- Andrea Bauer
- Pickle tots, chicken breast bresaola, red onion yogurt, scallions
Trenchermen
2039 W. North Ave.Chicago, IL 60647
Wicker Park/Bucktown
773-661-1540
trenchermen.com
Hours: Dinner: seven days
Sunday brunch
Open late: Friday & Saturday till 1, Monday-Thursday till 11:30
Our Review
I imagine there's an abundance of head scratching going on at Trenchermen, the long-awaited union of fraternal chefs Pat and Mike Sheerin, lately of the Signature Room and Blackbird, respectively. In partnership with impresarios Kevin Heisner and Matt Eisler (Bar DeVille, Nightwood, etc), they've reimagined the subterranean bathhouse that was for many years home to Spring into a dark, woody space that retains its white glazed tiles. The steampunkish air presents a discombobulating contrast to the precise, elegantly arranged plates the brothers are putting forth. The contrasts don't stop there. Dishes like aged duck breast with kimchi and mortadella fried rice, pork belly and plums with bubble gum, and panna cotta made with bitter pale wheat ale overcome their potential for gimmickry with terrific textural variety and the artful intermingling of disparate elements. The biggest challenges to conventional assumptions come at dessert, where savory and sometimes bitter flavors are incorporated into the sweet with surgical precision. Curiosities abound in the glass and bottle too, with interesting, unusual wines and short-poured cocktails from beverage director Tona Palomino (who worked with Mike Sheerin at New York's modernist temple wd-50). In all, the unorthodox compositions here rank Trenchermen among the new class of restaurants responsible for the reinvention—and salvation—of fine dining in Chicago. Read the full review >>
Price: $$$$
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