Seven courses at Pluton

Thursday night we took on Chef Jacky Pluton's fine dining destination, Pluton, for some special occasion dining. Chef Jacky was the chef/owner of Jacky's Bistro in Evanston, an EatChicago favorite. The entire experience at Pluton is as far from bistro dining as you can get. The room is finely appointed, calming, and classy. The menu is designed around tasting menus with four choices: four, five, seven, or ten plates. The smaller choices allow the designer to comprise their own menu, while the seven- and ten-plate options leave you in the hands of Chef Jacky. We chose seven plates along with the sommelier's recommended wine pairings, leaving ourselves completely in the hands of our hosts.

A glass-by-glass and plate-by-plate recap:

Amuse: After polishing of a celebratory glass of champagne, we were treated to a two-plate amuse (not one of our seven plates). A one-bite spring vegetable salad and an oyster with celery in a peanut-butter emulsion. The peanut-butter and oyster was a nice, creative flavor to get the appetites moving.

Maine lobster salad with sea asparagus, pineapple-pear chutney, grapefruit sorbet: The lobster and pineapple was a sweet combination, cool and refreshing with a mild flavor. The delicious, fresh-tasting sorbet was served in a separate flute. Served with a 2000 Riesling Alsace, "Andlau", Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss. Overall an excellent start; bright cool and refreshing.

Plancha-seared foie gras with lemon curd, roasted beets and micro greens. The sweetness from plate one carried through into the lemon curd which made a nice pair with the rich, generous foie gras. A tiny bit of sea salt was seared into the foie gras which really started to introduce stronger flavors into our evening. Buttery and luxurious, this plate was just a start, but already a highlight. Served with a 2002 Gros Manseng, Costes De Gascogne, Domaine du Tariquet.

Fresh and smoked salmon "hure", cauliflower puree, caviar, bagel. I was amused by this nouveau-take on lox, bagel, and cream cheese. The "lox" was a fresh/smoked salmon terrine. The cream cheese was represented in a dollop but carried in texture by the cauliflower puree. The "bagel" was tiny bagel chips served with minced egg. And the traditional capers were replaced with a line of caviar across the terrine. This was a nice dish, but slightly disappointing since it tasted too much like lox and a bagel, which I had for lunch. Served with a NV Joseph Perrier, Brut Rose. The dry champagne was an excellent pairing. I'll pick up a bottle next time I make a run to New York Bagel & Bialy.

Pan-seared tuna, mustard red wine sauce, thai eggplant. The ahi tuna was served studded with licorice sticks (natural, not the candy). We were instructed to chew the stick, remove it from our mouths, and take a bite of tuna. I tried the tuna in this manner and plain, for comparison. The licorice brought out a dramatic change in flavor. While I do think seared ahi tuna is a bit overdone, the presentation and creativity were dramatic with this dish. The licorice, eggplant, and a caramelized banana were strong flavors. Served with a 2000 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, "Homestead Vineyard", Van Duzer.

Our next plate was preceded by the presentation of steak knives, which we chose from a wooden box.

Bone marrow-crusted beef tenderloin, 7 spice reduction, porcini mashed, roasted shallots. We hit the peak of richness with this course. The tenderloin was perfectly cooked and surrounded by rich, complex flavors. The roasted shallot and smooth porcini mashed potatoes were a nice sweet accompaniments. Served with a 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Clos du Val.

All-american artisanal cheese plate. A large cheese cart was brought out from which we chose a selection of goat cheese, blue, camembert. Served with two fantastic chutneys: pear-chili and green tomato and the most delicious wine (and finest pairing) of the evening: NV Porto, Tawny 10 year, Taylor-Fladgate.

Now the parade of desserts: Chocolate tart fondant, raspberry ice couli, a perfect warm chocolate tart with sweet raspberry flavors all around. oven-roasted strawberry, almond soup topped with an almond cookie of some sort (nice, but a bit-player next to the tart. Blueberry-vanilla ice cream The blueberries were a warm reduction over a rich vanilla ice cream. Chef's special tiramisu, didn't taste much like a tiramisu that I've ever had, but the custard at the bottom of the cup was perfect. Desserts were served with a 1996 royal tokaji, tokaji aszu, 5 puttonyos, Hungary and a NV Raspberry Wine, Grayslake, IL, Glunz Family Winery & Cellars. The Hungarian wine was a treat, like nothing I've ever had, and the toast to IL was a super-sweet raspberry brandy.

Next came coffee and a tray of delicious little cookies. Sated and relaxed, the 3-hour meal was coming to an end.

A visit from the chef topped off our evening. The attention and service were of perfect 4-star quality. Attention to every detail. Pluton's creation was truly a treat.

Check out Pluton at 873 N. Orleans, Chicago, 312-266-1440. Be advised, you will pay 4-star prices at Pluton (it was the most expensive meal I've ever had, but worth it).

We ate there this past Saturday night - 10 courses, 4 1/2 hours. It was over an hour before we got our first bite of food.

It was all a bit much. Many of the courses didn't really hang together - they seemed to have one or two extra things per plate that just didn't make sense. Indiscriminate use of truffles for example. Too many ingredients. Like those places that throw sun dried tomatoes into everything, just because. Every course was something that was on the menu. It wasn't like you got something special by ordering the 10 courses, like at the old Trio.

If we were to go back, I would definitely go with 5 or 7 courses only. The size of each course was too big for me to eat more than 1/2. Maybe each thing was 6 or more bites.

By the time we got to dessert we were so full - and then they brought us 6 desserts AND the little tiny cookies, etc. I felt very wasteful.

both posts mention price as a negative. as not everyone has the same frame of reference with respect to affordability, could someone please let me know what I could expect to spend at Pluton?

I realize I could probably find this in Zagat's, but I don't usually trust certain sources on "average meal" costs, since I always seem to spend more than that. I suppose you could say I'm above average in that regard.

Thanks in advance for any response.

a four course prix fixe is $69. I believe the 10 is 109, but don't quote me on that. Beyond that, I'm not sure.

-ed

This past saturday the cheapest option was

5 courses for $99
7 and 10 courses were more, and of course that does not include wine, tip, tax.

all told, for 2 people with tip and tax and wine I think we ended up paying close to $500

We spent $450 or so at Trio 2 years ago and were completely satisfied. It's not the money, it's the value for that money.

leek wrote:It's not the money, it's the value for that money.

Leek,

May I have permission to quote you, often.

I've paid .99c for a burger and thought I'd overpaid and $9.99 for a single shrimp and thought excellent value.

Enjoy,
Gary

To give you an idea, the price of the meal I posted on above, after gratuity was about $450. That's 7-courses for two people with wine pairings for both.

At the time, I wrote that it was worth it. Now that I've had some time to reflect, I would still say that it was worth it but with a tad less enthusiasm. I can still recall the enjoyment of a couple specific dishes and pairings (foie gras w/lemon curd comes to mind as well as the cheese and port pairing), but there is nothing in the food or the experience that makes me clamor to return to Pluton, nothing particularly outstanding that holds up over time. Basically, I'm shifting my grade from an A- to a B+.

By leek's description, which doesn't shock me in the least, Pluton may be resting a bit. When you are given the option to "put yourself in the chef's hands" you expect some creativity that is not presented on the menu, also you expect progression and portion control to be thought of very carefully.

leek, did you meet Chef Pluton that evening? I question whether or not he was actually in the house.

Best,
Michael / EC

leek wrote:This past saturday the cheapest option was

5 courses for $99
7 and 10 courses were more, and of course that does not include wine, tip, tax.

Sounds like quite a price hike. As long as it's worth the cost, though.

thanks for the robust feedback. I totally agree on the topic of value, especially in the example Gary gave.

It sounds to me that Pluton is a quality place, but that better values exist in Chicago at that price point (realizing of course that Trio probably no longer qualifies). My suggestion for what I consider a great value near that price point is Les Nomades. It's a different animal though, from what I can tell. A bit more...(searching for a word w/o negative connotation)...French?

EDIT: mentioning Trio brings up a point of interest to me: when is Alinea now slated to open and what's the holdup? Jan '05 was the orig. delivery date, but I hear they're not even accepting reservations yet.

Gary - I would be honored!

Pluton was there - and went into great detail about the steak place that he'll be opening in Evanston in the Omni Orrington.

We also ordered 2 bottles of wine and asked, if possible, if they could populate our tasting menu with dishes that went with the wine. Nope, that's not how it works. They only do special things if you have allergies (in our case, substituting a different on-the-menu dish due to an allergy of mine)