From the Ledge

And, I’m back! Yes, 2011 has been a bountiful and memorable year, my dear readers, but it has also been quite the frenetic, stressful, distraction-filled year too, so my sincerest apologies for not posting on this blog as much as I’ve done in the past.  The main benefit, however, of continuing to be on the travel circuit for another year (yep, once again, I flew more than 90,000 miles across three continents)  is the opportunity to spend time with family, colleagues, and new and old friends alike over convivial meals either rediscovering the past, exploring the present, or creating the future. And sometimes, with those closest to me, all three.  

In 2011, I was fortunate to have dined in Chicago, New York City, Hong Kong, Manila, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Toronto, Washington DC, St. Louis, Boston, Phoenix, and Milwaukee.  In every part of the world I was at this year, the culinary scene was thriving, generous, and diverse, with chefs not just innovating and extending boundaries, but more importantly honoring the history and traditions of sourcing, cooking, and serving food in their respective cultures- preserving techniques, reinterpreting them for the 21st century palate, using them as a compass for the future of dining.  Here then are my top ten dining experiences of 2011, not just in Chicago, but around the world (and at right, the bountiful too-beautiful-to-eat appetizer plate at Yin Yang, #1 on my list):

1. Yin Yang (Hong Kong) – In the middle of Hong Kong, the most determinedly futuristic city in the world, amidst the intimidating jumble of Wanchai, one of it’s busiest districts, is a thoughtful testament to the genius of Cantonese cuisine.  In an antique-filled room that could easily have been used as the set for a Wong Kar-Wai period film, Chef Margaret Xu Yuan, in her “private kitchen” Yin Yang, produces beautiful, exacting, delicious food that is both of the here and now (organically-sourced, cross-cultural) yet evocative of Hong Kong’s fast-fading past (she roasts chicken and pork in a traditional terra cotta urn giving the meats a hearty, indelible flavor).  In May, I joined ex-Chicagoans Lauren in the Lion City and her significant other Louis in a lovely, painstakingly-prepared dinner full of reverbations of the past (the roast chicken and roast pork dishes were two of the best versions I’ve had anywhere) yet unassumingly and confidently 2011 (the sensuous, effeminate egg custard with truffle and sea urchin would easily be in my top ten best dishes list of the past several years).  I wasn’t alone in my rave since the New York Times was beside itself with wonder as well after dining at Yin Yang. 

2. Restaurante Pujol (Mexico City) – Mexico City is touted by the global food culturati as one of the up-and-coming culinary cities.  And I wholeheartedly agree.  The week I spent in Mexico City earlier this year for business found me leapfrogging from one bold, exciting restaurant to another after client work for the day was done.  First among equals is Restaurante Pujol, a recent addition (at #49) to the prestigious 50 Best Restaurants in the World list.  Chef Enrique Olvera (who trained for six months under Jean Joho at our very own Everest after he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in the early 2000s) is widely-acclaimed as the leader of nouveau Mexican cuisine, and his food at Pujol is deliriously good: at times brazenly theatrical (an astounding amuse bouche of corn roasted in a pre-Hispanic Yucatan flower pot and drizzled with flying ant powder, yep, you heard that right), sometimes delicately minimalist (a delightful, diaphanous avocado flauta stuffed with shrimp and served with a cilantro emulsion), always a mesmerizing, thoughtful, sophisticated translation of Mexican culinary tradition to today. 

3.  Next Restaurant (Chicago) – I think there was no new restaurant more talked about this year in the United States than Next, Chef Grant Achatz’s follow-up to Alinea.  Before it opened, the eco-system of critics, food writers, bloggers, and Twitterers were all about its innovative business model: a menu that changed every three months to portray a specific period in food history; and a pre-purchased ticketing system more similar to those used in theaters, concerts, and sporting events.  When it opened in April, frustrated would-be diners were all about the website crashes, ticket scalping, and the general scarcity of opportunities to dine at the restaurant.  But for those who were able to go to the inaugural menu, a homage to August Escoffier called Paris 1906 (and yes, after much hand-wringing and belly-aching, I was able to secure a spot in a table purchased by someone else), we were all about the stunning dishes that Achatz and Chef de Cuisine Dave Beran created in the Escoffier tradition:  an insanely decadent Hors d’Oeuvre of foie gras with marmalade on toast; a beautifully poached sole filet floating on top of an outrageously luxurious sauce normande, served with an over-the-top crawfish head stuffed with mousseline; and a perfect, transporting whole duck with duck jus and cognac gravy made from an antique duck press (below).

4.  Maude’s Liquor Bar (Chicago) – Yes Virginia, there were a lot of other restaurants that opened in Chicago in 2011 other than Next. And although I liked many of them, I didn’t really love any of them except for Maude’s Liquor Bar, which Chicago magazine initially reported as specializing in “dirty French barbecue”.  Well, I didn’t find anything dirty or any barbecue, but I did find a whole lot of French, with a whole lot of innovative surprises, thanks to Chef Jeff Pikus (whose mind-blowing collaboration dinner with X-Marx I wrote about a couple of years ago).  In a bitterly cold winter night in early 2011 with power couple Henry and Joe and the lovely Happy, I had a brilliantly enveloping cassoulet, and an in-your-face Salad Lyonnais with generous portions of pork belly instead of lardons; during a rainy fall night with BFF Chef Mako and her husband Kevin, a perfectly calibrated house-made blood sausage.  These were the perfect dishes to be savored in the company of great friends.

5. Fook Lam Moon (Hong Kong) – In my book, if you want to call yourself a “foodie”, then you probably should have eaten your way through Hong Kong, truly one of the world’s great food capitals.  The city has 63 Michelin stars; flagship restaurants from Joel Robuchon, Alain Ducasse, and Nobu Matsuhisa; the leading Asian molecular gastronomy restaurant, Bo Innovation; and a dizzying diversity of dining options from street stalls called dai pai dong to teahouses with the best dimsum you can have in the world.  And thanks to the suggestion of my favorite Hong Kong food blogger, Diary of a Growing Boy, I did have some of the best dimsum I’ve ever had in my life at 1 Michelin star Fook Lam Moon, where everything was fresh and fabulous (and directly out of the kitchen and not on carts). I’ve eaten a lot of dimsum in my life, but I’ve never had siumai as ethereal as the ones I had at Fook Lam Moon topped with subtly salty crab roe, or earthy taro puffs as incongrously transcendent, or steamed buns with lotus paste and egg yolk as perfectly balanced in its salty-sweetness, or roast pork as unapologetically burnt-crispy and fatty-meaty (below).  It was dimsum that could not be had anywhere in North America (or in the world, for that matter).

6. Niche (St. Louis) – I’ve been on a project straight out of Dante’s fevered imagination the past several months in the city of the Gateway Arch, but a saving grace of this experience is the opportunity to go to to James Beard-nominated Niche whenever I want to.  Chef Gerard Craft’s unassuming restaurant in the Soulard district serves some of the best food on any side of the Mississippi River: it’s imaginative, but not precious, contemporary but not trend-conscious, beautiful but not self-involved. On one visit, I had the single best dish I’ve had all year: a delightfully deconstructed “corned beef” salad made of the freshest, sweetest beets, “corned” like beef, mixed with vigorous fennel cooked like pastrami, pumpernickel dust, and a sour cream dip (see below). On another visit, I had a dessert special that night of pastry chef Elise Menning – marvelous acorn squash bread pudding with maple butternut squash ice cream, which provided an indelible autumnal solace.

7. Aroy Thai (Chicago) – When I first moved to Ravenswood in the late 2000s, I wandered into Aroy Thai a block away from my house and became instantly smitten.  It has been my neighborhood Thai joint ever since, and this year, it seemed like much of Chicago’s dining community made it their neighborhood Thai joint as well.  From mentions in TimeOut Chicago to selection as one of “foodie” forum LTHforum.com’s “Great Neighborhood Restaurant” awardees, the tiny Thai storefront I ate at regularly was golden.  But all that attention didn’t diminish the quality and authenticity of the food- dishes like my favorite off-menu item kai-gieuw mu sap, a deliciously messy minced pork omelette; or a wonderfully creamy and briny special of stir fried squid with salted egg yolk; or a refreshingly elegant pandan noodle dessert with coconut cream, continued to transport me to Bangkok, one of my favorite cities in the world.

8. Brasileirinho (Rio de Janeiro) – I was initially disappointed when Chicago lost to Rio de Janeiro as host of the 2016 Olympics, but when I visited this year with all-time BFF Andrew, I instantly realized that, despite my great love for Chicago, the International Olympic Committee made the right decision.  Rio de Janeiro is a city like no other I have been to in the world, with it’s co-mingling of colonial history, beaches, mountains, forests, and cosmopolitan sprawl in one singular urban mix. And it’s culinary scene is as proud, as colorful, and as informed by its history as the city itself.  One mild Brazilian summer night, BFF Andrew and I wandered into Brasileirinho, along the most famous beach in the world, Copacabana beach, and enjoyed traditional Brazilian cuisine:  a surprisingly airy pasteis, fried polenta stuffed with ground beef; a luscious, spirited moqueca, Bahian bass and shrimp stew, served with its traditional accompaniments, farofa (toasted manioc flour), rice, and the uniquely Brazilian pirao (fish head gravy); an excellent goiabada (also known as guava “sweet” which is more like a hybrid paste and jelly) with cheese ice cream, the most traditional of all Brazilian deserts. Below is the moqueca prior to serving.

9. Jaso (Mexico City) – Pujol wasn’t the only highlight of my Mexico City eating adventures.  I was also very much impressed by Jaso, where married Chefs Jared Reardon and Sonia Arias cook fantastic food that meld their global backgrounds and interests (he is American, she is Mexican, and they travel all over the world).  The dinner was spectacular, but two things were gravity-stopping: a delirious,magnificent squid dumpling stuffed with crab and shrimp and ensconced in an intricately layered parmigiano and squid ink sauce, and a flawless moist chocolate cake topped with a gallette and served with semifreddos and Ecuadorian coffee bits (below), both dishes truly continents-spanning in sensibility and execution.

10. Food on the Dole Salons (Chicago) – One may be blessed to have had many memorable meals in different parts of the world as I did this year, but sometimes the most fulfilling dining experiences can be the ones you share with old friends and interesting new ones in the city you call home.  Chef Hugh Amano runs intermittent supper clubs that are truly different from other supper clubs (or underground dinners or speakeasies or whatever you want to call them) in this food-mad town: six people prepare a four course dinner with him in a combo dinner party-cooking class. Sometimes the salons have a theme (brunch or seafood or pasta), sometimes they don’t.  But they are always about learning and sharing and thoughtful conversation, whether over juicy, freshly-shucked oysters and a marvelous herb-stuffed oven-roasted sea bass that BFF Debra and Dash of Stash helped prepare, or over blazing duck confit and chili flatbreads which BFF Camela helped roll.  And Chef Hugh is always the perfect host – patient, informative, and inspiring in his love of food and cooking.

Tags: Aroy Thai, Brasileirinho, Food on the Dole Salon, Fook Lam Moon, Jaso, Maude's Liquor Bar, Next Restaurant, Niche, Restaurante Pujol, Yin Yang