Avenues - another rave

I'd like to add my voice to the plaudits for Avenues. Chef Bowles is a strong new voice on the Chicago restaurant scene. On comparing what we had on Friday with reports from just a few months ago, it is impressive to see that virtually all the dishes are new, although themes are evident.

One tip. We came early and were given a corner table by the window. We had a spectacular view of the Water Tower as the light changed to evening. Try to ask for the table if you make a reservation.

The courses, with a few comments:

Amuse of crab over a shot glass with a lemon mint soda. The crab was simple, and the soda a great palate waker upper.

Lobster with potato confit, vodka and cavier. Another simple dish of pristine lobstar with fingerling potatos, the confit being that they cooked the potatoes in oil. Sprinkled around the edge of the dish was a red powder that tasted like lobster. It was the roe, dehydrated and ground up on a spice grinder. Chef Bowles used this technique in several dishes to reinforce the main flavor.

Pea soup with verbena and beets. The essence of Spring in a cold soup, with beets and a beet powder dusting. A terrific soup.

Fois gras over rice krispie, with yogurt ice cream on rhubarb. This sweet course in the middle of the meal was the only course that was a bit out there. However, the foie gras actually works on the rice krispie, and and the ice cream and rhubarb somehow all come together. Other than this course, however, this is not a Moto, Achatz type of meal.

Risotto with morels, fava beans and frog legs. This may have been the best dish of the night. The earthy mushroom flavor, the fava and the richness of the frog mixed in a supremely buttery risotto.

Scallop over spinich, capers and raisins. One of the two sub-par dishes, the raisins just seemed to overwhelm the scallop.

Marlin with bok choy, maitake mushroom and black rice. A great dish (boy are maitake mushrooms good), but marred by the fact that the fish just wasn't to my taste. Could just be I'm not a marlin fan.

Quail with savory carrot cake and onion chutney. The quail was cooked to perfection, and got even better with the ginger carrot reduction. The other elements just added to this brilliant dish.

Buffalo short rib over grits and chard, with three sauces, one of which was barbeque and one sasafras. This one is beyond my ability to describe. The short rib fell apart when your fork touched it, and the sauces mixed together to make a highly complex take on southern cooking.

First dessert: Banana ice cream, over banana cake with caramel sauce. This was basically the essence of banana, and it was fantastic.

Main dessert: Blueberry almond financier with tarragon ice cream. It all worked, and it's one of the best desserts I've ever had.

Service was very good, although this is one of those places where you're not sure who your waiter was at the end of the evening. The only down note was that the dining room was just over half full most of the evening. This chef needs our support!

Jonah

I just wanted to add an update here regarding Avenues. We are now offering four seperate six course tasting menus to choose from ("Vegetable", "Seafood", "Protein" and "Grand"), as well as our Chef's Palate Menu (9-12 courses). You can view the current spring menus with the following link. We look forward to cooking for you soon.

http://chicago.peninsula.com/pch/pdfs/spring_2005.pdf

Regards,

ChefGEB


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Graham Elliot Bowles
Chef de Cuisine
Avenues
www.gebowles.com