Shaman - creative Mexican small plates

Several weeks ago the Tribune ran a piece on Mexican restaurants and one of the restaurants featured was Shaman and the chef, Natalie Oswald. We appreciated her use of small, responsible farmers. After a few attempts, we finally made it last night. What a beautiful evening dining outside.

The menus is comprised of small plates and my wife and I shared five:

- enchiladas potosinas, goat cheese filling, avocado salsa, crema, queso fresco. An order of two, which looked like empanadas, were creamy and rich.

- wild mushroom flautas, roasted poblano sauce, pea shoot salad, radishes, black beans, queso. Another very good veretarian option.

- chile en nogada, walnut cream sauce, pork picadillo, nectarines, pears, almonds, pomegranate. This was one of the best examples I have had since it was not overly sweet. Usually I don’t want more than few bites, but I could have eaten the whole dish.

- The next course was a sea scallop special. Our only wish was that the scallops may have been better with some sear on them and cooked just a bit longer.

- seared barramundi, fennel pipian, vanilla parsnips, fennel salad. Again, the only quibble was if the barramundi was cooked another minute or two. The vanilla parsnips were very interesting and nice with the rest of the dish.

Beautiful presentations and very attentive service. The menu was very tempting. I think it would be hard to order wrong here. Everything sounded great.

With a decent cellar, always appreciate the BYO option. Looking forward to returning.


Shaman
1438 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60642
312.226.4175
http://www.shamanchicago.com

Their sister restaurant, Chilam Balam, has the same owner, a similar/same menu and a more upbeat vibe. It's a garden level space and quite small. I found the atmosphere/decor at Shaman depressing (painted fluorescent bulbs), so I much prefer Chilam Balam. Don't check it out if the cramped seating will turn you off.

Both places have a weird BYO policy - No whiskey, but tequila is fine.

Chilam Balam thread:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 8&start=30

Chilam Balam
chilambalamchicago.com
3023 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL 60657
773.296.6901

We ate ate Chilam Balam a couple times when they first opened and really enjoyed it. For some reason never returned after all of the Chuey drama. We did try again a couple months ago on a Sunday, but they were closed. Will need to get back there again soon.

After looking at the interior, it did help sway us to take the table outside.