Restaurant Week...

Restaurant week was one of those thing last year that I really regretted missing. I think I was in Virginia while it was going on, and I missed the pre-fixed menu obsession that comes with the event. In Chicago, one week a year (though I think this week's event has been extended) you can go to some of Chicago's most select and order a three course lunch or dinner for fairly cheap. Places such a Nomi, Bin 36, and Cafe des Architectes seat you for minimal dollar.

This year we had time to go to lunch at Cafe des Architects in the Sofitel hotel lobby. We wanted to try for dinner, but due to busy lives and already booked reservations, lunch was all we could get in for.

Instead of a 3-course lunch, these guys did a 4-course, mirroring their Executive Express Lunch which the restaurant serves on a daily basis.

The meals come on one large white square plate, with 4 inner square plates, and the portions are quite small. We started with a Cauliflower soup with maybe a hint of truffle oil, or maybe it was just the mushrooms that topped. The Second course was "Octopus salad".

I love Octopus. and I love salads made of julienned apple. These two things mixed do not go well together however. It was much more satisfying to eat a bit of one then the other. And the cider vinegar dressing was way to overpowering.

We had a cut of hanger steak with a standard demiglace and some pureed root veggies. Pretty good, though nothing that blew my mind. And we finished with two small slices of a chocolate gateau. These were great, their pastry chef is a smart man. They had the wafer crispies in the bottom layer and I felt very child like eating them...except that I was surrounded by stuffy diners.

This place made me wonder about dining in NYC. It felt so claustrophobic and staunch that I was kind of uncomfortable. Not that I was going to do the wrong thing or eat with the wrong fork. But it was a sense that everyone there was trying to compensate for something else. Our waiter was great, but oh so formal. It completely contrasted the open modern whimsy of the space.

A well-to-do executive and his wife (or mistress) came in to eat. They sat near us on the other end of the two tops. They looked very busy and important, and the chef came out and chatted with them for a good 10 minutes.

They had burgers.