High-profile restaurants have been opening in an unceasing succession lately, but none has been as keenly anticipated as Laurent Gras’ dreamy undersea sanctum L2O or Graham Elliot Bowles’s refuge from the corporate lockup at Avenues, Graham Elliot.
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Architecturally, the latest Lettuce Entertain You project evokes a twilit submarine fantasy world where the creatures at the top of the food chain are rewarded with the finest little fishies, many shipped at great expense from where they’re pulled from Japanese waters (see your check) and all prepared using an integrated battery of classic techniques and modern innovations. One could go on and on listing the ways L2O has advanced the cause of eating in Chicago. There’s the in-house bread (and butter) program, featuring a half dozen varieties, the ultimate achievement among them the buttery, light anchovy brioche I’d devour even if they were attached to fishhook and line. There’s the 26-year-old sommelier prodigy Chantelle Pabros, whose unguarded passion for her selections is breathtaking (ask her about the sakes). There’s the flawlessly professional service that’s simultaneously relaxed and relaxing. And then there are the chef’s creations. Whether you order the four-course prix fixe menu ($110) or the dozen-course tasting menu ($165), the progression begins with raw courses and moves on to warm and cooked ones in increasingly dramatic presentations. (There are also “singular” items available a la carte.)
Unlike the new guy, the cherubic, down- to-earth Bowles is a known quantity, a homeboy (more or less) who helped make Chicago a draw for chefs like Gras. Now at Graham Elliot, hasn’t he earned the freedom to crank his iPod, outfit his staff in T-shirts and Chucks, and cook with Cheez-Its and ironic cheap beer? Big windows, wood pillars, and exposed brick and ductwork mark this declaration of independence, but there’s a thread of narcissism woven throughout the place that becomes distracting.
omnivorous
2300 N. Lincoln Park West, 773-868-0002
217 W. Huron, 312-624-9975
