Going Out with a (Very Civilized) Boom!

Adam writes:

Hey everyone! So for those of you who don't know this, my wife is one of the most thoughtful gift givers. This year for Christmas she got us reservations at a restaurant in Chicago called Schwa. Now a little background on this. I read a feature story in GQ Magazine early this year on this place. The short story is that it was hailed as one of the greatest food experiences ever. I was more than smittened, however, reservations are hard to get because they don't pick up the phone and return messages when it is convenient for them. However, Jess decided that she would call them every single day until she talked to someone and could make reservations. So. For Christmas I got reservations at Schwa for two on Jan. 9. And after a few minutes of jumping up and down and giggling like a school girl, I immediately called Ricky. To brag. And explained to him that since Jess had gone to all the trouble of getting the reservations I was taking her instead of him. He was quite sad but he understood and I am happy to say that our friendship has recovered from such a blow quickly and easily. On top of this, Mona and K.C. decided that they didn't want us in the house that night, so they had booked us a room at The Palmer House for Christmas. (Thanks again!)

So. Now we had dinner plans at a fancy restaraunt and a room at a fancy hotel. So I did what seemed the only reasonable thing to do and started making plans to go to a fancy bar in between. That bar was The Violet Hour. It seemed to fit the bill as it was as intensely focused on great cocktails as Schwa is on food, and where Schwa is tough with reservations The Violet Hour doesn't take them but they also don't allow standing room so it can be really tough to get in sometimes. . . like on a Sat. night. So we had our plans for what promised to be one of the best nights out on the town ever.

So we packed an overnight bag and loaded the car and head towards. . .Sandwich! "Why Sandwich?" you ask. Because in Sandwich there were motorcycles, duh! Phil and Lynn Hoffman of Black Magic Customs were hosting there 2nd annual Wicked Wheels Weekends and the only way to make such an awesome day better is to add motorcycles because motorcycles make everyday better. So Jess and I met my folks in Sandwich and spent the early afternoon ogling beautifaul custom builds and chatting with Donny who was there manning a booth for his folks. Then after Mom and Dad spent a good amount of time talking to a painter about pinstriping the trike (can't wait to get those photos in the spring(US)/fall(SA)), they took Jess and I to lunch (Thanks again guys!) and sent us on our way to the city.

We arrrived at The Palmer and got checked in quickly and headed to the lobby so that Jess could take three thousand pictures of it (at this point I will refer you the slide show below that Jess so kindly set up for me) and I could chat with the concierge about the best way to get to Schwa and The Violet Hour. I walked up to the concierge with my list of venues and addresses and he took one look at them and said "Sir, I like where this list is headed". I had made a friend and his name was Phillipe. We quickly sorted out that the L was going to be the way to the restaurant and Phillipe even got on the phone and did that great thing that concierges do where they step to the side and lower their voices so you can only pick out a few words like they are discussing something of national importance with the person on the other end and got us on a list at The Violet Hour (Thanks Phillipe!).

So the rest of this blog will be subtitled "Down The Rabbit Hole We Go". Also at this point the slide show will come in handy as it will follow what I am typing course by course till the end of the evening. When we walked up to Schwa it looked like it had been closed for a few months. Though I loved this effect, Jess started to get nervous. But once we opened the outer door you could see a little bit of a nice restaraunt, like looking through the rabbit hole. (Now you will start seeing what I am getting at with the subtitle.) We were greeted as we walked in and they took our sparkling wine and meritage to prepare for bottle service. As we ordered our three course meals Jess mentioned that we were leaving for the Peace Corps in roughly two weeks. Soon, the sous chef came out to greet us and ask if we had any food allergies (no), if we were adventurous eaters (yes), and if we had time (yes). "So, if we were to just, like , throw some different stuff at you, that would be cool?" (Yes, really f@$&*n cool!) We ended up with nine courses and they are as follows:

Course one was the amuse. One bite to wake up the palate and get you excited about the coming meal. The amuse was an oyster encapsulated in golden raisin topped with warm and salty almond bubbles seasoned with cinnamon and a dab of golden raisin puree. This was the most difficult dish of the evening and had the two of us worried for a bit. The salty sweet of the dish seemed to work opposition of each other until the brineyness of the oyster cut through and brought them together. It definately had our palates awake and on their toes, er, tongues?

Any worries we had after the first course were quickly dispelled by the second course: Red beat rissotto served with an aged spanish cheese sauce, parsnip sauce, horseradish bubbles, edible flowers, and pickled beets. Every component individually was fantastic but when you ate all of them at once is was trancendent. The rissotto was perfectly firm, the beet flavor was clean, and the cheese added a pungent richness to the dish. Now you have to understand, Jess does not like beets or rissotto, and yet her plate was surprisingly clean at the end, as if someone had been licking it.

The third course came out accompanied with a small food history lesson about the origin of apple pie as a savory dish. In an esspresso cup was a savory apple pie soup and it was accompanied by a consome of the herb savory, a salad of light cheese and shaved apples and a section of piecrust with aged gruyere melted on top. Here was another dish where independently the parts were delicious, but together they were magnificent. And the flaky piecrust squares with melted cheese might need to be made at home.

The fourth course was hand-cut tagliatelle pasta in a honey and yuzu gellee with aged Spanish goat cheese, micro arugala, finely minced veal heart, huckleberry, and black truffle. This was my favorite course of the evening. Don't get me wrong, everything was phenomenal, but this I could have eaten everyday for the rest of my life. I want to name one of my children after this dish!

Course number five was a sushi dish with root beer as its theme. Green curry pickled carrots, green curry and rice rolls, rolled in a leaf from South America with root beer characteristics, with mint puree, and sprinkled with flying fish roe, accompanied by a shot of house-brewed root beer and root beer infused soy sauce. Before this dish I had no idea how you could possibly make green curry and root beer harmonious on the plate, but now I know that the answer is mint. Is anybody elses mind blown? Fantastic! And I need to mention that the house-brewed root beer was phenomenol, it was smooth and pepperey.

Course six was kona kampachi with lime gell, daikon, pickeled daikon, and (a thai cousin of ginger that I don't remember the name of) "glass". This was probably the best fish dish I have ever tasted. The fish was lightly seared so it was firm and the glass was delightfully crunchy and the pickled daikon had a real punch to it. Jess continued to nibble on the glass far after her fish was gone.

Course seven was pork swimming in a parsnip broth with beer bubbles, mustard greens, little balls of parsnip and peanut sauce. I don't know if there is really anything more to say about this dish than "pork at Schwa". Cooked to perfection, executed perfectly, and able be be delicate and complex at the same time.

This is where we hit course eight. Now, for those of you who have taken the time to watch the slide show and are observent you will have noticed that there is no picture of this course. Let me tell you a story that explains why. The cook comes to our table and places an olive tray down with what looks to be two more amuses and says, "This is the cheese course. For this course we have a pretzel (I can't remember the name so we'll say) fritter injected with bleu cheese fondue, topped with Red Chimay beer bubbles and mustard skin." Jess and I responded by diving straight in, I enjoying this course in a single bite, and Jess eating half of it. I started to ask what she thought of it and she responded with, "Don't talk to me." After five minutes of silence she ate the other half and then sat in silence a while longer until the taste had completely vanished. Apparently it was so good she needed a personal moment.

The final course was dessert and it was a celery root cake with celery puree, white chocolate, salted caramel and a rum roasted bannana. It was the perfect end to the entire meal. It was the most well composed dish, balancing savory and sweet and adding just the right hint of salty. Really outstanding.

And so our meal ended at Schwa. I know the next few statements will sound like more sarcasim and wit but they are anything but. All of my ideas about food had changed. My definition of delicious was redefined. And my life was forever changed in some small way. It was simply the best meal I have ever had.

So on to the next rabbit hole, The Violet Hour. At the end of some wood paneling that looks like it is housing a storefront undergoing rennovations is a door that is a bit difficult to make out. Through that door is a hallway that is fairly nondescript apart from giant curtains hanging from the ceiling sectioning it off. Matt was there waiting. After talking to a man and handing him a card we were escorted past people who had been waiting for the better part of half an hour and were seated. (Thanks again Phillipe!)

The inside of The Velvet Hour was gorgeous, like a grand ballroom sectioned off by curtains and furniture. The libations were truly magnifecent. They have mastered the alchemy of mixing several boozes together to create great flavor and remove the flavor of alcohol. Between the three of us we had five different cocktails and one after the other was stupendous. I had a whiskey cocktail that is my new favorite and as soon as I figure out the recipe will be my "go to" drink. I had another that made me a believer in gin. Jess had a cocktail that was the most refreshing thing we had ever tasted, like sherbert, only with sparkling wine and rum and liquor. Really amazing stuff.

So folks, that's it. That was our (Very Civilized) Boom! It really was the best way to spend one last night in Chicago before we go. Thanks for reading and we'll be posting again soon.