Prix Fixe
rrr Discreetly located in a town house spitting distance from chef Grant Achatz’s first employer, Charlie Trotter, Alinea is marked only by a valet’s sandwich board at the curb. Inside, a dining room and glass-walled kitchen share the first floor; up a set of glass stairs covered by metal mesh mats are two more small, luxuriously spare dining rooms. The menu has changed since I went there, but the concept remains the same: prix fixe tasting menus of experimental cuisine in 12 ($135) or a daunting 24 ($195) courses; wine pairings add to the bill. Achatz’s initial offerings included bacon mounted on a trapeze and the by-now-notorious PB&J amuse—a peeled grape slathered with peanut butter, wrapped in brioche, and served, with stem, atop a wicked-looking wire contraption. Now the frequently changing menu might include such dishes as Hot Potato, a tiny bowl of chilled potato soup with a pin bearing a chunk of hot potato, Parmesan, butter, and a slice of black truffle; to eat it you slide the pin out so the potato and truffle drop into the soup, then slurp it as you would an oyster. The Alinea experience remains tightly controlled, with specific instructions as to how certain dishes should be eaten. Under less polished conditions this would be annoyingly pretentious, but the soothing rituals of fine dining can take the edge off the edgiest of cuisines. —Martha Bayne
F 8.9 | S 7.6 | A 6.8 | $$ (5 reports)American Contemporary/Regional | Dinner: Sunday, Tuesday-Friday | Closed Monday, Saturday | Open late: Friday till 11 | BYO
Cafe Matou1846 N. Milwaukee | 773-384-8911
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rrr This Bucktown storefront has its little airs—witness the untranslated French preamble on the cover of the wine list. But it also has its comforts: woody decor, pressed-tile ceilings, and chairs right out of your grandfather’s office. Chef Charlie Socher terms his food “cuisine bourgeoisie”—which is to say French, but for the most part without the usual accompanying presumption. The house salad is served simply with a light oil, the liver paté is buttery smooth, and a seafood bourride sings with tarragon. Still, bourgeois or no, it’s all about the sauces, and on this evening (the menu changes daily) rich duck came with a classic pinot noir-green peppercorn number handily sopped up with a Jerusalem artichoke puree. Socher offers a three-course dinner Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday for $23, and every fourth Wednesday is a “cellar raid” with select bottles of wine for $17. —Ted Cox
Carlos and Debbie Nieto have operated this intimate French dining room in Highland Park since 1981. The atmosphere is regal, with handsome dark-wood trim, richly toned fabrics, and elegant porcelain dinnerware. Ramiro Velasquez runs the kitchen, dazzling patrons with the expertise he gained under such powerhouses as Jacky Pluton, Don Yamauchi, Eric Aubriot, and Alan Wolf. A la carte dishes include Hot and Cold Foie Gras—seared Hudson Valley foie gras with grenadine-infused caramelized onions and chilled La Belle Farms foie gras on banana bread with vanilla syrup—and herb-crusted rack of lamb. A seven-course degustation menu ($100) with optional paired wines ($155) is a dining adventure, with appetizers like huckleberry-glazed squab breast with grilled pears and New Zealand venison loin with a smoked-parsnip puree, root vegetables, and a cassis gastrique. (A vegetarian tasting menu can be prepared upon request.) The encyclopedic wine list is mostly French but also offers American, Australian, and German options. On Mondays diners can bring their own wine—there’s no corkage fee—and servers will suggest food pairings from the menu. —Laura Levy Shatkin
F 7.5 | S 7.6 | A 6.8 | $$ (19 reports)American Contemporary/Regional, Global/Fusion/Eclectic | Lunch: Tuesday-Friday; Dinner: seven days | Saturday & Sunday brunch | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11
