Comments on: avec (!), blackbird and charlie trotter’s

By: Trotters Angelina Black

Trotters Angelina Black — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:21:04 +0000

[...] cook eat FRET – avec (!), blackbird and charlie trotter's and really, this representation is hardly fair to do to a forty eight hour braised short rib with chanterelles and black fermented garlic. just think of what the perfect bite of beef could taste like, and this would be not only in the running, but on the short 19 Angelina // Aug 27, 2008 at 18:05 pm. I am a really big fan of AVEC (ha) but haven't been in about a year. Thanks for the reminder. I'm going to try and get there next weekend for my boyfriends birthday. [...]

By: Samantha

Samantha — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:07:34 +0000

Keep those comments on Bites coming. The restaurants in Nashville really DO suck. You are so right. Good for you for having the nerve to speak the truth. Allium is especially bad and I despise Germantown Cafe. We do like City House though. Go Tandy!

Avec sounds wonderful. I want to go! The next time I am Chicago, I will. For sure!

(We didn’t care for Charlie Trotter’s when we went 2 years ago. The food was definitely good but not worth the expense for the atmosphere.)

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:03:41 +0000

That’s an all-star restaurant tour on a tight schedule! Very glad you ejoyed the best of what Chicago has to offer. Next time you visit, Donnie Madia’s newest venture, The Publican, will be in full swing. We expect great things.

Fun to come across your blog – I’m enjoying it!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:02:04 +0000

I HEART Chicago!
We went to avec to celebrate Tom getting his job here in Nashville. Oh how I wish I could go back

By: Shelby

Shelby — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:35:09 +0000

I was at blackbird a couple of weeks ago. Those sweetbreads still haunt my dreams. As do the figs that came with them, they were beyond perfect.

By: joycooks

joycooks — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:42:36 +0000

I LOVE this place!! Avec was my favorite place on my most recent trip to Chicago. Everything you ate and said…. my sentiments exactly. I ate there in winter so the menu was a bit different but everything still knocked my socks off. Once again, great minds think alike. I loved reading that post, thank you!

By: Angelina

Angelina — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:14:03 +0000

I am a really big fan of AVEC (ha) but haven’t been in about a year. Thanks for the reminder. I’m going to try and get there next weekend for my boyfriends birthday. He has never been there and I know that he will love it.

GO CHICAGO !!!

By: Hillary

Hillary — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:59:14 +0000

Thank you for these photos. I live in Chicago and still haven’t been over to these restaurants. It’s on my must-try-soon list now!

By: michelle @ TNS

michelle @ TNS — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:15:15 +0000

le sigh. i spent 4 years in chicago as a poor college student, and a night at gino’s east was big spending. and now i don’t live there anymore, and i don’t go back nearly enough.

and i was already sad about that, and then i read all THIS. goddamit.

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:28:38 +0000

Goodness, how whelming. I need to know more about brandade. I could almost see your reflection in that spoon. Almost.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:18:30 +0000

Can’t help but notice that heavenly hunk of bread in the first pic. I really want to reach into my monitor and go dunk dunk dunk dunk into that velvety sauce.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:16:30 +0000

awww….joe is SO cool. food looks good too.

By: lifeinrecipes

lifeinrecipes — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:26:40 +0000

I really love eating at Avec – every morsel sings with the flavors and textures I crave.. Although I can’t help but feeling that I’m dining in a really long sauna.

By: countrymouse

countrymouse — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:12:22 +0000

I know better than to read your blog.
Now I’m hungry again. But I’m addicted.
The same way I am to food.
Terrific post on places I dream to go.
Perhaps for Christmas you could post us a road map of the great places to eat in America. We can plan our summer road trips.

And avec, wow, just spectacular.
Chicago could become “my kind of town”…

By: lisa

lisa — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:01:11 +0000

Whipped brandade! Now, I have to have that. You didn’t happen to get instructions for making that at home, did you?

By: evil chef mom

evil chef mom — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:17:14 +0000

hungry… oh so hungry! i don’t even know what to say.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:55:19 +0000

The real tragedy is that when I lived there during grad school, none of those (save Trotter’s) even existed. And I was a broke-ass grad student and couldn’t go there.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:42:38 +0000

It all sounds great to me except the terrine and the foie gras. I generally don�t do organ meats, but those dishes looked and sounded so appealing that I would have at least tried a bite or two in such circumstances. I�m sure if you like that sort of thing it was great. The sockeye tartare really tickled my fancy along with the crostini and of coarse the short rib. Chantrelles are pretty hard to clean sometimes. The gills often extend down into the dirt unlike other varieties of mushroom that have a more defined stem. Chantrelles, boletes, and black trumpet mushrooms occasionally appear in our yard this time of year and I�m hoping the rain today will create the right conditions.

The seared sea trout dish with forbidden rice also sounded really good. I discovered forbidden rice a few years ago through a food buying club: http://www.morningsidefarm.com
It smells like popcorn and takes on a purplish color when you cook it.

Great post Claudia, it looks like once again you ate like champions!

By: Whitney

Whitney — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:37:36 +0000

I live in Chicago and I sadly have not been to any of the above. Once I am a lawyer and not merely a law student I will have to partake.

Next time you are in town hit up North Pond. I got to experience it with the BF’s rents and it was nothing short of amazing. Not at minimalistic as Avec/Blackbird but an amazing spot in Lincoln Park and wonderful local food.

By: TaratheFoodie

TaratheFoodie — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:45:51 +0000

All that food looks great – now I have the urge to make a tartar of some sort… I’ve never done it and it’s right up my alley. I’ve eaten it a few times, though, and love it.

I also very much LOVE Chicago. I’ve been there a few more times than I have to NYC and while I also love NYC, I LOVE Chicago. Probably because I’m from Cleveland it’s more my speed.

Now let me ask you, does everyone have to dress up to go to Charlie Trotter’s? Like do the men have to wear jackets? The funny thing is that I’ve been to many really nice restaurants but have never had to worry about really getting dressed up because fine dining has gone so casual the last handful of years. I mean, I don’t show up in a Metallica tshirt or anything, but you know what I mean. So, I’ve never been anywhere where they wouldn’t let you in if you weren’t dressed up. Is Charlie Trotter’s like that? Also, I heard it was mega-expensive – is it worth the price?

By: Diana

Diana — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:43:51 +0000

Oooh, them’s good eats.

Forbidden black rice?

Thanks for the level of detail–I’m inspired!

By: Amy at Minimally Invasive

Amy at Minimally Invasive — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:24:28 +0000

Damn straight — my family would revolt if they didn’t have their bacon-wrapped dates every Christmas Eve. But you left out the goat cheese!

You eat better than anyone I know.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:33:30 +0000

Fret,

Again, sophistication beyond this readers limited comprehension.

Dont even know what the dish names mean. Have had pickled eggs before, and of course mushroom dirt.

Sounds like Chicago will be seeing more of you. Lucky Chicago. Lucky you. Lucky CEF fans……

By: diva

diva — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:18:52 +0000

avec scores a place in my heart. really my kind of food! great pics – and love the design of avec. it’s so sleek.

By: Mary Coleman

Mary Coleman — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:39:20 +0000

I want every single one of those dishes. That’s my kind of food.