Foodie Digest

We’ve had some phenomenal meals in Chicago, some OK meals, and some oh why did I waste the calories on that meals (usually because we’re in chicago and alcohol is involved. Or family. Either way, some random excuse. Usually alcohol).

Our first night in we decide to check out Avec. It’s the sister restaurant to Blackbird and we loved our meal at Blackbird.

Anyway, there are a few things to note about Avec:

• No reservations. In our case a bonus since we didn’t know when our flight would get in
• Small and big plates, but all good for sharing and not coursing to yourself
• Communal tables. Usually a good thing; here they are communal to the point you’re trapped in your seat by complete strangers who can control whether or not you can get up/go to the restroom/leave the restaurant.

Anyway, get meet our friends there on a Saturday night. They did the first half hour of table waiting w/out us and we joined them for the next hour. Was fine; we sat outside and enjoyed some beverages and the nice weather.

We’re finally seated (at a communal table where I have to ask some random strangers to get  up whenever I want to use the restroom. I guess I could have sat on the outside seats but then my friends would have had to ask random strangers to get up to use the restroom).

Anyway, the random strangers sitting to the left of us offer menu suggestions. Our server comes and we order away. As in seriously did we miss anything from the menu? Oh yeah. the pork belly. because when we tried to order it they said they were out.

We order:

• house-marinated mediterranean olives: these were a nice variety, plump, and juicy. They also came with bread to sop up the extra olive oil.
• chorizo-stuffed madjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce This is a signature dish and it’s clear to see why. Really fantastic flavor. The dates and chorizo are nice balance and the bacon is just a bonus.
• Housemade baccala with red and yellow watermelon, cucumber, pickled watermelon rind, mint aleppo pepper and olive oil This was just OK. The baccala was a bit stringy. The watermelon was lovey but not enough to make the dish a winner.
• mixed salumi platter Very nice assortment. Came with 4 types and 4 pieces of each so perfect for sharing.
• pan-roasted hanger steak with rapini, roasted corn, smoked paprika lima beans and beans herbed butter Ugh. This was inedible. Like chewing steak flavored gum. Don’t get me wrong; the flavor was nice. The lima beans were great. The corn tasted a bit tired. But the steak? Terribly awful. We mentioned this to our server who responded with “Well, hanger steak is a tough cut”. Sure, we know that. But even as novice chefs we know it’s low and slow to make hangar steak taste good. It shouldn’t be on a menu if it’s not. She did say she’d have the chef try it. 10 minutes later she reported back that it was taken off our bill. I’m going with the belief that we just had a flukishly bad serving. Which should never happen in a great restaurant but…
• slow roasted crispy duck with marinated market plums, tarragon, grilled onion and savory streusel I don’t eat duck so I didn’t try this. I was told it was good but very salty.
• wood-fired pizza with blistered tomatoes, grilled sardines, fresh ricotta and basil This was interesting. The sardines were in chunks rather than whole pieces. The flavor was nice, though.
• “deluxe” focaccia with taleggio cheese, truffle oil and fresh herbsTHIS was fantastic. Worth going back for. Imagine your most favorite grilled cheese sandwich. Then add truffle essence. There’s a truffle cheese we love that melts like this. I would stop by for drinks and order just this and be happy. Actually, if we’d ordered just this I probably would have been happy.
• 6 cheese selections (which I can’t remember) We ordered these after being underwhelmed by the dessert choices and because they had a large cheese selection. The portions of cheese were nice and all were good. A couple were outstanding (alright, one was outstanding). We also got the quince paste which was nice.
• sorbet We didn’t actually order this. It came as a gift from our server after she stabbed my friend. Or accidentally dropped a knife off a plate that COULD have stabbed my friend. I think she missed. Or my friend was properly anesthetized from the multiple bottles of wine that she didn’t know if she was stabbed. Either way our server was nice to bring it and it was a nice flavor.
  Would I go back? probably not. If I lived in Chicago I might. My friends who live in Chicago usually have enjoyed their meals here but found tonight’s menu not as interesting in as some of the ones in the past. I think we just landed on an off night so…

  Overall thumbs: Sideways. We had a great time but were underwhelmed.

  Food tastiness: What a range. From fantastic (focaccia) to inedible (steak).

  Service rating: Pretty good. We had to ask for water 2x when we were outside. Our server needed to confer with the chef before giving credit for an improperly prepared dish. But she did try to compensate for dropping a knife and she helped conspire with us to steal the bill away from our friend. I found her helpful and attentive.