So what did you eat?

jesteinf wrote:So what did you eat?

And was it crowded..........

It was less crowded than last year, whatever internet boomlet made Avec the place for Super Bowl avoidance last year has blown over, but there was a fullish house which nevertheless had room to put their coats on adjacent chairs. No doubt because of the lack of the usual hordes, service was relaxed and extremely friendly, we had nice chats with everyone from the hostesses to sous chef Justin Large (who was in the mulefoot pig Sky Full of Bacon podcast and remembered me).

The menu had recently changed over so everything we had except the charcuterie was new:

• Olives. Best olives I've had since Spain. Great olive oil for soaking up, too.

• Charcuterie-- we got sopressata, another similar-looking large salami, coppa (very nice if less funky than Mado's), and a smaller spicy salami. This is less of a novelty than it was a couple of years ago on the local restaurant scene, and certainly more expensive than similar things at Mado or other places, but it still remains a first-rate plate of housemade stuff, and we hung onto the wine-tinged mustard that came with it for later use (even though we didn't use it on the charcuterie, which it would have totally overpowered).

• Pork shoulder-- Justin recommended two main dish type things, the first a crock with a hunk of pork shoulder braised in a winey sauce with garlic sausage, a couple of slices of beef tongue, and assorted wintry vegetables, with a little bit of horseradishy mustard baked on top of the pork. I loved this, the broth was rich and robust and set everything else off really nicely (without making it all taste the same). I highly recommend having this soon.



• "Chicken and dumplings"-- His other recommendation was a dish of crisp-roasted chicken thighs with some livery dumplings, cabbage and other goodies in it. This was quite good too, although I kind of feel like it needed to be an entree-sized portion, the chicken went quickly. Maybe don't order it to share, just get one for yourself.

• Rapini-- a nice special of garlicky rapini.

• Molasses ice cream with espresso and currant shortbread or something like that-- desserts didn't sound that great, compared to the past, and I think we were just so-so (though not meh) on the dessert, partly because the espresso overpowered the fairly subtle molasses ice cream.

All in all, another terrific, solid and hearty meal at one of Chicago's exemplary spots, which I am happy to return to at least one Sunday every January.

Mike G wrote:Pork shoulder-- Justin recommended two main dish type things, the first a crock with a hunk of pork shoulder braised in a winey sauce with garlic sausage, a couple of slices of beef tongue, and assorted wintry vegetables, with a little bit of horseradishy mustard baked on top of the pork. I loved this, the broth was rich and robust and set everything else off really nicely (without making it all taste the same). I highly recommend having this soon.

I just had this dish the other night and loved it as well . . . might even be the best thing I've ever eaten at Avec.

BR wrote:

Mike G wrote:Pork shoulder-- Justin recommended two main dish type things, the first a crock with a hunk of pork shoulder braised in a winey sauce with garlic sausage, a couple of slices of beef tongue, and assorted wintry vegetables, with a little bit of horseradishy mustard baked on top of the pork. I loved this, the broth was rich and robust and set everything else off really nicely (without making it all taste the same). I highly recommend having this soon.

I just had this dish the other night and loved it as well . . . might even be the best thing I've ever eaten at Avec.

I will go so far to say it was, "Good to the last drop!" I didn't leave any liquid in that cast iron pot, which was a really nice serving piece.

Regards,