{"id":23331,"date":"2014-09-05T18:57:03","date_gmt":"2014-09-06T01:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endoedibles.ifm.yji.mybluehost.me\/?p=23331"},"modified":"2014-10-04T14:23:23","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T21:23:23","slug":"boka-chicago-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/?p=23331","title":{"rendered":"Boka, Chicago IL"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Boka<\/p>\n

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Nothing Gold \u2013 Ketel One, Fernet-Branca, Cherry, Lime, Bitters \/ Bee\u2019s Knees \u2013 Beefeater, Honey, Lemon<\/p>\n

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Asparagus Veloute with Aromatic Oils<\/p>\n

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Salted Pretzel Roll, Olive Loaf, House Churned Butter<\/p>\n

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Heirloom Carrots – pistachios, amaranth, smoked goat cheese<\/p>\n

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Foie Gras Terrine – gooseberries, hazelnuts, vadouvan, brioche<\/p>\n

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Ricotta Gnudi – hazelnuts, morcilla, raisins<\/p>\n

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Summer Squash & Tomato – burrata, pickled watermelon, sesame, olives<\/p>\n

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Salt Cod Ravioli – corn, arugula, radish<\/p>\n

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Roasted Peking Duck Breast – peach, celery root, fermented black beans<\/p>\n

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Seared Scallops – corn, morcilla, sea urchin broth<\/p>\n

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Roasted Chicken – fennel, radicchio, pistachio, brioche<\/p>\n

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Coffee & Mascarpone \u2013 Hazelnut, Elderflower, Honey<\/p>\n

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Roasted Peaches \u2013 Olive Oil Cake, Buttermilk, Pecan Ice Cream<\/p>\n

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Chocolate Ganache \u2013 Caramelized White Chocolate, Plum, Pistachio Ice Cream<\/p>\n

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Coconut Rice Pudding \u2013 Tres Leches, Lime, Cassis Sorbet<\/p>\n

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Peppermint Paddys<\/p>\n

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Missing out on Lee Wolen\u2019s tenure at The Lobby due to Chicago traffic during my last visit I was absolutely thrilled when I heard the young chef had landed at Boka in early 2014, the longstanding resident of restaurant \u2018to-do\u2019 list immediately vaulting to \u2018must visit\u2019 status on the night before my sister\u2019s big day. Known best, perhaps, as the restaurant next to Alinea but more than once nabbing a Michelin Star of its own under previous chefs our arrival at Boka was a surprisingly simple affair with both reservations and traffic proving far less a hassle than one would expect and seated on entry at a large four-top amidst an open dining room with amusing d\u00e9cor it was to professional yet playful service that our night would unfold \u2013 the four course tasting that followed featuring a dozen plates in which nary a flaw could be found. Truly someplace to explore, the restaurant itself featuring an entirely different experience in the dimly-lit bar as compared to the more organic main room, the same can certainly be said of Wolen\u2019s late summer menu and with an opening volley of creamy soup followed by the first of many rounds of bread the a theme quickly emerged, each plate a colorful m\u00e9lange of immaculate produce manipulated just enough to yield peak flavors while herbs and spices joined in to accent equally well executed proteins. Already having stated that each dish was excellent but choosing to focus on a few favorites the best bites of the meal were delivered in a duo of delicate pastas and as much as I loved the creamy brandade it was the soft gnudi that stole the show, each buttery morsel smoky from the blood sausage yet focused by underlying nuttiness while the raisins natural sweetness occasionally came to the fore. Obviously renowned for his chicken, the crisp skin reapplied to sous-vide breast with buttery cracker stuffing and equally impressive with caramelized scallops bathed in an umami-laden broth it was finally in a quartet of sweets that the evening would culminate and although each one was impressive in both concept and complexity the focus again fell squarely on flavors, the subtlety of creamy rice pudding acting to meld sweet cream to bright citrus particularly memorable though the southern-themed peaches and pralines was also brilliant, a light note of buttermilk keeping sweetness in check while the cake literally melted on the tongue.<\/p>\n

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RECOMMENDED: Every single item we ordered was nothing short of impressive, Chef Wolen showing a keen eye in pairing seasonal vegetation with perfectly prepared proteins while desserts, too, were quite strong.<\/p>\n

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AVOID: Missing Chef Wolen during this next-step of his career \u2013 the young man is undoubtedly likely to find a restaurant of his own someday soon.<\/p>\n

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TIP: Having mentioned the bar vs. the main dining room above, those sensitive to noise while dining are well advised to request a seat in the later \u2013 the same music playing throughout the space is approximately 3x louder in the more casual half of the restaurant, though the main menu is served throughout.<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.bokachicago.com\/<\/p>\n

\"Boka

Boka Nothing Gold \u2013 Ketel One, Fernet-Branca, Cherry, Lime, Bitters \/ Bee\u2019s Knees \u2013 Beefeater, Honey, Lemon Asparagus Veloute with Aromatic Oils Salted Pretzel Roll, Olive Loaf, House Churned Butter Heirloom Carrots – pistachios, amaranth, smoked goat cheese Foie Gras … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1973,7,96,28,13,45,27,153,97,61,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boka","category-bread-basket","category-chicago","category-coffee","category-dessert","category-foie","category-food","category-ice-cream","category-illinois","category-pork","category-vacation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23331"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23374,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23331\/revisions\/23374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endoedibles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}