Restaurant week in Chicago gave us the opportunity to go to one of the city's best-known restaurants - Blackbird. For those not familiar with restaurant week, various eateries in Chicago (I don't know if it happens in other cities, I assume it must do) do a 3-course prix-fixe menu for $32, which ought to allow the discerning diner to sample their food at reduced rates - our food costs would have almost doubled had we paid the full price for our dishes. In reality, though, you don't really save much as one tends to think that one can spend more on wine as a result.
The restaurant: Quite small, minimalist decor (which I like) and brightly-lit (though I did have dilated pupils following a visit to the eye doctor, which probably affected my judgement), and unfortunately not very intimate. In fact the only way it could be described as intimate is the way they allow you to get intimate with your neighbours, since there is only about a foot between the tables. If you look at their website, I'm sure that they have taken out a couple of tables for the main picture to give you a different impression. We had the first seating at 5pm though (the only time we could get in - not necessarily a bad thing though, as it allows for extra time for consumption for the rest of the evening) which meant that the place was pretty quiet to start with. BUT... even with the place 80% empty, when another couple came in around 30 mins after we started, they were seated right next to us when there were plenty of other seats they could have had away from anyone - a very strange call IMHO. And later on when it filled up the place was pretty loud. The service was excellent too, our server was attentive without being overbearing, very knowledgeable, and suggested some good wines for us.
The food: the wife had a salad of endives with baby lettuces, potato, basil, dijon, pancetta and poached egg to start; beautifully presented in an edible basket which the waiter proceeded to destroy for her at the table, I am assured that this was outstanding. I had a charcuterie plate of boudin blanc and veal pancetta with almond yoghurt, fennel, smoked almonds and lobster roe vinaigrette, which was also splendid, the sausage was very good, mild and perfectly-herbed with a lovely aftertaste, the fennel and yoghurt complementing the meats perfectly, and balanced nicely with the acidity of the dressing. The mains: we had sweet potato agnolotti with saffron ricotta, crispy kale and spicy peanuts - excellent, the pasta was sweet and cooked beautifully, and the crispy kale provided a very good textural and flovour balance to the soft pasta, but wasn't too dry or salty; also aged pekin duck breast and sausage with sauerkraut dusted yukons, black raisin and savoy cabbage - splendid, the duck was cooked to perfection and almost unbelievably tender with a thin layer of crispy fat, the herbiness of the sausage complemented the duck's gaminess very well, and the vegetables enhanced the overall richness of the dish. The desserts: a bit disappointing unfortunately; satsuma chiboust with campari, pineapple, semolina, and zingerman cheese ice cream - a bit of a damp squib to be honest, very mild and pretty dull and uninspired, I felt like they had just thrown a few ingredients together without really thinking about it; Manjari chocolate pave with tonka bean ice cream and candied cocoa nibs - this was better, though not exactly earth-shattering, better flavours but it was still a bit simple for the standards that they have set.
The drinks: aperitifs - kir royale (good apparently) and a sidecar (not bad, could have been a little stronger with a little less lemon); an unknown Vouvray, demi-sec - good, no detectable sweetness, melon, citrus, honey and good acidity, worked well with the charcuterie plate; 2007 Domaine Tempier, Bandol - a very interesting wine, almost completely Mourvedre with a tiny bit of Grenache and Syrah (a rare cepage) from a kind of cult producer in Provence. Mourvedre, being a very tannic wine, ages very well, so a 2007 is extremely young to drink, but I'd never tried it so was talked into it by the sommelier. It was decanted immediately, and it definitely needed it, it was still not really opening up after an hour - in fact any time I wasn't stuffing food into my mouth I was swirling the wine in my glass trying to get it to do just that. And then exactly on cue, as soon as we started our mains, it did its thing and opened up. This is definitely a food wine, as soon as we were eating the fruit came through and it underwent a complete metamorphosis. The red fruit was there, along with a lovely earthy, almost gamey, flavour, which turned out to work extremely well with our mains. I thought it might overpower the duck, but the richness of the other ingredients meant that was not the case. I am definitely pleased I have tried this now, but I would love to try a 20-year-old one. Unfortunately those ones are pretty expensive. Dessert wines: 2003 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume - not bad, citrus, orange, honey, tropical fruit, a medium finish but lacking a bit of acidity which leaves it a little flabby (possibly to do with the heatwave of 2003), pretty good with the satsuma chiboust though, as neither was too rich; a NV Bugey Cerdon Sparkling Rose to go with the chocolate, a very interesting choice, from the Savoie region of France, a blend of 80% Gamay and the rest local varieties; slightly sweet, mainly apple fruit on nose and palate, crisp acidity, very refreshing - the surprise wine of the night for me, unexpected and very good.
So the overall dining experience: The food - excellent apart from desserts; wine list - good, though not too many older vintages; portion sizes - not too big; decor - minimalist; atmosphere - lively; service - excellent. I would definitely go back, would be interested in a tasting menu. Don't go if you want a romantic experience, as your neighbouring tables will be able to laugh at you as you tell your date what great assets he/she has.
A quick comment on that extensive but entertaining wee report - a restaurant that on that basis sounds well worth checking out but a couple of reactionary and briefly considered points I would like to make - first of all what the hell was the sommelier doing recommending an 07 Tempier Bandol - this is one of the finest wines of the Province and desperately needs some age (their rose is also undoubtably one of the best in the world and also needs some age) and admitedly i've only ever tasted the 98 - which was splendid, getting there but still too young, so serving the 07 I can only image to being a crime - no no no - with that somewhat vitriolic criticism I would be very interested to check out the Bugey Cerdon and chocolate match if it was as succesful as you say - always on the lookout for good matches with chocolate as a consistently difficult monkey to play with (on that note if you can find the Italian sparkling red Braida d'Aqui from Piedmonte, its a great random fall back plan for chocolate pairing)- anyway I should'nt criticise a sommeliers selection without being in-situ as I know how - how - how difficult - how - NO, sod it, recommending an 07 Tempier Bandol is bloody reckless and they obviously have stock issues - idiot - so there
Posted by: Nahthern | Sunday, 28 February 2010 at 19:55
Point of interest, the 98 tasted in late 08 by the way - for those anoraks that are paying attention - really I suspect no one is really paying any attention to that point - by the way
Posted by: Nahthern | Sunday, 28 February 2010 at 20:07
You are right, I probably shouldn't have let him give me that Tempier, but I was intrigued. And your second comment - very dull...
Posted by: Fatboy | Sunday, 28 February 2010 at 20:20
That stings
Posted by: Nahthern | Monday, 01 March 2010 at 13:37