Last Weekend in Chicago....

Fabulous food in the windy city. Strange seafood to order online. A vintage menu....

“Please don’t mention that other city again,” Chicago’s garrulous mayor admonished Marcus Samuelsson who was hosting the James Beard Awards last weekend.

Which reminded me of the (possibly apocryphal) origin of the term “Windy City.” Many attribute the term to Charles Dana, editor of The New York Sun who groused in an angry editorial that Chicago had snatched the World’s Fair of 1893 away from his home town simply because their politicians refused to stop talking.

The truth is that, in the meteorological sense Chicago isn’t all that windy. Boston, Buffalo, Dallas, Oklahoma and Milwaukee are all windier; in fact, Chicago isn’t even among the top ten windiest cities in America.

And there certainly wasn’t much wind last weekend. The sun shined onto the lake as people piled onto boats to float through the city’s astonishing architectural landscape. They went to Millenium Park to listen to the blues (Buddy Guy headlined). They packed into the Art Institute to stroll through Georgia O’Keeffe’s My New Yorks show.

But what they did, above all, was eat.

And I happily joined them.

My odyssey began at Alinea, an always-exciting show, which began with fire and ended in a storm of ice. 

In between were 14 stunning courses: some almost unimaginably complicated, others filled with surprises. Uni ice cream!

Here’s the menu

I’ve written, extensively, about my love for Alinea, so I’m going to focus on two wonderful restaurants which were entirely new to me.

Dinner at Asador Bastian begins with a presentation. First the fish, all imported from Spain. Those giant red carabiniero shrimp were at least twice the size of any I’ve seen before. (Simply grilled they were stunningly delicious.) Next to them are percebes - gooseneck barnacles - which are rarely seen on American menus. Not to mention the turbot and the sole.

Then there are the steaks… the widest range I’ve ever been offered. Here’s a little tutorial.

And that is just for starters.

Caviar churros….

The best Spanish tortilla... Three simple ingredients have never seemed more seductive.

Mashed potatoes laced with bone marrow…

Gooseneck barnacles, simply steamed. The speckled part is shell, and there’s a sheath over the meat, which you simply pull off. These are so delicious - like the finest clams you’ve ever tasted- that I’m going to go out on a limb and predict they will soon have their moment.

Grilled turbot.

Arroz cremoso - halfway between risotto and paella and totally delicious.

Just the first of the long parade of desserts. It was too much food (there were ten of us), but to say this is a dinner I won’t soon forget would be an understatement.

If you want to see my moment of glory at the James Beard Awards, here it is.

There was, of course, a great food-filled after-party, but what I wanted right then, what I needed, was to sit down, have a quiet dinner and reflect on what had just happened. Problem: at 10 o’clock on a Monday night Chicago doesn’t have much to offer a hungry diner.

“Try Au Cheval,” a friend said, “they’re open until 11:15 and there won’t be a line at this time of night.”

But there was a line, and when I put my name on the list the hostess told me she couldn’t guarantee we’d get in before the kitchen closed. Desperate, I pulled out my medal. “I just won a James Beard award,” I pleaded. She was not impressed. She dutifully took my phone number and suggested we get drinks at one of the bars across the street. Maybe, she said, we’d get lucky; maybe a table would open up, maybe she’d give me a call.

Disconsolately we trudged across the street to wait. Then we spied Girl and the Goat. The kitchen had just closed, the hostess told us, and she couldn’t give us a table. Again I tried pulling out my medal; again the hostess was unimpressed. “You have to admit,” I said as the hostess led us to seats at the bar, “it’s pretty funny.”

We settled onto our stools, and as the bartender poured our drinks he looked at my son and asked “Did she really win a James Beard award?”

Nick nodded.

“Very cool,” he said, “what for?”

Suddenly the man disappeared into the kitchen. Suddenly the bar was covered with dishes. And all of it was truly wonderful.

I was hungry and extremely grateful, but I thought this roasted pig face was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted. Think fantastic shredded head cheese -topped with a fried egg and tossed with crunchy little potato sticks. It’s a sassy dish, sparked with tamarind, maple, wine and cilantro and it swirled through my mouth, a little symphony of flavors and textures. I can’t stop thinking about.

I loved this halibut with blueberry nuoc cham, miso and almonds too. These are powerful flavors used so intelligently and with such originality. Eating it I thought how dull halibut can be - and how exciting this was.

And a kickass asparagus salad.

The kitchen even came up with a celebratory little dessert.

I can’t wait to go back. Next time I won’t be late.

If you’d like to try Gooseneck Barnacles (and I highly recommend that you do), you can buy them online at Browne Trading Company. Hand-harvested in the wild in Portugal, they’re shipped in, still alive, on Tuesday nights. Properly stored they will last 5-7 days.

We’re in Chicago, so here’s a vintage menu from another local favorite. I think this is from 1997 (guacamole and chips is $15 on the current lunch menu).