Green Zebra and Scylla weekend

Just wanted to write a quick report on eating at both Green Zebra and Scylla this past weekend (the parents were in and like to go out to eat… and eat… and eat).

Green Zebra was very good overall. Appetizers included an avocado panna cotta with crème fraiche (very smooth, slightly spicy, and utterly delicious), roasted shitake mushrooms with cabbage rolled up in a slightly crispy potato wrap (very nice, although tastes just like it sounds it would), and a special made of some kind of vegetable make wrapped in coconut (interesting). Standout entrée was the Gunthorpe Farm chicken breast (poached in milk) with a crisp skin “round” on top. I know this place is vegetarian, but man was that good chicken – it melted in your mouth like buttah. I would go back just for the panna cotta and the chicken. Staff was very attentive and helpful as well.

Scylla is a very small restaurant, and I felt especially bad for the chefs working in the open kitchen about the size of a large closet. Nevertheless, the food was excellent. Appetizers included figs stuffed with escargot (somehow it works) and a side of fennel crème brulee (excellent), grilled prosciutto-wrapped shrimp (nice), and my favorite – apple and celeriac soup with duck confit. Entrees included monkfish over sweetbreads (good, although the sauce was a tad too sweet), hawaiian walu with mussels and mushrooms, and a pork tenderloin (I forget the sauce, but the pork was very tender and well prepared). The waitress was good, although she felt a little “rehearsed” for my tastes. We brought our own bottle of wine ($15 corkage fee).

I thought both meals were excellent and would go back to both restaurants, although my parents gave Green Zebra the higher points overall. The real highlight of the weekend, however, may have been the new Ikea in Bolingbrook. They had their shrimp-dill-egg sandwiches for 50 cents only since it was opening weekend! And the Swedish meatballs with potatoes and lingonberry sauce were only $1! Hard to beat, and way too easy to pig out on.