so the combination of flavors and textures was just really outstanding. I think it was the smokiness of the cooked prosciutto that really made this dish work.

Dessert was chocolate mousse served on top of crispy rice with a scoop of caramel ice cream. This was a fantastic dessert.

Final bill for 4 small cold plates, 4 small hot plates, 4 large plates, 4 desserts and 2 bottles of wine was $330 after tax but before tip. A little overpriced, especially considering some service issues.

Now, the service...

So, last night was a bit snowy. We had an 8:30 reservation. At 8:30 we were still in the car, maybe 5-10 minutes away so I decided to call the restaurant to let them know we'd be a little late. Here's how that conversation went:

Me: Hi, we have a reservation at 8:30 under [name], and I just wanted to let you know we're on the way but running a little late

Hostess: Well, how late is a little late?

Me: About 10 minutes

Hostess: We'll try to work you in

Quite the first impression. Probably every other time I've called a restaurant to let them know we were going to be a bit late, they were actually grateful for the heads up. Apparently at Takashi this transgression goes on your permanent record.

We arrived about 10 minutes later. My friend who drove us went to park the car but dropped 3 of us off to go inside. I checked in with who I think was the same woman I spoke to on the phone, and the conversation went like this:

Me: Hi, well we made it. I just called under the name [name]. We have an 8:30 reservation

Hostess: Are you still going to be 4 people

Me: Yes, he's just parking the car

Hostess: When will he be here?

Me: I don't know, maybe 5 minutes

Hostess: So he'll be here soon?

Me: Yes, he's parking the car. He'll be here in 5 minutes

After consulting with someone else working the door, we were approved to be seated. Our 4th would be shown to the table when he arrived.

After being seated, our quietly creepy waiter asked if we were going to be 4 people ("YES, HE'S PARKING THE !@#$ING CAR!"). We politely said yes, and then he asked if we were ready to order. Wow, are they really going to try to turn our 8:30 table?

Bread service is fairly aggressive. The bread guy came around about every 5 minutes asking if we wanted bread. When the table eventually came back with 4 "no's" (after finishing our first course), our bread plates were removed. That would be all from bread guy.

At the very end of the meal, though, we hit on one of my pet peaves. In the middle of dessert, our waiter just dropped off the check. And I mean, right in the middle of dessert. I can't stand that. I'm definitely not in the "don't bring me the check until I ask for it" school of restaurant-going (especially below the 4-star level), but at least wait until dessert plates are cleared.

I'd like to back, but I think there are definitely things that need to be ironed out. I'll be curious to hear how things evolve. I would give it another few months.

[ulterior epicure]

Josh, thanks for the recap; from your report, it seems that Takashi might need a bit of time to mature.

Just one question: you say that your wife's salmon had a smoky flavor. As prosciutto is not smoked, what other element might have imparted the smokiness you experienced? Do you think the fish itself might have been smoked? I love a good piece of smoked fish.

[jesteinf]

Maybe I'm not describing it properly. The flavor of the cooked prosciutto combined with the spinach that was also wrapped around the salmon to produce a "smokey" flavor. The fish itself was definitely not smoked.

[alain]

There was a mention of Takashi in an earlier thread about Scylla, and I thought to share our experience in it's own post in case anyone else might have something to add. My girlfriend and I went to Takashi Sunday night prior to seeing the BMG. I have to say that it was one of our best experiences in Chicago, second only to our trip to Alinea last month.

Scanning through the menu ahead of time, the small plate selections were what caught our eye first. The entrees definitely looked appealing, but weren't anything that absolutely cried out to us. We did see a few of these go down on another table, and they appeared to be pretty well constructed, but we'll have to try them another time.

We deigned not to steal a menu, which is unfortunate, since their website menu isn't fully updated. Please excuse any lapse in detail. (I noticed after writing this that my detail level on the dishes I drooled over was pretty evidently impressed when compared with those I simply loved.)

We chose Big Eye Tuna Tartare, as opposed to the Seared version. The tartare had a lot of flavor, and was served with crispy rice chips that had enough crunch to support the weight of the fish, but not so much that chewing took away from the feel and flavor of the tuna.

Amberjack was served in two pieces, paired with two pieces of King Salmon. They were both extremely fresh and full of unseasoned flavor. A soy-type substance (that totally wasn't soy) was served with them, but we didn't make too much use of it. Seriously, fresh fish on a plate tasting this good didn't need anything to dress it up further.

Hama-Hama Oyster was a trio that we would have eaten a dozen more of. It was garnished with tomato water and some sort of oil, topped with sea urchin and tasted like a sensual miracle. Again, we would have eaten a lot more than just three of them. Yum.

Peekytoe Crab Fondue was the least of our favorites. The fondue and beet juice made for a great flavor combination when mixed, and the presentation was great, but we weren't terribly impressed with the crab. It was far from a bad dish, but, when compared to some of the others, it suffered in comparison when it may have stood higher on its own.

Seared Scallops with Soba Gnocchi, Celery Root-Parmesan Foam was awesome. I'm a sucker for scallops, and everyone seems to do them in fairly conventional ways. The soba gnocchi was phenomenal, especially when you consider how hard it is to make legitimate soba, and the go on to process that into a remarkably tender and flavorful gnocchi. Even the scallops were perfect in their searing: golden brown on the outer surface, but totally rare inside. Even my girlfriend, who hates ordering something as plain as scallops when we go out, loved this dish.

Grilled Quail, semi-boneless, was served over a rice with sausage, shiitake mushrooms and salsify and was extremely tender. After some hesitation, picking up the little drumsticks to eat them made us laugh, since they're so delicate and it seems to be so casual with a dinner we were taking very seriously. At least as seriously as you can be after a bottle and a half of a great cava. Note, the wines by the glass are pretty nice, and I enjoyed the albarino a lot, especially with the body and acidity it displayed when matched against the tartare.

Caramel Pork Belly was probably the best dish of the night. Served with a sliced, steamed bun, petit salad and a dab of mustard, we were advised that the Chef suggested making sandwiches. I'll eat anything as a sandwich, and stacking each of these elements together was a little on the unsophisticated side, but the flavors? So totally worth a little sauce on your fingertips. I can still remember feeling how my mouth watered at the smell of the dish. The belly had just enough body to it to provide a base for an actual chew, rather than melting away as braised pork belly tends to do. The dish was slightly sweet, but still had a fully savory sensability to it. However much time I spent in the South, I have been ruined for pork.

After those, we got a weird look from Cassandra when we ordered four desserts. I love the sweets, and I'm always trying to see what's new and what's next from everyone. With the cooking I've been involved in, I expect to see chefs using molds and forms and technique that goes further than simply slicing a cake or putting a torch to sugar. I wasn't disappointed. While we didn't see anything quite Jacque Torres in chocolatiering, the two chocolate desserts we tried, the Pave and Crispy Rice Milk Crunch were light, tasted great and looked very cleanly presented, if somewhat reminiscient of what I did in school. They weren't a terribly far cry from eachother when it comes to the tastes and flavors involved, but they were very good. The crunch stood out simply for the white coffee ice cream. No flecks and no tan color, just great flavor.

The Tropical Fruit Brunoise with passion fruit sorbet was next and it was wonderfully light and everything was cut as a nearly perfect brunoise. I love seeing something like that in the title, because I'm immediately going to inspect for it. Needless to say, he delivered.

Lastly, the Pear Financier was great. It was served warm and soft, with kumquat marmalade and vanilla ice cream (with flecks). It was a great end, lacking the rich weight of the chocolate desserts.

Chef Takashi did stop by our table and was very gracious, as was our server Cassandra. I would absolutely recommend a trip there, and we'll definitely go back the next time we're shopping in Wicker Park.