Salero - Northern Spain in the West Loop

Salero is a new restaurant, next door to longtime favorite Blackbird on Randolph Street. I ate there last night, and loved it.

Salero specializes in cuisine from the Basque provinces of Spain, with contemporary/global influences. They do not have tapas like they do in southern Spain; they serve from a traditional appetizers-entrees menu format.

When we looked at the menu, both of us found four of the appetizers compelling, so we split those four:

- Crispy veal sweetbreads, sauce ‘perigueux,’ heirloom carrots, bacon, wild huckleberries and hazelnuts

- Morcilla (blood sausage) and foie gras (sauteed), a la plancha with grilled matsutake mushroom, spiced dried cherries and green lentils

- Beets and shallots roasted in the embers, with "Monte Enebro" goat cheese, frisee, salsa verde and toasted pistachios

- Grilled octopus, with smoked espuma, potato, fried olives, pickled mustard seeds, puffed quinoa and black onion powder

All were thoroughly excellent - in fact, they were all so good, I would have a tough time calling any one of them a "don't miss" over the others.

After splitting these four, we decided that we were comfortably satisfied. (We both have a pretty healthy appetite, FWIW.) So we went straight from there to dessert. Note, this is not the normal progression at Salero, so by all means consider the entrees as well!

We then split one dessert: churros, with a couple of small scoops of chocolate-salt-caramel mousse and little dabs of this and that. These were superb, straight out of the fryer, light and hot and not overly greasy, perhaps the best churros I've ever had.

Service was exemplary - friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. The room was nicely appointed and bistro-ish, with a row of candles up above along one wall. About 75 percent of the tables were occupied on this, a weeknight. The noise level was somewhat unpleasantly loud, but not oppressive; unfortunately they had music which contributed to the din, but at least wasn't cranked up to thumpa thumpa level. On a noise scale from 1 ("dead") to 10 ("I gotta get out of here"), I'd call it a 6-7.

Including a glass of wine and a glass of sherry, our check came to $101 before tax and tip. Reasonable, especially considering the quality.

I really enjoyed Salero, and hope to return in the future.

Salero
621 W. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60661
312.466.1000
salerochicago.com

I'm a bit surprised this place hasn't gotten more love here. I went this past Saturday with a party of four, and we all loved it (the dinner conversation was a different story...).

The space is inviting with plenty of wood and a set of bullhorns that make you feel like you're in some sort of modern Basque hunting lodge. Service was fine. Nothing outstanding, but certainly nothing wrong with it. I have a shellfish allergy (nature's cruel joke) and another member of our party has a nut allergy, and our server was very accommodating and careful.

From the entradas portion of the menu, my girlfriend and I split the morcilla and foie gras. I'm on a real blood sausage kick and I am a sucker for foie, so this dish just nailed it for me. The sour cherries provided a nice tartness to counteract the richness of the proteins and the inclusion of lentils made this a very hearty appetizer. My girlfriend's dad and stepmom had a beet salad with goat cheese. I didn't try any, but they seemed to enjoy it.

For my entree, I had the "Txuri ta Beliza," Salero's take on cassoulet. The dish consisted of a confit pheasant thigh, a hunk of smoked pork, and a short little link of boudin blanc, served with stewed white beans, black bean puree (I think the name is "white and black" in Basque), and lemon aioli. To put it bluntly: I loved the hell out of this dish. It was beautifully plated and utterly delicious. Of the three proteins, the boudin blanc was the star - plump, fatty, and teeming with flavor. I was a bit concerned about the black bean puree seeming out of place, but it was thin enough to act as a sauce and the flavor wasn't overwhelming. If I had to offer a critique, the pheasant was a touch overdone, but it didn't stop me from annihilating it and leaving a clean bone in my wake. As I swiped the last bite from my plate, I declared that it was probably my third or fourth best plate of food for 2014.

My girlfriend had the whole grilled lobster, which came with chorizo, clams, and bomba rice (instead of the fideos that normally accompany it). Again the presentation was very nice. Because of my allergy, I couldn't taste anything, but she raved about it to the point of saying it was the best thing she'd eaten this year. Her dad had the lubina (branzino) and her stepmom had the flat iron steak. Both enjoyed their dishes, though the stepmom left a few slices of steak for me to eat because they had some pink in them and she orders meat in the worst way possible (well). The steak was very good and came with a huge section of bone marrow. Not the most exciting option, but it was delicious nonetheless.

For dessert, we had the churros and the flan. The churros were light and airy, and the portion was quite large for a fine-dining dessert. I'm not a huge flan fan, but I would gladly order Salero's flan again and again. The inclusion of queso fresco provided a nice change of pace from the normally boring custard, and the blood orange gel takes it over the top. Our check came with some gingerbread profiteroles that tasted just like Christmas.

All in all, Salero delivered on my high expectations with a fantastic meal that I will think about for a long time. The flavors were very bold, but there was an underlying sense of comfort in them. On the way out the door, my girlfriend even said that she enjoyed it more than our meal at Blackbird at the end of the summer, which is very high praise in my opinion.

I took the Spaniard here when they first opened and let's just say neither of us were impressed. Nothing we had was memorable and none of the flavours screamed Spain to either of us. I've spent a little bit of time in Spain and also learning Spanish recipes and cooking techniques. This certainly makes me no expert, BUT I must say nothing on their menu reminds me of the Basque country. I think the final straw was the Burrata on the menu.

j0emv wrote:none of the flavours screamed Spain to either of us.

That's why I said, "Salero specializes in cuisine from the Basque provinces of Spain, with contemporary/global influences." Let's face it, you can find dishes like sweetbreads, blood sausage, foie gras, beets, grilled octopus, and churros* on the menu in trendy restaurants throughout the city, regardless of whether they call themselves Basque, or French, or Italian, or South American, or contemporary American. Unless you're specifically looking for food exactly like what you've had in northern Spain - and I'm guessing that description applies to very few of their customers - what really matters is how delicious the food tastes. I thought everything I had was superb. Sorry you didn't feel the same way.

*When I was writing this, I was going to say something like "churros are Mexican, after all", because I've eaten them in Mexico as well as in Mexican eateries in the U.S. But then I looked at the churro page in Wikipedia, where I was surprised to learn that "Churros are popular in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, Ibero-America and the United States." Live and learn!

Last night was my first visit to Salero and I thought the food was fantastic. They start you with bread that reminds me very much of bread I've purchased from PQM, along with some terrific olive oil. We also shared a bowl of olives - gordal, manzanilla, coquille and arbequina.

For my meal, I started with the Spanish chorizo-stuffed quail and it was sensational. The plating was gorgeous, with the quail very neatly cut and surrounding wilted spinach with garlic, golden raisins, pine nuts and a piquillo pepper puree. This dish could not have been more beautiful or more delicious - one of the best things I've eaten this year. I also had one of the head-on shrimp a la plancha and the shrimp was large, marvelous and perfectly grilled. The accompanying piperade, grits cake and huitlacoche were perhaps surprising yet welcome additions.

For my entree, I had the lobster dish gnarchief mentioned above and it was also fantastic. Consider this dish a combination of your classic fideos and paella. Rarely do I get lobster cooked this perfectly. The clams, chorizo, rice and lemon aioli made the dish all the more perfect. Right up there with the chorizo-stuffed quail in terms of the best things I've eaten this year.

For dessert, we shared the cheese flan and it was excellent. I appreciated how the cheese cut into the sweetness of the dish and the custard was silky smooth. The drink portion of my meal consisted of an adequate Hemingway daiquiri and a glass of sherry that paired nicely with my lobster. Not the vast sherry list I've come to appreciate with Vera, but still a respectable wine and sherry list.

Their website references a pintxos menu (which looks impressive) though I don't know when or where in the restaurant it is available. I need to investigate . . . and I definitely need to make a point of returning to Salero and trying more of the menu. Salero ranks up there with De Quay for my most enjoyable non-fine dining experience in Chicago this year. It was that good.

BR wrote:Their website references a pintxos menu (which looks impressive) though I don't know when or where in the restaurant it is available.

The pintxos menu is at the bar, but you can also ask your server to bring it to the table. We had a great meal there recently and ordered off both menus. The pintxos are indeed awesome.

Darren72 wrote:

BR wrote:Their website references a pintxos menu (which looks impressive) though I don't know when or where in the restaurant it is available.

The pintxos menu is at the bar, but you can also ask your server to bring it to the table. We had a great meal there recently and ordered off both menus. The pintxos are indeed awesome.

Thanks Darren - great to know.

Panther in the Den wrote:

sujormik wrote:Wanted to report back, we ended up NOT going to Two but instead to Salero on Randolph instead. Which was good. May try to hit Two some day.

What did you have?

We probably should've done the $50 tasting menu, which would've been a great deal, but a few of the things we really wanted to try weren't included so we went rogue. We had olives with manchego which were sooo good but with just a hint of manchego (like maybe 3 bites). Also had burrata (I know, it's Spanish, my husband loves burrata) and it was also very good but again a teensy portion.

The gazpacho, Spanish style (so, strained, without chunks like Mexican style) was outstanding. I've taken to making it at home with the NYT recipe and it comes pretty close. We had the octopus which my husband loved...again, I thought it was a tiny portion. We enjoyed the paella which was very different than any I've ever had before (in Spain), was more risotto-like than what I've experienced. For dessert we had the chocolate with cherries and it was great! We each had a drink and I had a glass of sherry to end. I'd definitely return.

West Loop's Spanish destination Salero to close New Year's Eve
https://trib.in/2Qwn7Fm

Yet another good restaurant closing due to landlord idiocy.

West Loop is losing its mojo!

bnl wrote:West Loop is losing its mojo!

=R=