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Chicago Restaurant Week is back
again in February. More than 130 restaurants participated this year, which is
more than triple the number that participated last winter when the Chicago
Convention and Tourism Bureau launched the program in 2008.
This is a great winter festival type event where local restaurants offer three-course prix-fixe menu for just $32 during the week.
During the week, we got to try three restaurants we've always wanted to go and at cheaper prices. Among the three, Ai, Coco Pazzo and Le Lan, I liked Le Lan the most.
Le Lan is an elegant, modern River North bistro, which offers an intriguing take on French-Asian cuisine. Under the direction of chef Bill Kim, the restaurant earned a reputation as one of River North's top dining destinations. River North is the area where we live in and the restaurant is just a few blocks away from our place.
The appetizers we had were curried butternut squash soup and soba noodle with eggplant. I love their butternut squash soup.
The main course I had was smoked steak with coconut polenta. Polenta is made with ground yellow cornmeal. It was originally a peasant food. However, since the late 20th century, polenta has become a premium product. Polenta dishes are on the menu in many high-end restaurants, and prepared polenta can be found in supermarkets at high prices. Western polenta is denser, while the eastern one is softer. The taste is very similar to corn grits, which is a common dish in Southern United State. I never liked that taste but surprisingly, I really liked how they made it at Le Lan.
Coco Pazzo
We went to Coco Pazzo on Friday night with Terri, who is one of my Taiwanese coworkers. Coco Pazzo had the reputation as one of Chicago’s best Italian restaurants since its opening in 1991. The restaurant features traditional Tuscan cuisine.
The antipasti I had was a Pear, taleggio, smoked mozzarella tart. The presentation was great but it was a bit too heavy for me as an appetizer to start with.
The appetizer Tze had is from this bar. Terri had some fried calamari to start with.
We all had the grilled pork chop as our main course, which is a big mistake. The pork chop was just too big for me and Terri to finish. And the meat was too dry. I had a few bites and that was enough for me. The brussels sprout came with the pork chop was wonderful. I really liked the strong garlic taste of it.
The vanilla bean custard turned out to be the best course for the night.
The least one I liked among the three we tried during the restaurant week is Ai, a Japanese restaurant.
The atmosphere and decor was great with perfect lighting and I liked the sushi bar is right in the center of the place where you can always see the chefs making makis.
I guess the main reason I disliked the restaurant is their service. To be more specific, the server we had that night was very unfriendly and made our dinning experience horrible. No smiles, no recommendations, unfriendly attitude...
The restaurant prix-fixe menu was for customers to choose one regular maki and one special maki from the main menu along with a fixed appetizer course, Hamachi Carpaccio, thinly sliced yellowtail topped with ceviche, cilantro, and citrus sauce.
I loved the appetizer but their makis were just mediocre. Tze did not order the restaurant menu but ordered some Nigiris instead. He thought the Nigiris are pretty fresh and tasty. He also ordered a Tanuki Udon, which is an inaniwa udon noodles served with shiitake mushroom, green onion, mitsuba, kamaboko, inari age, and tempura crunch. Tze says this is originated in my best Japanese girl friend, Miki's hometown. We both really liked this dish. Maybe we should ask Miki to come with us to try the udon again, and hopefully we will have a nicer server next time.
This is a great winter festival type event where local restaurants offer three-course prix-fixe menu for just $32 during the week.
During the week, we got to try three restaurants we've always wanted to go and at cheaper prices. Among the three, Ai, Coco Pazzo and Le Lan, I liked Le Lan the most.
Le Lan is an elegant, modern River North bistro, which offers an intriguing take on French-Asian cuisine. Under the direction of chef Bill Kim, the restaurant earned a reputation as one of River North's top dining destinations. River North is the area where we live in and the restaurant is just a few blocks away from our place.
The appetizers we had were curried butternut squash soup and soba noodle with eggplant. I love their butternut squash soup.
The main course I had was smoked steak with coconut polenta. Polenta is made with ground yellow cornmeal. It was originally a peasant food. However, since the late 20th century, polenta has become a premium product. Polenta dishes are on the menu in many high-end restaurants, and prepared polenta can be found in supermarkets at high prices. Western polenta is denser, while the eastern one is softer. The taste is very similar to corn grits, which is a common dish in Southern United State. I never liked that taste but surprisingly, I really liked how they made it at Le Lan.
Coco Pazzo
We went to Coco Pazzo on Friday night with Terri, who is one of my Taiwanese coworkers. Coco Pazzo had the reputation as one of Chicago’s best Italian restaurants since its opening in 1991. The restaurant features traditional Tuscan cuisine.
The antipasti I had was a Pear, taleggio, smoked mozzarella tart. The presentation was great but it was a bit too heavy for me as an appetizer to start with.
The appetizer Tze had is from this bar. Terri had some fried calamari to start with.
We all had the grilled pork chop as our main course, which is a big mistake. The pork chop was just too big for me and Terri to finish. And the meat was too dry. I had a few bites and that was enough for me. The brussels sprout came with the pork chop was wonderful. I really liked the strong garlic taste of it.
The vanilla bean custard turned out to be the best course for the night.
The least one I liked among the three we tried during the restaurant week is Ai, a Japanese restaurant.
The atmosphere and decor was great with perfect lighting and I liked the sushi bar is right in the center of the place where you can always see the chefs making makis.
I guess the main reason I disliked the restaurant is their service. To be more specific, the server we had that night was very unfriendly and made our dinning experience horrible. No smiles, no recommendations, unfriendly attitude...
The restaurant prix-fixe menu was for customers to choose one regular maki and one special maki from the main menu along with a fixed appetizer course, Hamachi Carpaccio, thinly sliced yellowtail topped with ceviche, cilantro, and citrus sauce.
I loved the appetizer but their makis were just mediocre. Tze did not order the restaurant menu but ordered some Nigiris instead. He thought the Nigiris are pretty fresh and tasty. He also ordered a Tanuki Udon, which is an inaniwa udon noodles served with shiitake mushroom, green onion, mitsuba, kamaboko, inari age, and tempura crunch. Tze says this is originated in my best Japanese girl friend, Miki's hometown. We both really liked this dish. Maybe we should ask Miki to come with us to try the udon again, and hopefully we will have a nicer server next time.
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