Bonsoiree and Merlo on Maple - our weekend dinners

Mrs. Davooda and I spent an anniversary weekend in the city 1/18-21 and I planned two dinners - Friday night at Bonsoiree and Saturday night at Merlo on Maple. Disclaimer: it was forecast to be so freakin’ cold Saturday I chose Merlo because it was one block from our hotel. I won’t make that mistake again.

Bonsoiree: I had made prior email contact with Kurt at Bonsoiree and was jazzed to be able to communicate with the chef/owner. It portended a good experience which ultimately surpassed my expectations. The Davoodas had the seven-course menu and we brought our own wine – a 2003 Spottswoode Cab – which is our favorite reminder of a Napa trip last year. Mrs. Davooda is uncomfortable with me taking notes and a camera is out of the question, so I am going on memory. We arrived at our appointed hour and I was somewhat disappointed when the maitre d’ led us to a two-top right next to the door – it was 4 degrees outside! I think he noticed my trepidation and moved us to a spot farther away from the door.
The maître d’/front of house manager and our server were excellent and I wish I could remember their names to give them props. Soon after we were seated our wine was decanted, water glasses filled and a delicious amuse of what I thought was pomo d’oro bruschetta launched us on our wonderful culinary evening.
The first course (PEI mussels and Manila clams in a citrus bouillabaisse emulsion with a seared diver scallop) came out very quickly, which kind of threw me off. However the pacing was ideal after that. This dish was a great started on a cold night and I would have licked the bowl if I could have gotten away with it. My memory of the order of the remaining courses is dim (probably because of the) but I recall a very flavorful small salad with tiny sprouts that provided a tremendous burst of flavor. Course #3 was off the menu, top secret and truly decadent – that’s all I can say. So, again relying totally on memory here, #4 was the sweet potato crusted cobia with winter cranberry-walnut risotto, cassis buerre blanc and lemon dust. Mrs. Davooda is not a big on fish dishes but she reveled in this one to the point where I had to share mine. We both applaud this awesome combination done to a tee. #5 was the pink peppercorn dusted venison leg with celery root puree and blackberry salsa. This dish was excellent save for the venison not being seasoned to my liking – I thought it needed more salt. The meat was cooked rare, as it should be IMHO, and the astringency of the blackberry salsa was a perfect foil to the earthy depth of the celery root. #6 was a cheese plate worthy of Paris, and Mrs. Davooda and I enjoyed A LOT of cheese plates on our most recent trip to Paris. We appreciate the thoughtful flavor combinations and felt each bite was a new revelation for us. Since we live downstate, we are not able to find this variety of cheeses – bummer. Dessert course #7 was the perfect ending to a perfect meal for us.
This was one of our most memorable dining experiences in Chicago. We will be back Kurt!

Merlo on Maple: A nice venue close to our hotel (on a sub-zero night, it was the main reason I chose this place). I know we’re talking about the Viagra Triangle but some of the LTH reviews are positive so I decided to give it a shot. We arrived exactly on time for our dinner reservation and were told that our table wasn’t ready as yet. The hostess suggested we have a drink in the bar and they would fetch us ASAP. Well, I really didn’t want a drink but Mrs. Davooda did so we took seats at the bar. My Negroni was done quite well – a nice change from many downstate boites where they don’t know a Negroni from a Peroni. We were escorted upstairs mid-way through our drinks and it dawned on me how we had been handled. The dining room was about 1/3 full, no one had left between our arrival and going upstairs and there were four open two-tops. We had been steered into having a drink when there really was no reason for them to do so outside of wanting to make more money on us. I personally think it’s BS and reason #1 why I won’t go back to this place.
Reason #2 stopped by a short time after we were seated. The wine steward/front of house manager spoke so fast that his speech was unintelligible to me and I had to keep asking him to repeat himself. Mrs. Davooda had the same issue. Our server, whose name escapes me, was very good but this wine steward/front of house guy was really bugging me. Anyway, we ordered a bottle of Il Poggio Brunello, Mrs. Davooda had a salad and I ordered the passatelli – an extruded parmesan dough in hen stock soup – after hearing raves reviews on LTH. The salad was solid but the soup was bland and lukewarm and I think it was $14 for the bowl. Sending it back meant another visit from Mr. HyperSpeak so I didn’t do it. I wish I had…maybe it would have been hot!
Mrs. Davooda ordered tortelloni ai funghi porcini and it was delicious - but the serving was laughably small for $20. My $34 veal osso buco would have left my four-year-old wanting more and lacked the depth of flavor one would expect from a well-braised hunk of meat. It was cooked well – the meat was tender to the point of easy removal from the bone but not falling off of it – but there was just very little flavor.
I don’t know, maybe the Brunello was too big a wine for the dishes we ordered, and maybe I shouldn’t be ticked about being sent to the bar when it was totally unnecessary. Also, we had been to Tuscany in November and were expecting better food, albeit Bolognese and not Tuscan. But, after the previous evening at Bonsoiree being so right this one seemed so wrong – and way too expensive for what they deliver.

My $.02

Davooda