Acadia
1639 S. Wabash Ave.Chicago, IL 60616
South Loop
312-360-9500
acadiachicago.com
Hours: Dinner: Sunday, Wednesday-Saturday
Closed Monday, Tuesday
Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11
Our Review
The forlorn near-south-side landscape on which Acadia sits is about as far from the idyllic New England of the chef Ryan McCaskey's childhood vacations as you can imagine. Inside, it's a spacious, comfortable dining room, colored in cool silvers, grays, and off-whites. McCaskey's menu is arranged simply, in first and second courses, and his foams and emulsions, powders, and smears of puree coalesce and harmonize with the whole. A coffee-and-lime-flavored "emulsion" kisses a pair of seared scallops, while bitty sculpted carrots and mushrooms are planted among them in dabs of pureed coconut. A light sunchoke veloute is poured over puffed wild rice, tea-flavored granola, and cubes of verjus-saturated compressed green grape. A foie gras torchon is rolled in malt crumbles from which radiate arrangements of jellied hot-toddy cubes and smudges of curried apple butter. These dishes have referents to familiar American classics: chicken presse, a terrine of compressed thigh meat sandwiching an herbed mousseline of breast with truffled bread pudding is chicken and stuffing, highly refined, but unironic and satisfying. A seared black cod fillet with tempura-fried clams nestled in brussels sprout cups anchored by bacon vinaigrette gel is somewhat less recognizably "chowder." The ever ubiquitous pork belly is an Alsatian choucroute garnie with stone-ground mustard and pear mostarda. Fat shrimp leaning against roasted cauliflower sections and bundles of cuttlefish noodles come from Maine, and their sweetness summons the nostalgia McCaskey is trying to get across. Only three desserts are offered, at the top of which is a milk chocolate cremeaux that pairs surprisingly well with a vanilla-scented philter of champagne, vermouth, and orange liqueur appropriately dubbed the Cognac Dreamsicle. The front bar features a smaller, more affordable menu—a burger, a lobster roll, oysters. Read the full review >>
Price: $$$$
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