Tarka in Chicago

[ronnie_suburban]

LOL! Nice write-up of the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room, but no need to duck...different strokes for different folks.

=R=

[clb]

Very funny, tarka.

I've had that kind of thing ruin an evening too (and I hate chewing gum).

clb

[gmi3804]

not yet, it's going to be my last big meal here.

Let me know when you're going. I'll call them and let them know a "VIP" is coming in and you'll get the Royal Treatment.

[Suzi Edwards]

lorks, thank you, but i'd really rather just be treated like everyone else! it's really sweet of you to offer though. how do you know the guys there?

[gmi3804]

lorks, thank you, but i'd really rather just be treated like everyone else! it's really sweet of you to offer though. how do you know the guys there?

We'd hosted several dinner parties at TRU over the last five years. In addition, Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand did a dinner for ten at our house last Fall - we bid on it at a charity auction. It was a wonderful evening.

[Suzi Edwards]

penny drops. i read about that on here, didn't i?

*seethes with jealousy*

[robyn]

With regard to theater - you're all ganging up on me. Since it's not really "on topic" - I think all I'll say is London is my favorite theater city in the world - and leave it at that. Robyn

[gmi3804]

With regard to theater - you're all ganging up on me. Since it's not really "on topic" - I think all I'll say is London is my favorite theater city in the world - and leave it at that. Robyn

You didn't think we'd take your assertion that Chicago's theatre scene is "bush leage" sitting down, did you?

I think many towns have great theatre, and that no town can lay claim to being the best. Part of the fun of traveling is sampling the many different theatre scenes throughout the world.

[robyn]

With regard to theater - you're all ganging up on me.  Since it's not really "on topic" - I think all I'll say is London is my favorite theater city in the world - and leave it at that.  Robyn

You didn't think we'd take your assertion that Chicago's theatre scene is "bush leage" sitting down, did you?

I think many towns have great theatre, and that no town can lay claim to being the best. Part of the fun of traveling is sampling the many different theatre scenes throughout the world.

Perhaps I'm prejudiced - but I do truly think that the 3 greatest English speaking theater cities in the world are - historically - London - New York - and Toronto - in that order. And Toronto kind of fell off the map a few years ago when a major theater person got into financial trouble. So that leaves London and New York. A lot of what appears in Chicago is no different than what we have in other secondary US theater cities - road tours of shows that have spent months or years in London/New York before arriving there (not necessarily a bad thing - but I'm not going to go to Chicago to see something I can see in Florida).

On another note - there was a rather disheartening article about the annual art show in Chicago in today's NYT. I found it hard to believe that Miami had surpassed Chicago - but that's the current word from the New York PTB. What's the story there? I haven't been to Navy Pier for a while - and didn't realize there was a problem. Robyn

[bloviatrix]

With regard to theater - you're all ganging up on me. Since it's not really "on topic" - I think all I'll say is London is my favorite theater city in the world - and leave it at that. Robyn

FWIW, I'm a New Yorker who sees approximately 35 plays a year (on, off and off-off b'way) and I prefer the London theater scene as well.

In defense of NY, Broadway isn't where you'll see innovative work. It's too expensive to produce. You have to go to the smaller theaters it you want to see the good stuff. And when dealing with Broadway houses, the best work I've seen in the past six months has been put on by non-profit theater companies.

[ronnie_suburban]

Doesn't anybody go out to eat before they go to the theater? What about afterwards?

=R=

[Lady T]

Dinner with Tarka, 7 p.m., Saturday, July 17th: Rushmore, 1023 W. Lake Street

The thing a body needed to remember about this past weekend down by Michigan Avenue is that Millennium Park has just opened, and the City of Chicago is throwing a 24-carat, gold star wingding. There are clowns. There's music being played almost anywhere a body cares to look, including the concerts actually planned by the City, and dancing of multiple kinds. There are parades, spontaneous and otherwise. There are kids in wholesale lots running around under the fountains (and the occasional adult as well, being shoved under the water as an antidote to beer). Everybody seems to need to get Up Close And Personal with the town's newest, not-quite-soldered-all-the-way-together ambiguity, known as Cloud Gate by its artist and as The Big Bean by virtually everybody else. The Frank Gehry edifice I've been ridiculing as "the plane crash down by the Prudential Building" -- the Pritzker Pavilion -- turns out to be a pretty damn impressive concert venue, and will rank up there with the best we have in town when the acousticians get the sound balanced throughout the block. What feels like half the Chicago metro area has been wandering around down here, shopping and rubbernecking and dancing and listening, and as a matter of fact, it's a pretty cool time.

But Lord, it is crowded. And it is loud.

No particular wonder, then, that I railroaded Tarka west on Lake Street, away from this huge amiable scrimmage, to Rushmore, where the food is fine, the wine list is tasty if pricey, and above all, it's quiet. Time for comfort food.

We started off with the firm smoky house pate (with all the proper fixings: caper berries, a soft-boiled egg, grain mustard, and cornichons) for me and a small cup of roasted-tomato bisque for Tarka, with a little grilled-cheese sandwich on the side made with Maytag blue cheese (wonderfully homey, dipped in the bisque) and a salad of shaved apples and fennel with pecan bits. The wine was a 2001 Argyle Pinot Noir from Oregon, all fruit and plush, and we stayed with that for the meal.

Tarka likes Southern fried chicken, so it turns out, and at Rushmore a nicely done chicken breast -- still quite tender and not overcooked, the crust well-seasoned and crisp -- comes with the classic goes-with's: decent collard greens (Tarka says she liked Varmint's better at the Pig Pickin', though, and how otherwise? Home cooking is always better.), young garlic potatoes (nice texture, I thought), and white sausage gravy (this led to a dissertation on British v. American usages of the word 'gravy', as opposed to 'sauce' or 'jus').

I got two enormous, beautifully cooked trout fillets with a well-flavored mushroom reduction full of gorgeous whole morel mushrooms over more of those garlic potatoes. I was happy, but then morels make me happy anytime and always.

Dessert, since we were both full and happy, consisted of a trio of pots de creme, one of which -- the chocolate -- was exemplary, and the other two of which -- vanilla set off with pecan brittle (I think) and a curiously gritty-textured blueberry version -- weren't much to write home about. Maybe the other offerings had...well...more to offer.

I will certainly come back again; the place is thinking carefully about its ingredients and merits another try or two at the very least.

I mention also for the record: Tarka is a sweetheart with whom the rest of the Heartland should party at any opportunity.

When's that curry crawl?

[robyn]

Doesn't anybody go out to eat before they go to the theater?  What about afterwards?

=R=

I'm a dinner at about 8 person. If I'm in my regular time zone - I usually eat something light before the theater. E.g., when in New York - I like to get some good wine/cheese/fruit/bread/etc. and make a small meal in the hotel. In London it's easier. Post-theater is near my regular dinner time - so I just eat after. And who ever heard of going to the theater in LA ? Robyn

[Suzi Edwards]

And the compliment goes right back at ya, Lady T. I had a lovely time and you sure know how to pick a bottle of wine.

I enjoyed Rushmore you know. But I have to tell you about a happening so weird I think the kitchen gods must have been smiling at me on Saturday. I was thinking about food and memory, how certain things transport us and also about comfort food. Why we want certain things at certain times. And as I was loitering in my local Starbucks I got to thinking about what American comfort food is. Specifically how it could be translated into fine dining. So I was thinking about elevating tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich..how I'd do it. And then it was there on the menu. Calling out to me like a kitten stuck down a well.

And you know, it was really good. The soup was slightly creamier than I would have made it, but you can't fault a grilled cheese sandwich made with Maytag Blue.

I think Sue has pretty much summed up the Rushmore thing for me, apart from one tiny detail. Our amuses. A mini egg mayonnaise with a chorizo dressing. I thought it made a nice change from the mainly fish based ones I've been served and it was a quirky start to the meal.

[Suzi Edwards]

so i made it back to le lan

i am a lady of my word

[therdogg]

And what did you think? I've really enjoyed this blog and am wondering where you've gone. As a mother of small kiddos I never eat out and have been dining vicariously through you, and well..... I'm getting hungry.

[Suzi Edwards]

apologies. work has sort of exploded. so i have been neglecting this diary.

i promise that by the end of the week i will have written my thoughts on adobo grill (i have been three times now so i think i can comment quite fairly) moto (and why omar isn't like willy wonka) tru (hurrah hurrah am going tonight) avenues and pluton (which must forever be called plutron as it's a much more 21st century name)

but for now, i must put on some lipstick and go eat. I AM STARVING.

[smalt]

Tarka, new to this topic and very fascinated with your chicago dining diary so far. Have to ask, i didn't see your review of Monsoon (and how it compares to Hema's Kitchen) - did I miss it? Would be great to hear your word especially since your hometown of London has argulably the most dynamic Indian restaurant scene...

[ronnie_suburban]

Unfortunately, work has called Suzi away from Chicago, although...there is a good chance she will be back here in the not-too-distant future.

I want to thank her for the generous effort she put forth here.

I'm going to unpin this thead for the time being and let Suzi come back and update it as the opportunity arises. I know there were at least a couple of places she hit while she was still here, about which she wanted to post.

Thanks again Suzi, for the terrific, 'on location' diary.

=R=