Last time I looked outside, there were no palm trees and there was no sand, but at the rate non-Chicago chefs are opening satellite restaurants here, pretty soon we’re going to look like Las Vegas.
For anybody who doubts the inevitable Vegas-ization of Chicago, I offer this proof:
Two years ago David Burke opened Primehouse here before the New York location opened. In 2007, Douglas Rodriguez came to town with DeLaCosta. Donald Trump recently made his imprint with a mammoth hotel (complete with restaurant) on the Chicago River.
But this summer comes the real deluge: Marcus Samuelsson’s C-House just debuted with a breakfast menu (lunch and dinner will come in a few weeks); Terrance Brennan’s Artisanal is currently under construction; Govind Armstrong is getting ready to renovate a 100-year-old building just north of the Loop for an outpost of Table 8; and a certain British chef has hinted that he, too, is on his way—though I personally think that’s bollocks.
I got my first taste of Vegas-ization a few weeks ago at Mercat a la Planxa in the Blackstone Hotel (almost all of these chefs are popping up in hotels). Jose Garces, the Philadelphia chef behind Mercat (as well as Philly’s Amada and Tinto) is clearly good at the tapas thing—his Catalan small plates were consistently delicious, from the sous vide pork belly and rich short rib flatbreads to the perfect diver scallops and the cinnamon-spiked brandy cocktails. And yet something about the experience didn’t seem right. The operation felt almost too practiced. The food came out of the kitchen at hyper speed, and the service, while certainly adept, never slowed down long enough to show any personal attention. I know, I know—operating a Chicago restaurant from Philly clearly requires a good formula. Still, does it have to feel so…formulaic?
I guess we’ll find out soon enough. And with any luck, a couple of these restaurants will be worth the gamble.
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