Avec, Chicago IL

With the weekend’s eating agenda admittedly packed but finally winding to a close and my rescheduled flight now earlier than anticipated it was with great fortune that I found two ready, willing, and able locals happy to show up early on Sunday to dine at Avec – my first opportunity to revisit Paul Kahan, a chef whose food I still remember quite fondly from my visit to Blackbird but a man whose other two big name restaurants, Publican and Avec, had been left on my agenda during recent visits largely because they are the sort of places where a dining buddy is ideal and unfortunately the pork-centric menus failed to appeal to those traveling with me.

Having heard great things about the small restaurant from a number of trusted persons and well aware of the accolades accumulated by the tiny space both before and after the fire as well as the ever present lines flooding into the street when I passed by en route to The Girl and the Goat a year ago and when I walked to what eventually turned out to be dinner at Next the previous evening our arrival to Avec was set to 3:30 – an admittedly early hour to dine but agreeable to all – and with doors opening just moments prior to our arrival the timing was perfect, we were only the second group to arrive and greeted by a friendly hostess our coats (and my luggage) were taken and stored before we were led to a large communal table at the center of the room.

With greetings exchanged and menus handed to us at seating I was surprised to look around the narrow space and find it exactly as it appeared online – varying textures and colors of wood, a meat slicer, the bar, and a wall of bottles really the restaurant’s only decoration while the sounds of light music and the occasional clatter from the kitchen punctuated an atmosphere that would grow increasingly loud as the restaurant began to fill. Seated on what can best be described as boxes and benches we were soon greeted by our server, Joshua, who filled our waters and described the menu’s style suggesting that 2 small plates (or one large) each would likely be more than sufficient and that everything was served family-style for sharing.

With Joshua now departed and leaving us to our decisions we spent a bit of time debating our options and eventually settling on the idea of simply ordering what we each felt sounded best and splitting the tab three ways we motioned to Josh who returned, questioned the amount of food we were ordering as too much, and eventually talked us out of cheeses until the end (“if you’re still hungry”) before returning to the kitchen to place our order. Informed that plates would be arriving in the order in which they were created but largely in three waves it would not be long before the food would start to arrive; each dish at the expected temperature and provided with good description and a surprisingly well timed pace.

For the first dish of the evening and perhaps the most well known of all the dishes on Avec’s menu we would receive “Chorizo stuffed medjool dates with smoked bacon, piquillo pepper tomato sauce, bread” – a dish that not only wrapped perfectly sweet dates with bacon like many tapas restaurants, but also stuffed them with a substantial portion of smoky chorizo. Simple, rustic, and with four to the bowl plus a chunk of warm bread to sop up the smoky sauce I enjoyed this dish just as much as I expected to and even our group member who doesn’t really fancy dates noted that he too found it quite good.

As we finished off the dates our second plate would arrive followed closely by our third. For the second dish, “Warm hen of the woods and shiitake mushroom salad with apple, red quinoa, dill, parmesan, sherry vinaigrette” was pretty much exactly what you would expect and the sweet meets earthy admixture was nicely accented by the sharp points of the parmesan and the acid of the vinaigrette. Always a fan of quinoa I particularly liked how the toothsome grain not only managed to balance everything out, but also how it absorbed a small bit of each flavor making for a wonderful taste even as we reached the bottom of the bowl.

The third item, another Avec classic, arrived on a huge wooden board in the form of “Deluxe focaccia with taleggio cheese, ricotta, truffle oil, fresh herbs” and although I enjoyed everything at Avec that evening this was by far and away my favorite. Taking a different route to the spongy focaccia and serving it essentially as two individual flat breads sandwiching a medium-thick spread of the cheesy blend plus low notes of basil and parsley and heady top notes of truffle I immediately understood why Joshua had suggested we may have ordered too much; this was a whole lot of cheese and bread and we still had four plates to go, but working diligently (and largely on my own) the plate did eventually disappear – every single bite worth it.

Slowly enjoying the focaccia the next two items were certainly not something I would have ordered on my own but much like everything else Avec did that evening there was a beautiful balance to the simplicity of each and although I would not order either again I did enjoy what I ate from each, the first “Roasted Brussels sprouts with calf’s liver, pumpernickel, butternut squash, almonds, mustard vinaigrette” which featured the taste of caramelized sprouts in spades but used the sweetness of the squash and the bitters of the pumpernickel to help tame it a bit. With the liver providing a slightly gritty proteinacious component and the almonds a bit of crunch I was additionally happy that the mustard tones were relegated to a small supporting role, though in later bites towards the bottom of the bowl would prove a bit much for me.

For the second of the items arriving with the sprouts, “Atlantic Salmon with celery root gratin, sweet potato, nutmeg” was pretty much what you would expect from a restaurant of this caliber – a nicely prepared cut of the all-too-boring fish hidden beneath onions and greens but atop a much more interesting “gratin” formed with cheese and sweet potato puree supporting well cooked celery root and tinged with nutmeg and what must have been sugar. Generally blasé regarding salmon and its “fixture” status on so many menus I have to say that overall this was a really strong presentation and one of the best I’ve had in some time.

At this point admittedly comfortably sated but certainly not full the next two plates to arrive would prove Joshua to be quite right in his assessment of our order, the biggest capacity consumer being “Whipped Brandade with garlic bread and chives.” Seemingly harmless in terms of portion but certainly not in terms of richness this take on the Provencal classic brandade de morue was simply astonishing in its careful balance of the salted cod, potatoes, whipped milk, garlic, and what I can only imagine to be an aged cheese plus olive oil. Creamy and smooth as silk but easily a cup and half in portion and served with crispy garlic bread this was another course where I did a lot of the leg (stomach) work and although more than capable of holding my own at a dinner table this was simply a whole lot of dairy in a rather short time (and more than enough to induce a small food-coma/nap at O’Hare while awaiting my plane.)

For our final savory, the main course of the night would be “Wood roasted pork shoulder with chestnut braised cabbage, parsnips, roasted apple, fresh herbs in puff pastry” – a flavor profile no less transporting than the flavors at Next the night before as “Pork Steak and Potatoes” was one of my grandfather’s favorite dishes to cook when he was alive. Arriving in a large Staub pot and sizzling hot from the oven with golden pastry atop and at least half a pound of tender pork beneath the flavors in this dish were all spot on and entirely rustic without being heavy handed or clumsy in the least – a truly impressive dish and all the more so for the unique flavor of chestnuts infusing the broth and acting to foil the flavors of the cabbage.

Not ready to admit defeat but certainly not in the position to consume more cheese my dining partners and I weighed the dessert options carefully and eventually settled on sharing one of the “White chocolate panna cotta with maple figs and walnut shortbread” three ways to see if sweets matched the savories in quality. Generally not one to be “wowed” by panna cotta I will note that although small in size this particular dish did pack a lot of flavor into each bite and through such light use of chocolate the flavors each came through with aplomb, particularly the maple notes atop the sweetness of the figs. While I personally prefer my desserts with a bit more texture this was a nice “light” finish to an otherwise heavy meal.

With the bill presented and shockingly modest when divided by three we paid our tab and thanked the servers and hostess before making our way out of the now nearly full restaurant and to the street outside. Exchanging goodbyes and with plans for future dining already in the works I was additionally lucky enough to have one of my dining friends offer me a ride to O’Hare (a wonderfully kind gesture as I’d planned to ride the subway otherwise) and within the hour I found myself seated at the airport with nearly two hours till boarding – plenty of time for a well needed nap induced by a great meal and an even better trip to Chicago, the next one already in its planning stages and very likely including a trip to Publican.