Fish and absinthe is the unlikely union at the heart of the Savoy, a narrow, nautically decked spot that replaced the ill-fated La Fonda del Gusto, a midscale, BYOB Mexican restaurant that enforced a bizarre restriction on the amount of booze one could carry in. The only things restricting a wide range of alcohol intake at the Savoy—even beyond absinthe—will be the size of your tolerance and budget.
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For now at least the raw bar, which includes composed standards such as ceviche, tuna tartare, and hamachi crudo, as well as crab legs and raw oysters, presents a few inauspicious beginnings. It’s hard to pass on an unusual creature like a geoduck, a phallic-looking longneck clam, but the Savoy’s offering, at $16, is an expensive and miserly portion of this gigantic bivalve, little flaps of flesh whose taste and texture are lost in the sweetness of pickled plum.
There’s a lot room for improvement in the raw department, but there are also quite a few winning dishes elsewhere on the menu. The kitchen does much better with oysters Rockefeller, the spinach studded with guanciale and licked with anise-y Pernod. That’s not the only instance in which the bar’s collection of absinthes is put to work in the kitchen. There’s an outstanding bowl of sunray venus clams in a chorizo, piquillo pepper, and absinthe-spiked broth. These are remarkable shellfish, which turn a vivid striated orange-pink when cooked and are as sweet and plump as they are beautiful. Individually portioned fish such as a pan-seared halibut with a multinational cast of Asian accents (black rice, Chinese broccoli, and blistered shisito peppers) or steaky grilled sturgeon with oyster mushrooms and dessert-sweet creamed corn sauce are accented interestingly. But a whole deep-fried snapper crisped up with rice flour batter and served with chickpeas and smoked eggplant puree spent a few too many seconds in the hot oil.
In general the food at the Savoy could use a lighter touch: less overcooking, oversweetening, and overmanipulating. But the restaurant does execute well in the way its employees relate to its customers. The staff seems an engaging group, all the way on up to Greene, who takes time for genuine interaction with his guests. It’s that kind of personality that endears regulars—who will forgive a place its wrong turns long enough for the staff to straighten them out.
1408 N. Milwaukee 773-698-6925savoychicago.com
