Tasting Menu Recommendation

I was hoping that all of the lovely foodies on here can recommend my next tasting menu restaurant. I've already been to the following places in the past two years; Goosefoot (4x), Schwa (4x), Next (2x), Elizabeth (1x), Alinea (1x), EL Ideas (1x) and Sous Rising (1x).

Of the above list Goosefoot is my wife's favorite. I enjoy it a lot as well but also enjoyed my meal at Sous Rising and Next. I also enjoyed Alinea a lot but my wife wasn't thrilled.

I've narrowed my list down to L2O, Grace, Acadia, Sixteen and Moto.

What would you recommend and why?

Those are some nice options; I will throw in my two cents as well as add one additional place to consider:

Grace: This would be my first choice; I believe Grace has surpassed Alinea as Chicago's best restaurant. Top notch service that is highly polished yet personable, beautiful dining room that manages to be both elegant and comfortable and food that is artistically creative, interesting and most importantly consistently delicious.

Moto: This would be my second choice; Moto has undergone many changes in the past couple of years and has shown steady improvement; I have been dining here 4-5 times per year the past couple of years and each visit becomes a little bit better. Still some whimsy in their dishes, but they are focusing more on taste than wacky presentations. I recommend asking to be seating downstairs in the "lab" if you dine here; quieter more intimate space and one of the food prep areas is in the room so you can watch some of the chefs work as you dine.

Sixteen: Sixteen for me is boom-or-bust. I have been here a few times and both service and food quality has been wildly variable. I love that they totally change the menus with the seasons and it is a fun dining experience, but service has been off on three of my four visits and on all but one visit there were a few courses that just did not do it for me. The one visit where everything clicked though was truly fantastic. The current menu theme does seem like a cool concept and a friend recently dined there and had nothing but good things to say.

L2O: Good choice if you want a seafood centric food. My meals here have featured outstanding quality food from start to finish, but service - while extremely polished, is a bit impersonal and the ambiance is more old fashioned and formal than I prefer. Outstanding food, but not the best overall dining experience IMHO.

Acadia: Only been here once; it was not a very good experience, but in fairness to the restaurant it was a while back and they were fairly new at the time. I also had some friends have a subpar experience around the time of my dinner, but have been hearing better things of late. Am hoping to give them another chance sometime this year.

Senza: Not on your list, but something you should consider. They recently earned a Michelin star and their executive chef hails from Schwa. You see some Schwa influence in his food in that he loves to blend sweet and savory, but overall the food (style and presentation wise), ambiance and service style is similar to Goosefoot. You mentioned your wife loving Goosefoot best, so this might be another gem for her. I love Senza and find the food fantastic, the space comfortable and pleasant and service is very friendly (like Goosefoot) but not as polished at venues such as L2O. My only compliant about Senza (and Goosefoot) is the menu very rarely changes significantly - just little tweaks here and there. Not an issue for a first visit like yours, but for me the only thing stopping me from dining at Senza quarterly is the very slow changes to the menu.

Thanks Gonzo for the recommendations.

I made reservations to Moto next week. It also helped that they are having an anniversary special that includes the 12 course tasting menu and beverage pairing for $165. Not at a bad deal at all.

I will also look to make reservations to Grace for my birthday this summer and will look to visit Senza as well. I recall Chef Jake from Sous Rising also recommending Senza.

Thanks again!

My first choice would be Grace as well. The issue with Moto is it can be one of the best meals you ever had or it could be a complete waste of your time

While I must confess that I'm not a big fan of tasting menus, I'll still throw in my two cents. If I'm going to have a number of courses, I would greatly prefer to construct my own menu.

If your wife's favorite meal is at Goosefoot, I would think Moto the poorest choice from your list (for her anyway) as the cuisine is considerably more "classic" at Goosefoot. I haven't been to Moto for some time but I found the experience a bit goofy and I am in no hurry to return.

Before opening Goosefoot, Chris Nugent was the chef at Les Nomades, Upon his departure, Roland Liccioni returned to Les Nomades and is, in my opinion, one of the best chefs currently residing in Chicago. You can build your own four, five (or probably more) course prix fixe menu from a variety of choices. The wine list, ambience and service are also outstanding. There used to be a dress code requiring gentlemen to wear sport coats, but I am not sure if this is still the case. Regardless, if I planned on dining here I would certainly wear a suit or sportcoat. Here's a link to the menu: http://www.lesnomades.net/w/cuisine.html .

Alternatively, I might recommend a meal at Blackbird. It is considerably less formal than most of your other choices (as is Goosefoot), but cuisine and service are still outstanding and you seem to have some affinity to less formal environments (or you clearly wouldn't dine at Schwa four times). The menu offers a tasting option of approximately 8 courses (which probably omits at least the amuse). I think the starters at Blackbird are generally excellent and I wouldn't hesitate to construct my own tasting menu of four or five (or more) appetizers (which would always include the endive salad which is big enough for two to share).

To be more responsive to your actual post, I've thoroughly enjoyed my meals at L2O. I've been to Acadia two or three times and while I enjoyed my meals I don't plan on going back any time soon. I haven't been to Grace or Sixteen so I will withhold any comments. While you haven't mentioned it, I would think Tru would be a very good choice based upon your preferences.

In the interest of full disclosure, my daughter works at Blackbird (but I was dining there long before she was employed).

Sergio wrote:Thanks Gonzo for the recommendations.

I made reservations to Moto next week. It also helped that they are having an anniversary special that includes the 12 course tasting menu and beverage pairing for $165. Not at a bad deal at all.

I will also look to make reservations to Grace for my birthday this summer and will look to visit Senza as well. I recall Chef Jake from Sous Rising also recommending Senza.

Thanks again!

You're welcome!

Moto's anniversary special is truly a great deal. What is cool is that it combines the best items from their current menu with favorite courses they have had over the ten years they have been open. I am booked for the last evening of the anniversary event. That will be my third time dining there in nine weeks to give an idea as to how much I love the experience there. While in the past Moto was rightfully criticized for being somewhat gimmicky and not always consistent, they have made significant changes during the past two years (for the better) and are really firing on all cylinders. It has been so nice watching the steady improvement; IMHO they are now very consistent and each and every course is well thought out, creative, well executed but most importantly delicious. They brought on a very talented pastry chef (Claire Crenshaw from Tru) and made Richie Farina executive chef (and he has really made his mark and changed the style of the cuisine). The only thing missing now is they recently lost their wine director, but are actively searching to bring a high quality person on board (I still found the wines to be excellent during my last visit even though the wine director had already left).

Like a lot of folks here, I've had a bunch of non-special-event tasting menus over the years -- so many, I've actually grown pretty weary of them (mainly because of the time committment they require). My favorites over the past couple of years were at Katsu (if that counts) in April of 2013, Tru in March of 2013 and Acadia in April of 2012. For my money, Moto is probably the most style-over-substance of any of the choices mentioned here but that might make it a great choice for someone with less experience dining in this category. Sergio, I'll be curious to get your take on it.

I'm definitely interested in trying Senza and I'm finally going back to Elizabeth next month. My first meal there, not too long after it opened, was very well executed but not a great match for my palate/preferences. There are others I want to try (again) but as I alluded to above, tasting menus often represent such a huge time committment, I'm growing less willing to sign on for them these days.

=R=