113929 Wed Oct 15 11:20:01 -0700 2003 54 7 Chicago Area 0 619610 Please forgive the length of this post. It reflects a lengthy meal! After a few days to mentally digest this dinner, I feel ready to report. To sum up: Am I glad I did it? Yes. It was a once-in-a-lifetime food experience. Would I do it again? No way. I wouldn’t mind shelling out $162 (price for one 8-course meal with 1 glass of wine, tax, and 20% tip) for meal of consistently exquisite taste, but in this meal there too many not-really-exquisite tastes to justify such a bill. When I arrived at 7:15 on a Thursday night I was surprised to see only a few other tables occupied. As the evening progressed, only 18 diners appeared. Maybe people were saving up for the 10th anniversary blowout scheduled for the following 2 days. I opted for the 8-course menu (110$) As has been noted elsewhere, the service was flawless, warm, tinged with humor, and eminently knowledgeable, though I did tire of hearing the same scripts echoing from different parts of the room as the plates were presented. They don’t improvise in their descriptions, that's for sure. Although when the first course is sea urchin roe, parsnip milk, frozen bananas and puffed rice, what else is there to say? The amuse “Cheez n’cracker” was a tasty hollow lozenge of crisp pastry filled with melted sharp cheddar. A single crunch brought a grin of pleasure to my face. This was presented on the end of a long thin marble slab. The sea urchin came next. I’m not quite sure what parsnip milk is, and the server couldn’t explain it, but it tasted neither of parsnip nor milk, prviding instead a neutral taste and temperature. The sea urchin roe was fresh and gorgeous but if there’s one thing I now know about sea urchin roe it’s this: It should never go near a frozen banana or a rice krispie. This dish provided the first glimpse of a taste combo that defined the meal: salt over sweet. And not in the pleasing way of milk chocolate over salted nuts, or prosciutto over melon. In the very weird way of, say, salted jell-o. The next dish was a new fall offering: puree of chestnuts (poached with juniper) with bacon consommé, potato crisps, and celery leaf. So far so good. The hot chestnut puree and velvety bacon consommé are the world’s most luxurious baby food: utterly smooth, utterly rich, unctuos, salty and sweet (in the good way), with the crisps and celery leaf adding just the right contrasts of crunch and light herbaceousness. So what about the potato ice cream topping it all off? Well, in a word – yuk. The coldness and sugary sweet of it did nothing to enhance this dish and IMHO, really detracted from it in flavor and mouthfeel. I was very happy once I scraped it all off though, and concentrated on the puree alone. Dungeness crab with coconut milk and 10 bridging garnishes came next. This is an eye-popping dish and I have NO idea how they did it. In the center of the plate is a golf-ball-sized sphere of coconut milk. The containing wall of the sphere, a gelatinous layer of coconut (think thick pudding skin) contains the rich warm liquid within. Surrounding the sphere were bits of Dungeness crab; they were also scattered along the rim of the plate, interspersed with the 10 tasty bits: avocado and Thai chili sliver, ginger, tomato marmalade and fennel, fenugreek and curry powder, a shred of coconut topped with as peck of vanilla bean, candied lime zest, and a whole cashew with powdered cashew. I wasn’t sure how to east this, but ended up poking the jiggly sphere to release its treasure, and then eating a bit of crab with each of the garnishes. This was pretty successful, as it provided a number of startlingly good tastes (the ginger and tomato were especially good) but I think the pure coconut milk, without any other flavor to lighten it, really overpowered the delicate flavor of the crab. A palate cleanser followed: a lozenge of chantrelle mushroom sorbet topped with a layer of mint sorbet. The salt over sweet thing again. The mushroom layer tasted mostly just of salt but the mint layer was quite nice. Next came a puffed lobster cracker (similar to a Japanese shrimp cracker) with scrambled lobster coral, a tiny taste of fresh grapefruit and a leaf of wood sorrel. This was presented in an egg cup. Simultaneously refreshing and rich. The poached Eleysian Field lamb with floral infusion followed. This really highlighted both the best and worst of the night. It was really gorgeous: The lamb was paried with a “deconstructed floral infusion scattered across the plate: marigold petals, lemon balm leaf, tarragon, thyme, and orange zest. The lamb rested on a citrus puree, which had the texture of hollandaise and a mild orange flavor. This was topped with a grating of Thai long peppercorn and was just marvelous. Lovely to look at, delightful to taste, velvety lamb, a sauce that was rich yet light. But the accompanying lamb consommé was a disaster. I had really been looking forward to this as it has previously been described as a shot glass of hot intensely flavored lamb consommé. For some unknowable reason, however, this was served cold, as a gelee, topped with congealed artichoke puree. I admit the taste was nice: essence of lamb. But I couldn’t get past the texture - the gelatininous goo that forms on refrigerated braised lamb shanks. It’s like opening up your chilled lamb leftovers and taking a big spoonful of cold gravy. I left most of it uneaten. The truffle explosion was presented next and I would gladly pay $162 for a meal of these guys. The hot truffle broth inside the ravioli, enriched with lardon, broccoli puree, and a tiny shave of parmigiano-reggiano … I groan to think how delicious it was… a soup dumpling elevated to gastronomic heaven. My favorite dish was next: a trio of pork combined with truffle, figs and fennel: Truffle slice on pancetta, pork rillete of shoulder, and a melting tenderloin. The pancetta topped with truffle was a wonderful meddling of earth and salt. The rillete of shredded shoulder meat was moist and rich on the inside, crisply sautéed on the outside and at its stellar best combined with a bite of the roast fig and a swirl of the truffle sauce. Beside these two delights, the very delicately flavored tenderloin was a bit lost, alas. The “pizza on a pin” arrived next. A postage stamp sized tab of potato starch topped with tomato concentrate and oregano. Presented on the end of a straight pin embedded in wax in a small covered casserole dish. Cute, quirky, tasty. Another new fall dish followed: pheasant poached “en souvide” with autumn fragrance. A take on the famous lobster with rosemary vapor, the bowl containing the pheasant is served in larger bowl filled with sweet timothy hay, slices of pumpkin and of Granny Smith apples. Hot water is poured over these elements to release a fragrance the complements the food. I think this probably worked better with the rosemary and, in a later dish, with evergreen and rabbit. I did get a whiff of the hay as the first steam rose, and I found that pleasant, but the apple and pumpkin didn’t contribute much except a pleasing visual element. The pheasant itself was delightful with its foamy tart apple cider sauce, nuggets of apple, Brussels spouts and green beans. “En souvide” I take it, is cooking in a vacuum-sealed bag. The “frozen salad” followed. I actually enjoyed this quite a bit once I got used to the mind game of the whole thing. We expect a granitee to be sweet, but then this one explodes with salt and tangy vinegar over the vegetal flavor of the frozen leaves. It’s very refreshing. Desserts followed: Huckleberry soda with five gelees, rosewater bubble tea shooter, and mustard seed cake with caramel, milk chocolate, and mustard seed sauce. The very sweet and somewhat thick huckleberry soda was quite good and I would have been happy with that alone. The accompanying geleee was a five-inch-long rectangle of five one-inch cubes of various flavors: sweet corn, sage, smoked cream, milk chocolate, and pine nut. I think they just should serve five cubes of the milk chocolate, as this was the most intensely flavored, rich, and seductive one presented. The flavor of the sweet corn was just a mild sweetness, the sage flavor was difficult to perceive, although the crystal-clear cube was intriguing, the smoked cream (topped with sea salt) tasted like salted cream that had been stored in a chimney, and the pine nut was good, but overwhelmed by the chocolate which was eaten just before. The rosewater bubble tea shooter was just a delight. Served with a fragrant pink rose and a raspberry, which the diner is instructed to alternately sniff, observing the similarities between the fragrances. The shooter is served in a long glass tube lying horizontally next to the rose and it’s meant to be sucked down in one big slurp. It’s quite pretty, with alternating layers of raspberry gelee, rosewater gelee, and cream, with the tapioca pearls at the end. I love rosewater and raspberries and cream and chewy little spheres so this was a big hit for me. The cake was less so, but it could be because I was stuffed and fatigued by this time, 2.5 hours into the evening. The mustard seeds gave the pound cake a pleasant nutty crun-chewiness, like poppy seed, but with a little more body. The cube was enrobed with a thick, gooey layer of caramel (yum) and overlaid with ganache. A few micro-mustard greens set off the presentation beautifully but I was really too full to enjoy a dessert of this richness. The mignardise that ended the meal was referred to as “alien invasion”. A spherical ice pop of sweetened hibiscus tea appeared like a single red eyeball perched on three skinny metal skewer legs – a collapsible popsicle stick. I was really anticipating this as a sweet-tart refresher, but alas, it was sweet, tart, and salted. I left it melting on my plate, as did the other diners after a few curious licks. It would’ve been lovely without the salt, however. I just don’t get that. After the meal, the staff invited me to the kitchen to meet Chef Grant Achatz, who was cracking coconuts and looking about 14 years old. Obviously a super-talented guy with a huge sense of humor and a very engaging smile. And the owner, Henry Adinaya, was just as engaging and really wanted to know what I thought. It’s tremendous that he’s willing to take such big culinary risks in the land of meat ‘n patatahs. All in all, an intellectual extravaganza that left me thinking for a couple of days, so in that sense I believe the money and time were well-spent. But a couple seated near me offered the best interpretation of the meal: They had eaten at the French Laundry, where ingredients are also combined in unusual and unexpected ways, and where Chef Grant Achatz had trained. “But,” said the woman, “that was the best meal of my life. Every taste was unexpected and different, but every taste was incredible. Here, there are some incredible tastes, and some that just plain don’t work.” My sentiments, exactly. One more curious thing. When the bill came, $22 of it was comped. I asked about this and was told that they charge for all of the “little tastes”: the pizza on a pin, mushroom-mint sorbet, truffle explosion, etc. and then take it off “so that you can see what they would really cost.” This felt a little presumptuous and – yes – even rude to me, like a stingy uncle who finally gives you a very nice birthday gift but then complains for a year about how expensive it was. Wed Oct 15 11:20:01 -0700 2003 0 Missy 1 619614 Thanks for the excellent, detailed report. Wed Oct 15 11:43:51 -0700 2003 619610 0 Vital Information 2 619643 I'd like to comment on this dish: The originating poster indicated: "The poached Eleysian Field lamb with floral infusion followed. This really highlighted both the best and worst of the night. It was really gorgeous: The lamb was paried with a “deconstructed floral infusion scattered across the plate: marigold petals, lemon balm leaf, tarragon, thyme, and orange zest. The lamb rested on a citrus puree, which had the texture of hollandaise and a mild orange flavor. This was topped with a grating of Thai long peppercorn and was just marvelous. Lovely to look at, delightful to taste, velvety lamb, a sauce that was rich yet light. But the accompanying lamb consommé was a disaster. I had really been looking forward to this as it has previously been described as a shot glass of hot intensely flavored lamb consommé. For some unknowable reason, however, this was served cold, as a gelee, topped with congealed artichoke puree. I admit the taste was nice: essence of lamb. But I couldn’t get past the texture - the gelatininous goo that forms on refrigerated braised lamb shanks. It’s like opening up your chilled lamb leftovers and taking a big spoonful of cold gravy. I left most of it uneaten." I'm not sure why the dining room team member may have described the dish as involving a hot consomme or a liquid consomme, but I've sampled the dish and here are my notes: Poached loin of lamb, floral infusion, artichoke, orange. A conceptually complex dish, in which hyssop, lamb, orange peel, marigolds, other flowers, and possibly ambrosia (?) tea, were featured strewn across the principal part of the plate. The same exact ingredients were utilized (e.g., artichoke foam), in transmuted "state" (e.g., gelee for the lamb consomme) in a little glass container of lamb consommee gelee (dark, intense). Nice cute touch of an artichoke that had a little flower as its adornment. Interesting grating of a Thai long peppercorn, which had a floral aspect to it, at the table. I liked the slightly folded up (i.e., undulgating), sliver of pink lamb, which was room-temperature. Very good principal part of the dish; intellectually appealing lamb consomme gelee. The lamb consomme gelee was quite stark, although that was mitigated by the artichoke foam. It was interesting that the exact same ingredients (i.e., products) were reflected in the gelee and its foam as was on the principal part of the plate. Wed Oct 15 16:51:57 -0700 2003 619614 0 cabrales 3 619651 I was unclear in my description, I guess. What I meant was that I had read previous descriptions of this consomme being served hot, not that the server told me it would be hot. When I commented on the chilled version, the server told me it had been served hot at one time but they decided to serve it chilled as a summer offering. Wed Oct 15 21:09:20 -0700 2003 619643 0 Missy 4 619673 Ah. Well, I think the consomme served hot might have tasted better on a standalone basis. But the consomme served in gelee form was intellectually more engaging for several reasons. First, it permitted the utilization of the artichoke (which was prominent in the "principal" part of thep late) in the foam, thereby transmuting yet another "state" of a product on the plate. Foam might not have been stable on top of hot consomme. Second, the gelee was more surprising (in the sense of less anticipated; less within the range of a what a diner might imagine) than the ilquid consomme. Third, the consomee gelee in its preparation process required two transformations of "states". The lamb had to be made into a consomme. Then, the consomme had to be rendered into the gelee. Thu Oct 16 10:27:08 -0700 2003 619651 0 cabrales 5 619706 I agree the jiggly gelatinous consomme was intellectually engaging. It made me concentrate really hard on not throwing up. Mike M., your treatise on the witty deconstructed Frito made me ready to jump into my Vosge's truffles, especially the Black Pearl - Fresh cream and premium dark chocolate infused with ginger and wasabi, sprinkled with black sesame seeds. Congratulations on living in Chicago. It's nice to know there's a place where one can enjoy lamb gelee, spheroid coconut milk, and pizza on a pin one night, and the next, a root beer and Harold's salty-peppery-crunchy fried chicken slathered with hot sauce and slapped between two slices of grease-soakin' white bread ... While Trio may be food the mind, Harold's is food for the soul. And any analyst will advise caring for both those aspects of self! ;-) Thu Oct 16 16:24:34 -0700 2003 619673 0 Consomme, gelee, Frito Lay deconstructee, psychologee 6 619708 The proper accompaniment to Harold's Chicken is red pop, although I've heard that root beer goes well with the perch or catfish. Thu Oct 16 16:32:04 -0700 2003 619706 0 Andy O'Neill 6 619717 I myself posted this remark, not someone with user name Consomme, gelee, Frito Lay deconstructee, psychologee. Mea culpa! Thu Oct 16 17:32:33 -0700 2003 619706 0 Missy 5 619707 So, you work at Trio? Thu Oct 16 16:30:28 -0700 2003 619673 0 Andy O'Neill 6 619711 I don't work at Trio, or in connection with any other restaurant. However, I am a fairly observant diner, and I have also had (not in connection with this dish) public discussions with Chef Achatz on his cuisine on another board (in the interests of full disclosure). Thu Oct 16 16:50:51 -0700 2003 619707 0 cabrales 5 619722 I've come up with another potential reason for the lamb consomme to be gelee: -- Lamb traditionally is sometimes served with mint jelly-type saucing. Perhaps the gelee was a play on that, particularly when one considers that certain flowers might have been intended to give the lamb consomme a more chlorophylly quality (although I'd have to admit that was difficult to detect in the gelee, as I recall). Thu Oct 16 18:08:58 -0700 2003 619673 0 cabrales 4 619740 Wow, reading all this nonsense about the lamb gelee makes me want to get up early Sunday and head to Maxwell street for some a huge delicious cup of Goat consomme "con carne" for $2.00. Cabrales, check out that consomme and come back here and tell us how "intellectually engaging" it was. Fri Oct 17 03:48:11 -0700 2003 619651 0 Don Knotts 5 619748 Don Knotts, In my opinion this is exactly the type of 'at the exclusion of' type of thinking that we have to nip in the bud, that's right, nip it, nip it in the bud. Is it not possible to enjoy both the lamb gelee at Trio and the goat consomee at Maxwell Street? Actually, I know the answer, having had both, yes it most certainly is possible. Speaking of soup at Maxwell Street, the vendor with the sign in red letters that says "Deliciosos Cockteles" has an incredible shrimp and octopus soup as rich, full flavored and complex as any I have ever tasted, truly wonderful. This same vendor, just South of Dominick's, West side of the street, has huarachitos, fresh masa mixed with black beans pressed out and grilled. They offer red and green salsa for the huarachitos, I usually get a mix of both, what they would call Christmas Tree in Santa Fe, with a light topping of queso anejo. As Seth's personal Korean lunch chef says, " it's all good" Enjoy, Gary Fri Oct 17 09:53:06 -0700 2003 619740 0 G Wiv 6 619763 I certainly agree that "either/or" thinking should indeed be "nipped in the bud" (e.g. the regional hot dog debates that just bore the steamed poppyseed buns right off me). But, that bud-nipping should not preclude a healthy and vigorous - if inherently subjective - debate as to where one reaches culinary absurdity at either end of the spectrum. Should it? Personally, I don't think Mr. Submarine is worthy of discussion. Others clearly disagree. In the debate lies both fun and profit. At least for me. Fri Oct 17 12:07:03 -0700 2003 619748 0 mrbarolo 7 619783 I don't disagree with what has been said, but wonder the extent to which participants in the debate have eaten at applicable restaurants. For example, I can't participate in a discussion about the chicken place, because I have never eaten there. Sometimes I see participants in a debate debating over cuisine they have not sampled. I'm not saying one can't debate if one hasn't eaten, for one can speak to what the press has reported about a restaurant, the chef's history, and many other aspects of a restaurant. But at some level a debate should be predicated on the cuisine. On another board, I participate in a multi-day debate about the utilization of curry in a certain dish in France, only to find that, of the dozens of active participants, only I and perhaps a very few of the other participants (maybe 1-3) had actually sampled the dish. Most had read about it in a book, or were making hypotheses about it (yes, it's Pacaud's langoustines/sesame wafer/curry sauce dish). I'd have to say that was sort of disappointing in hindsight. Fri Oct 17 16:23:44 -0700 2003 619763 0 cabrales 2 619644 I'd like to comment on this dish: The originating poster indicated: "The poached Eleysian Field lamb with floral infusion followed. This really highlighted both the best and worst of the night. It was really gorgeous: The lamb was paried with a “deconstructed floral infusion scattered across the plate: marigold petals, lemon balm leaf, tarragon, thyme, and orange zest. The lamb rested on a citrus puree, which had the texture of hollandaise and a mild orange flavor. This was topped with a grating of Thai long peppercorn and was just marvelous. Lovely to look at, delightful to taste, velvety lamb, a sauce that was rich yet light. But the accompanying lamb consommé was a disaster. I had really been looking forward to this as it has previously been described as a shot glass of hot intensely flavored lamb consommé. For some unknowable reason, however, this was served cold, as a gelee, topped with congealed artichoke puree. I admit the taste was nice: essence of lamb. But I couldn’t get past the texture - the gelatininous goo that forms on refrigerated braised lamb shanks. It’s like opening up your chilled lamb leftovers and taking a big spoonful of cold gravy. I left most of it uneaten." I'm not sure why the dining room team member may have described the dish as involving a hot consomme or a liquid consomme, but I've sampled the dish and here are my notes: Poached loin of lamb, floral infusion, artichoke, orange. A conceptually complex dish, in which hyssop, lamb, orange peel, marigolds, other flowers, and possibly ambrosia (?) tea, were featured strewn across the principal part of the plate. The same exact ingredients were utilized (e.g., artichoke foam), in transmuted "state" (e.g., gelee for the lamb consomme) in a little glass container of lamb consommee gelee (dark, intense). Nice cute touch of an artichoke that had a little flower as its adornment. Interesting grating of a Thai long peppercorn, which had a floral aspect to it, at the table. I liked the slightly folded up (i.e., undulgating), sliver of pink lamb, which was room-temperature. Very good principal part of the dish; intellectually appealing lamb consomme gelee. The lamb consomme gelee was quite stark, although that was mitigated by the artichoke foam. It was interesting that the exact same ingredients (i.e., products) were reflected in the gelee and its foam as was on the principal part of the plate. Wed Oct 15 16:52:27 -0700 2003 619614 0 cabrales 2 619737 Missy, please move to Chicago so we can enjoy your sensitive palate, acute intelligence, and vibrant powers of description directed to the subject of Chicago restaurants on a full-time basis. And thanks for relieving me of the need ever to go and eat such grotesquely attention-seeking, absurd food. Fri Oct 17 02:55:24 -0700 2003 619614 0 Missy Fan 1 619619 Just wanted to say how immensely I enjoyed reading this report. Far more, I imagine, than I would have enjoyed the meal itself. From all I read, I suspect that Trio would be just too too for me. I don't mind a bit of wit in the decor, or menu copy, but when the food itself constitutes a relentless, self-referential tongue-in-cheek critique of the history of gastronomy, my appetite suffers. I like Nabokov as a writer, but I'm not prepared for him as a cuisine. What most amazes me about your report is how you managed to preserve the freshness of your responses over several days. Did you spend the entire meal taking notes, or talking into a tape recorder? Or did you actually store all that sensory experience in your memory? Impressive either way. Wed Oct 15 12:25:46 -0700 2003 619610 0 MrBarolo 2 619665 "I like Nabokov as a writer, but I'm not prepared for him as a cuisine." That, for me, absolutely nails it. Well said. And, to Missy, this has got to be one of the best, most thoughtful posts ever. Thanks for the time and effort. Thu Oct 16 09:15:21 -0700 2003 619619 0 Mike M 3 619679 Or, for anyone old enough to remember the commercial, one might sum it up with, "Sorry, Charlie. People don't want tuna with good taste, they want tuna that tastes good." Discussions of Trio inevitably leave me wanting to pour myself a bowl of Cap'n Crunch or tear open a bag of Doritos. Not a an ironic, tongue-in-cheek, deconstructed "Dorito" hand formed from organically grown Mexican blue corn and coated with in-house dehydrated artisanal cheddar "dust" with freshly ground, flash-frozen spices and served impaled on a miniature picador's sword carved from corn stalks in a pool of bull's ear aspic. Just Doritos. Missy's post was great though, wasn't it? Thu Oct 16 11:36:36 -0700 2003 619665 0 mrbarolo 4 619686 LOL, rolling on the floor. There's a place and time for that kind of experience but, I have to say, not on my dime. Thu Oct 16 11:56:40 -0700 2003 619679 0 Mike M 4 619715 Yikes, Mr. Barolo, I not only mis-attributed your witticism to Mike M (who is no doubt just as witty as you are) but I misidentified the fried corn chip as well. I hope this doesn't cast any doubt on the accuracy of my lengthy Trio post!!!!!! Thu Oct 16 17:30:59 -0700 2003 619679 0 Missy 5 619756 Scandalous. I can forgive you for the damage to my reputation and self-esteem only if you answer my original question: Did you take notes or use a tape recorder all through dinner, or did you actually remember everything you put into your post at that phenomenal level of detail after several days? Because it had all the immediacy of great play-by-play commentary. Fri Oct 17 11:24:00 -0700 2003 619715 0 mrbarolo 6 619856 Sorry to be so tardy. Just returned from a weekend backpack where the culinary highlight was freeze-dried apple cobbler enhanced with ashes and some wild apples and cranberries, all washed down with (filtered) water from Seneca Creek in West Va. Anyway, I had a little notebook and took a few notes during dinner. When the maitre d' saw what I was doing he insisted he'd give me a take-home menu so there was no need for scribbling. But I continued anyway! And one more thing... does anyone have any comment on the comped poriton of the bill, which I noted in the original post (charging for the intermezzos and then taking them off)? Is that weird or what? Sun Oct 19 20:36:25 -0700 2003 619756 0 Missy 7 619878 Very interesting question about whether Trio should show you the comped part of the bill. I have, many times over the years, presented my clients with bills showing a gross amount and a net amount. There are many reasons for doing it, not the least to show you worked harder than your bill indicated. Yet, these are bills that are in the multi-thousand dollar range, and they are business-to-business transactions. To me, what Trio did, is more like me sending someone a little tchotke, and then telling the client how much I spent on it. It surely undermines the gesture. I can hear Trio's argument that they have to track the costs of all the dishes, but could not they program their POS system to not actually print all the line items on the bill. Again, my accounting package, Quickbooks (hardly a restaurant friendly package) allows you to pick and choose which lines on the invoice get printed. Rob Mon Oct 20 10:53:02 -0700 2003 619856 0 Vital Information 1 619633 Here's a link to an LA Times review of Trio. When I was there last Thursday, the staff mentioned this to me several times. They were really excited about it appearing. And don't get me wrong: there were some great moments during the meal, but there are parts of this article that make me want to scream, "But the Emporer has no clothes!!!!" Oops, I tried to get this a clickable link and it directed me to a Times page-not-found. SO maybe you can just paste it in your browser. http://www.latimes.com/features/food/shaw/la-fo-matters8oct08,1,3183939.story Wed Oct 15 14:34:09 -0700 2003 619610 0 Missy 2 619638 Hi if you go to the LA Times site and then type Evanston into the search box you will get the article. It may require registration, but it's free. And at least for now (today) the article is still there. Wed Oct 15 15:14:21 -0700 2003 619633 0 leek 1 619662 Great post. As Trio is more or less on the top of my list of Chicago fine dining spots to try (with Spring), it is good to get such detail. I guess that from a chef's point of view there is the more common experiential approach (let's make things that taste good), and the conceptual approach (let's make a meal that combines textures, visuals, and flavors like sweet and salty in a variety of unexpected and new ways). Sort of like traditional classical music versus what was once called "new" music. The first is easy and pleasant, immediately engaging and usually pleasurable, while the second requires that one focus, think about it, and open up to the experience, which is in no way easy or always pleasant. Trio, because of what it is attempting, is more likely to fail in some dishes than other places, or at least to fail to draw us in to wherever it is trying to go. And I know there is somewhat of a backlash against Trio and its ilk because the food is so unfriendly to wine (it demands center stage and complete focus, wine just distracts and adds an uncotrolled flavor element). On balance, though, it does have to be a pleasant sensory experience, IMO, in addition to intellectually engaging, which it does not seem to have been for you - somewhat worrisome. The risk in cutting ties to traditions and setting out on a new path is to lose contact with the audience, versus the goal of leading the audience to new and wonderful things. Sounds like some of both happened for you. Thanks for the post. d Thu Oct 16 07:25:16 -0700 2003 619610 0 dickson d 2 619667 dickson d writes: "And I know there is somewhat of a backlash against Trio and its ilk because the food is so unfriendly to wine (it demands center stage and complete focus, wine just distracts and adds an uncotrolled flavor element)." I think this is not the case. I had one of the most phenomenal wine and food experiences of my life at Trio. The combination was stunning - neither was as good without the other. And they do offer a wine paired with each course. Of course it doesn't always match up perfectly, and I can disagree with some of their choices, but they definitely do work on wine and food together there. Thu Oct 16 09:30:23 -0700 2003 619662 0 leek 3 619689 The wine is well paired with the cuisine at Trio. Given the diversity in the types of dishes at Trio, it's better to take the wine by the glass pairings at Trio, than order a bottle or two for the entire meal. I wouldn't say that Trio's cuisine is at all wine-unfriendly. Perhaps it requires a range in wine to pair, but that's what Trio offers :) Below were certain wine pairings that I liked at Trio: -- "Vya con Porto" (Taylor Chip, Dry White Port with Vya Vermouth aka Trio Royale), with "Cheese n' Cracker". The drink was an intense drink, served in a martini glass. The drink had been steeping in a bottle with some type of peppercorn included for a while. -- Cusamano (sp) "Cubia" Insolia, Sicily 2001, with Free Range Hen Egg, Nasturtium from our garden. The wine has a touch of oak, and reminds the diner of viognier. -- Aubry Champagne, with Tomato-Watermelon-Juniper (gelee item) Thu Oct 16 12:22:18 -0700 2003 619667 0 cabrales 4 619741 Thanks for the info on the wine pairings. Interesting. Not surprised that the wines that worked were sweet, white, and sparkling. The "backlash" I mentioned is the conflict between the "premier" wines of the world and the finest gourmet restaurants (can we give Trio credit for aspiring to this? I would think so). For the first time, pretty much, the cuisine of such restaurants is not at all friendly to those wines, which from the side of the winemakers is an issue. It is not at all a bad thing to give yourself over to the sommelier to match wines with the food. You get to try new and different things as the wine service becomes an extension of the experimentation with the food. But this has not made top tier wine producers, collectors and advocates that happy. d Fri Oct 17 07:31:08 -0700 2003 619689 0 dickson d 5 619760 "...the wines that worked were sweet, white and sparkling." Hmmm. Perhaps we're on the verge of a discovery. The ideal pairing with intellectually challenging, cutting-edge foods is...7-Up. Although, I think with the growing popularity of Asian-influenced fusion, I might go with a ginger ale. Some of the hand-crafted bottlings with an intense, almost Alsatian Gewurtztraminer spiciness would pair nicely with the subtler efforts in this area. With a less ambitious, more blunt flavor palette (e.g. Ben Pao, or Big Bowl) I would probably just go with a Schweppes or even a Canfield. Canada Dry is, in my opinion, over-rated - the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio of ginger ales. A nice tipple if you're eating something on a skewer at an asian street fare, but that's about it. (Although , their diet ginger is actually one of the best, IMO.) On a slightly more serious note, I think the growing disconnect between innovative cooking and the desire to enjoy wine alongside a fine meal is very interesting. If one looks back a bit, food and wine were generally products of the same region, growing alongside each other. Food and wine matching was instinctive rather than problematic; largely because there weren't that many choices on either side of the equation. Coq au vin would be a paradigmatic example. A chicken. A bottle of good burgundy in the pot. Another bottle of the same on the table. Some herbs raised in the same soil/water/climate as the grapes and the chicken. A wonderful, effortlessly integrated dish with great wine that requires no intellectual effort to match up. Now, technology allows chefs to use as flavor components, ingredients from all over the world with no natural geographic or climatic or cultural or historical relationship. Hopefully, the chef's skill and imagination cause the flavors and textures to be well married. As often as not, they're just cohabiting; living in sin. This manufactured, hot-house complexity may indeed make for astounding new tastes/textures, etc., but any natural relationship with a particular wine or type of wine goes out the window and becomes and intellectual "problem" to be solved rather than a natural completing of the elements of a meal. All this is off the top of my head from reading your post. So I expect and welcome all counter-arguments. Fri Oct 17 12:00:00 -0700 2003 619741 0 mrbarolo 6 619766 This is a favorite topic of mine. I like wine as something to drink, like beer, whisky, vodka, etc. I rarely find that wine creates something mystical and above, the mythical 1+1=3 notion that food is better with wine. Now, I have had a few blessed occasions where the wine really did enhance the meal, so I can accept the possiblity, but almost always, I find the opposite. The wine just seems like a seperate component to me, enjoyable tastes alongside other enjoyable tastes. As to the idea that traditional food wine pairings are one's borne of regionalism, I must also add that the idea of wine being an intrigual part of fine dining to be an effect of the triumph of French food as the universal epitome of fine dining. Rob Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/290919#1580955 Fri Oct 17 12:57:33 -0700 2003 619760 0 Vital Information 7 619776 Surely you give the French far too much credit (or blame, depending on your point of view). Wine as a necessary enhancement and catalyst of good eating is documentably as old as civilization itself. For me, there is certainly wine that is just a nice beverage, as there are meals that are just food. But sometimes that mystical thing does happen. Often enough that I'm always on the lookout for it. Not just at the highest level, either. I have had simple, fresh meals made spontaneously at home which were thoroughly translated by an accompanying glass of relatively humble wine (e.g. a cotes du rhone) into something absolutely splendid. Fri Oct 17 15:33:17 -0700 2003 619766 0 mrbarolo 8 619778 Perhaps in my pithiness, I failed to adequately express what I meant. I agree that wine with food is something enjoyed in many places, but I think that the idea that "fine" dining has to include wine comes from the notion that fine dining was french dining. If fancy wines were part of the process at Tour d'Argent, than god damn, they were going to be part of the process at La Maison du Chez Cuisine (my apologies to Mr. Trillin). I mean, let's throw some gross assumptions out there, but how many Italian places are serving tasting menu's with multiple glasses of wine. More accurately, historically, when people ate out for Italian, wine was a frequent component of the meal, but wine was always looked at as something as part of the ethnic Italian experience. There was not the same mystique surrounding wine and Italian food. Fri Oct 17 15:41:48 -0700 2003 619776 0 Vital Information 9 619804 Gee, Rob, that one clarified nothing for me, and I eagerly await the moderators throwing this whole sub-thread off the Chicago Board and onto... But, seriously, one must drink with one's food and a well-matched beverage can enhance the experience. Wine, IMO, is the most complex and interesting beverage, and it contains alcohol, always a plus for me. So it works nicely with many foods, though beer, various cocktails, soft drinks, and water each have their place (add anything else you wish including juices, hard cider-always wonderful with crepes, etc.). Even the French do not insist that wine is what one always have with food, they just know the right thing to do, in their opinion anyway. But, yes, the orthodoxy is that fine dining goes with fine wine, and that does come from France, where "fine dining" really was "invented." I cannot wait to be skewered for that statement, have at it, but that is how it worked out for a long time, Escoffier = fine dining. Admittedly, we are way beyond that, viva Chilpancingo! Anyway, why does it matter whether some people think "fine dining" should be fine wine-friendly? It is not necessarily an uninformed position. And serving wine flights that are well thought out/well matched, interesting and well priced is a good thing with any cuisine. On the other hand, as previously stated, if slightly tongue in cheek, a $100 meal that pairs best with Schweppes Ginger Ale (or perhaps the French Pain Hache, half beer, half lemonade soda?) is deserving of comment. Both by us, the eminently reasonable, and others with a great bias towards the wine lobby (Free interstate shipping now!!!!). Now, to return briefly to Trio, it is a cuisine that defies the tried and true rules for matching with beverages. And while I am not seriously suggesting the meal would have matched best with soda pop, a good selection of artisanal hard ciders, root beers, ginger beers, perhaps even mead, etc., might be interesting, methinks, particularly with a touch of alcohol in some or all. How about if we go into business making astisanal hard horchata? I bet we can get Rick Bayless to do the ads and serve the product. Forgive me, I babble, d Sat Oct 18 00:18:08 -0700 2003 619778 0 dickson d 10 619813 For what its worth, the old fashioned, yet not as old fashioned as it once was, deli-ish, Fanny's, on Clark has about the best and most interesting selection of soda pops. If one was looking for an artisinal root beer or key lime soda, here is a good place to start. Rob Sat Oct 18 07:18:33 -0700 2003 619804 0 Vital Information 11 619814 I woke up too early. As soon as I posted the place as "Fanny's", I knew I had it wrong. The place with the great pop selection (and some pretty good sandwiches) is Frances, 2552 N. Clark. Sat Oct 18 07:34:01 -0700 2003 619813 0 Vital Information 12 619884 What are the best things to get at Frances'? My breakfast there was uninteresting, done just as well or better by LeSabre, Jeri's Grill, Alps East, and other such places, so I assume I'm better off aiming for lunch. Will Frances' Deli make a burger an honest medium rare? If not, what else is worth checking out? Mon Oct 20 12:30:38 -0700 2003 619814 0 Bob S. 1 619685 Great review. I'd just like to add that I ate at Trio earlier this year (in May) and that 80-90% of these dishes are new. Not only is Trio breaking ground, but it's continuing to change and evolve. I think it deserves credit for that too. And my meal may not make it into my top 3 meals this year - but Trio may well be at the top 'to try again'. No, I wouldn't eat there every month, but I'd recommend going (with an open mind) for the excitement. Thu Oct 16 11:46:47 -0700 2003 619610 0 estufarian 2 619702 I meant to say this yesteday when I first read Missy's report, but I was wondering if Trio was using this slow, night before the big anniversary dinner, as kind of a experiment night for potential dishes. It seemed, from the dinner review, that there was a fair amount of new attempts that night. Thu Oct 16 15:00:10 -0700 2003 619685 0 Vital Information 3 619710 While Trio's cuisine is constantly changing, I sampled all the dishes described except for the following when I visited in mid-August 2003. Therefore, except for the dishes described below (as to which I have no sense of their creation date), the dishes are not in the earliest experimental phase: Not sampled: -- Dungeness crab with coconut milk and 10 bridging garnishes came next. I suspect this is a relative of the balloon mozarella dish, with respect to the sphere of coconut milk replacing the mozarella component. Chef Achatz has deconstructed a typical Thai dish involving crab, instead of the mozarella/basil/cucumber combination in the balloon dish. -- Puffed lobster cracker with scrambled lobster coral. -- Pheasant poached "sous vide" -- Huckleberry soda with five gelees: This I've had, but with a black plum soda, with gelees of celery, rosemary, smoke, hibiscus (chocolate for my dining companion) and walnut (as opposed to your sweet corn, sage, smoked cream, milk chocolate, and pine nut). Also, if huckleberry was the soda, what fruit was below the five gelees supporting them (huckleberry or something more amenable to being cut into slices)? -- “Alien invasion”. A spherical ice pop of sweetened hibiscus tea appeared. Although the hibiscus tea flavor might be new, the icicle is not (I think I received lavendar) Thu Oct 16 16:48:48 -0700 2003 619702 0 cabrales 1 619690 "I wouldn’t mind shelling out $162 (price for one 8-course meal with 1 glass of wine, tax, and 20% tip) for meal of consistently exquisite taste, but in this meal there too many not-really-exquisite tastes to justify such a bill." Hmm -- I'm trying to better understand this comment. May I ask what you were expecting to pay at Trio, and what you have paid for lengthier tasting menus at other places in Chicago? Thu Oct 16 12:29:02 -0700 2003 619610 0 cabrales 1 619726 Missy, your's is one of the best reviews/essays that I've read on Chowhound in three years. I really appreciate your taking the time to share this with us. Your comments also lead to the philosophical discussion of just what constitutes a great meal? For many El Bulli is not an experience that tastes good. Rather it is an adventure, exploring different kinds of sensorial experiences. For myself part of a sensorial experience is the abiliy to smile after I have swallowed. I think many on this and other boards are in awe of the directions that some chefs are taking us with little regard for what these directions actually TASTE LIKE. I, personally, don't think this is about exploring taste. For me it is about exploring taste that tastes good. If I wanted sensorial experiences that will make my mouth pop then I can drink Tabasco and follow this with buttermilk. Perhaps top this with a bite of celery for crunch. And then some peanut butter to smooth this over. I'm not certain that a lot of ambitious, imaginative chefs really understand this. If they are going to lead us into an area where we explore new sensations of taste, comparisons of texture and varying dimensions of warm glow from the afterburn of something really energetic and sensorially awakening then, please, will someone tell these same chefs that this must be something that tastes good. It must be something that I want to taste and swallow...again. Don't let anyone intimidate you, Missy. With the ability to write and the ability to experience as you've shown there is no one on this board or anywhere else that is a better judge for the meal you had. I also think the number of empty seats in Trio's dining room speaks for itself. Thank you again. Thu Oct 16 20:41:08 -0700 2003 619610 0 Joe H. 1 619728 I'm recalling a previous thread where I believe you were seeking guidance in finding alternatives to taking a cab from the Hilton to Trio. What did you end up doing and how did it go? I ask only because others from 'out of town' (and heck, even 'in towners') may have similar questions in the future and could benefit from your experience. Thanks for taking the time to write up your Trio experience. I'd have to say I imagine I'd find the cold consomme somewhat off-putting, too. Thu Oct 16 22:03:38 -0700 2003 619610 0 Kman 2 619731 Thanks for inquiring about my other eating. I did ask for some advice a couple of weeks ago and actually did follow some of it! Harold's Fried Chicken had to top the list. It was right behind the Sheraton so an easy walk. I guess it could be a little-off putting for some as the doorway and walls are a bright lime green accented with flourescent lights and, when I entered, it quickly becasme apaprent that white people in Chicago don't hang out at Harold's. Obviously they don't get it, then! Because that was THE BEST fried chicken I've ever wrapped my lips around. I just got four wings becasue I was on the way to Thai Spoon right next door for dinner, but I ended up at Harolds for about an hour. I met a reallly nice woman about my age picking up dinner with her 10-year-old daughter, and entered into a spirited "best pizza in Chicago" debate with a partially-toothless older guy peddling tabloids and a well-dressed middle-aged man with more than a few gold chains hung about his beefy neck. A gangly teenage boy wearing droopy basketball shorts on his butt and a midriff-baring lass on his arm put in his two cents worth, too, addressing me as "M'am" (the toothless guy called me "Miss" though, when he wasn't hacking up chicken crumbs into his whiskers. So I liked him despite the cough.) So anyway, the chicken... I have to admit that usually I only eat the drumette part of the wing, but this time I not only sucked off every bit of flesh and skin, I had to slap myself mentally to keep from grabbing an abandonded piece of skin off the nice little 10-year-old girl's plate. Alas, my follow-up meal at Thai Spoon was merely OK, but the rice noodle, chicken and veggie dish did perk up a bit with the addition of lots of lime and hot sauce. They serve a mango buble tea frozen latte that's quite good, though! It's like a mildly mango flavored soft-serve milkshake with the big fat chewy pearls lurking in the bottom. One place I don't recommend is Basai Thai in the Nordstrom's shopping building on Michigan Ave. I think the only flavor they understand there is sugar. So I think I need anotehr Chicago meeting, as I've been there twice now and still have had not one slice of pizza or hot dog! Thu Oct 16 23:13:30 -0700 2003 619728 0 Missy 3 619750 Missy, glad you had the chance to try Trio and the anti-Trio! I just want to point out, for someone reading along, that you are talking about the Harold's right behind the Chicago Hilton (a/k/a the Conrad Hilton), not anywhere near the Chicago Sheraton. Also, when you say Thai Spoon, are you talking about the much beloved Spoon Thai on Western or some other place? Rob Fri Oct 17 10:00:08 -0700 2003 619731 0 Vital Information 4 619857 Sorry 'bout the location mixup. I stayed at the Sheraton LAST month! This is the Harold's behind the HILTON! I don't know about the Thai place. I wondered that myself. The name is defininitely Thai Spoon NOT Spoon Thai, and from the food, I can't imagine it's The Beloved. Maybe more like The Just Somewhat Likable. Sun Oct 19 20:56:39 -0700 2003 619750 0 Missy 3 619768 That might be the worst Harold's in the city (at the very best, it's the worst I've been to), so the fact that you were able to enjoy it speaks volumes about the true Harold's product. I went at lunch time on Monday, having a midday shack-attack here on the near-north side, and was thoroughly disappointed. It occured to me immediately that there wasn't enough business to keep things constantly fresh out the fryer, and that indeed proved to be the case. Additionally, the help, while not behind glass, seemed unaware what a regular half was (they have a different name apparently - "mixed half") and did an awful job with sauce application. While extra sauce is usually soaked up by the bread, here, the bread comes on the side, and by the time it came to me, the sauce had already ruined the texture of the skin. As for the crowd, it was a couple of punky looking Columbia College kids (both white), and a couple of bums. Although less accessible to the Hilton, I would recommend the location on 71st east of Jeffrey, or the one on Cottage and 64th for future visits. I also remember a location close to the Greyhound station west on Harrison -- anyone know if that's still around? It might be worth a try for those of us who are downtown/north. Fri Oct 17 14:08:09 -0700 2003 619731 0 Andy O'Neill 4 619769 I'm not sure that one is still there. But there is one on Adams, just west of Clinton and another one on Wells somewhere around Washington. The one on Wells is my favorite downtown location. Fri Oct 17 14:24:28 -0700 2003 619768 0 Bacchus 1 619745 Missy Grant A is not the only one capable of a Tour de Force, what an incredible post. Enjoy, Gary Fri Oct 17 08:48:07 -0700 2003 619610 0 G Wiv 2 619816 How long has Trio been in business? Sat Oct 18 09:24:37 -0700 2003 619745 0 Chuck 3 619826 10 years, but the current chef has been there only for about 3. Sat Oct 18 16:33:04 -0700 2003 619816 0 Aaron D 1 619902 Re: "Dungeness crab, coconut milk, ten bridging garnishes" This dish is of course without a doubt very much Chef Grant's own, thought-out in meticulous detail to resonate with the other "themes" (visual, symbolic etc) that run through his tasting menu. So you have the idea of the sphere, which occurs elsewhere (i.e. in the mozzarella balloon and so on) as well as this play of the notion of container/contained. The exploration of whole versus parts also figures very prominently in this presentation. The poetic/ritualized breakdown of an individual dish into component parts has its inspiration in one of the Adria brothers' most celebrated inventions: el plat de les especies. There are now innumerable "realizations" of the concept (and below I will describe one variation that found its way to Chicago a few years back), but as recorded in Albert (Ferran's brother) Adria's LES POSTRES D'EL BULLI (The Desserts of El Bulli, p142), it is green apple jelly (the picture on the book presents a pea-soup green color) on which 12 different "spices" have been arranged to form the hands of a clock. Thus, in the 12 o'clock position, you find a tiny leaf of mint, at 1 o'clock, a pinch of grated nutmeg, at 2 curry powder, at 3, two strands of saffron, at 4, cardamon, at 5, powdered Szechuan peppercorn, at 6, powdered vanilla bean, at 7, ginger (picture seems to be that of a sliver of candied ginger), at 8, cinnamon, at 9, a whole pink peppercorn, at 10 and 11, anise and juniper. (The above is the specific order listed in the recipe). One cannot describe the breathtaking brilliance of the poetic notion embodied in this dish. It proposes nothing less than a whole phenomenology of time, of memory and of tasting. As the diner ("comensal" in the Catalan original) works through each discrete spice or "taste" in the order of the clock, s/he is also simultaneously unravelling time, and memory. As each "pure" spice/element is introduced unto the palate, a sequence in time opens up, but this sequence is continuously being altered and warped as personal memories begin to reverberate and undergo transformation. The dish sets the stage for a deeply individual reenactment of a Proustian moment. When Jose Andres (Jaleo, Zaytinya in Washington D.C.) collaborated with Tru on a special dinner a few years ago, he perplexed the sommelier by asking him to list down on paper all the attributes commonly found in a certain wine. (I was not at this dinner but I vaguely remember that the "play" is on "Chardonnay".) He then proceeded to recreate the taste-memories and sensations associated with that wine by presenting (as in the Adria dessert above) a bit of apple, a bit of vanilla, a bit of melon, a bit of butter... The Achatz dish clearly owes its structure/conceptual integrity to the Adria's poetic gesture. Separate elements that we vaguely associate with the rubric "Thai" are dispersed throughout this dish. We pick through each one, working our way through the sensations and resonances each brings out in our memory... Chef is doing some of the bravest rethinking of cuisine in this country right now. Henry Adaniya should also be commended for taking such a huge risk with this kind of experimentalism. It is very important at this point that Chicago strives to understand what it is exactly that Chef is achieving here. It would be a terrible shame if this kind of creativity could not continue to have a voice, or a venue. Richard T. Mon Oct 20 16:07:00 -0700 2003 619610 0 RST 2 619980 I have to say that this is the first description/discussion/elucidation of what goes on at Trio that really piqued my interest rather than my funnybone. I tend to resist the notion that the language of high literary or art criticism can be applied to cooking, however finely honed the skill, without immediately courting absurdity. The crossing of the line into self-satire seems to come very quickly, leaving me shaking my head and wondering about a class of people with that much money and time on their hands. Yet, everything you described and then expanded upon made intriguing sense to me. Made me want to actually try and consider other ideas/possibilities. It suggests the fabulous (in the literal and figurative senses) complexities of the illuminations in medieval manuscripts with the main text as primary ingredient and Achatz' treatment of it as marginal commentary/illumination. It also invoked the seriousness of, say, the Japanese tea ceremony which is truly meaningful and does not make one think, "Oh for God's sake, just pour the tea." Imagine trying to create something as serious as the tea ceremony, more or less from scratch (culturally speaking), and getting people to take it seriously within the unavoidable context of a purely commercial transaction (Restaurant = I pay money; you cook me some food.) This is truly quixotic endeavor. Thanks. Thu Oct 23 12:15:54 -0700 2003 619902 0 mrbarolo