...and to answer my own question...

We had dinner in the lounge tonight and it was a very nice experience. The lounge menu is made up of smaller courses from the "Raw" and "Warm" portions of the menu along with some "Sweets", souffles, and cheese. The dishes were generally in the $15-$20 ranges (with some costing a bit more). The portions are definitely smaller than what you would get as part of the 4 or 12 course tasting menus. You can also order items a la carte off of the regular menu.

We had a bunch of smaller plates, focusing mainly on things we didn't have the first time we went to L2O. Standouts were the lamb and ebi tartare, the tuna & hamachi, and the golden egg with pork belly (I liked this pork belly dish much more than the one I had as part of the 12 course tasting). I rounded out my meal with the sea bass dish that YT captured above. We finished with souffles, and the kitchen was nice enough to send out the marshmallow, macaroon, and ganache that we would have gotten in the main dining room.

So all in all a nice experience. Still not inexpensive (we probably spent about as much as you would expect to spend if you order the 4 course), but a nice way to experience L2O's food on short notice or if you can't get a reservation.

L2O is awarded 4 stars in today's Tribune

At each table in L2O, chef Laurent Gras places a small card that helpfully translates the day's fish selections from Japanese into English.

He should place a thesaurus at the table instead. Dining at L2O leaves one searching for superlatives.

Gras does with fish what Green Zebra's Shawn McClain does with vegetables and Alinea's Grant Achatz does with damn near everything. He changes the way you feel about food.

Well deserved. Congratulations to the entire L2O team!

I have one qustion regarding the soufflee-desserts: Are they accompanied by anything, apart from the liquid they pour into them (icecream/sorbet, fruits, whatever...)?

kai-m wrote:I have one qustion regarding the soufflee-desserts: Are they accompanied by anything, apart from the liquid they pour into them (icecream/sorbet, fruits, whatever...)?

No, but there are an ample number of pre- and post-dessert items that are served that don't appear on the menu.

jesteinf wrote:No, but there are an ample number of pre- and post-dessert items that are served that don't appear on the menu.

Sure.
Nevertheless (and I really don't wanna sound like a sourpuss/killjoy/defeatist or whatever the right expression might be) I think (and Iam used to, in this class of restaurant) that a soufflee by itself isn't a complete and not a very elaborate dessert, not matter how well it is executed.
It sure looks delicious, though. And on the other hand a reduction of ingredients and elements on the plate seems to be the very concept of L2Os cuisine.

Some other thing: are L2O's plates and stuff by the german designer stefanie hering from berlin? It looks like her style.

kai-m wrote:Some other thing: are L2O's plates and stuff by the german designer stefanie hering from berlin? It looks like her style.

Not sure who of the designer but I do know that this coffee service:



was produced in Germany. As for the other serviceware, I don't recall where it was sourced, although the onyx pieces were produced specifically for the restaurant, somewhere domestically, iirc.

=R=

Thank you, ronnie!

Yes, now Iam sure that it is by Hering - seems like she hit the jackpot with this tableware-collection...(many european gourmet restaurants work with her products and especially with this collection...)

jesteinf wrote:L2O is awarded 4 stars in today's Tribune

At each table in L2O, chef Laurent Gras places a small card that helpfully translates the day's fish selections from Japanese into English.

He should place a thesaurus at the table instead. Dining at L2O leaves one searching for superlatives.

Gras does with fish what Green Zebra's Shawn McClain does with vegetables and Alinea's Grant Achatz does with damn near everything. He changes the way you feel about food.

Well deserved. Congratulations to the entire L2O team!

Yes, yes, congrats to the folks at L.2O. This, I am sure, will be a start of numerous accolades yet to come.

After having experienced the first night of service at L.2O, we had the pleasure of being the first guests at the tatami room, June 26. The tatami room is set up as one of the possible four private dining rooms. The main difference between this and the others is the menu. Whereas all rooms in the restaurant will follow the main dining room menu, the tatami room will have its own special menu. All the dishes are not exclusive to the tatami room, but there are some dishes that may never end up in the main menu. In the end, we ended up with 19 dishes and 12 (very generous pours) glasses of wine.

The tatami room is quite a unique experience for most diners, and especially for myself, as I have never had a formal kaiseki meal, dined in a tatami room, or been in a ryokan. At the entry to the restaurant, you are greeted not only by the normal entourage, but in addition, a server/captain dressed in a kimono. Christina leads us through the main dining room to a corner opposite from the entry, between the kitchen and the dining room. Here the tatami room is set up as two rooms of a six and two-tops. The room can actually transform itself to accommodate different sized parties.



Once inside the room, another server, Mona Lisa, enters the room and brings in our drinks. From this point forward, these two ladies are the only ones who we have contact with, and enter and leave from an entrance different than ours. After the drinks are brought out, they bring us the first five dishes as one serving. These small dishes are very light in flavor and easy on texture - a powerful way to start thing off.



The following plates that come out are as single serving dishes, but each starts to increase its weight and intensity. Caviar topped dishes, plates laced with gold specs, foie gras, lobster, and Japanese imported beef are just some of gratuitous preparation/ingredients used in the body of the savories.

A gradual decline into the sweet courses is made with pickled mushrooms, and junsai. This rare Japanese ingredient was such a treat to have, as I had only heard about it. It is a small herb-like stem, encased with a clear gelatinous texture. Tasty and different -- an acquired taste for sure. The desserts, or more realistically dessert, is a well prepared serving of strawberries and cream.



IMHO, Chef Gras and his team have done well in trying to balance a traditional kaiseki experience with westerners in mind. The food was very tasty, and not overwhelming. The staff knelt at the opening and closing of the sliding door. The room is beautiful, warm and comfortable. Although, I found it a little tight getting into the sunken table, especially for the portly gentleman. As we were the first diners of the tatami room I was not expecting it to be 100%, but were pretty close. As things get honed and start to work themselves out, this might be one of the most sought after private dining venues in the city. But it sure does not come cheap.

Awesome! I am so digging the traditional garb worn by those servers. This seems like an immensely distinctive dining experience in Chicago.

Speaking of immense, do you think that this portly gentleman could squeeze in under one of those tables?

=R=

Following are the courses for the first night of the tatami room:

Escolar (course 1)




Mussels (course 2)




Tuna Kampachi (course 3)




Oyster Sake (course 4)




Ishidai (course 5)




Fluke Caviar (course 6)






Sashimi (course 7)






Asparagus Egg (course 8 )








Clam Jamon (course 9)






Kampachi Foie Gras (course 10)












Heart of Palm Grapefruit (course 11)






Tomato Santa Barbara Prawn (course 12)






Ebi Potato (course 13)






Wagyu Beetroot (course 14)






Aori Ika Lobster (course 15)






Chanterelle (course 16)






Dashi Junsai (course 17)






Strawberry Rhubarb (course 18)




Macaroons (course 19)

How much is the tatami room dinner?

Ah, I was going to talk about the Tatami room a bit, but I see someone has already done so.

The cost of the tatami room is $225 and you need to book it through their private party coordinator since the staff dress especially for the service.

Also, as a side note, they do not have Grand Marnier Cent-cinquantennaire, they only have the Centennaire edition.

Yellow truffle, these pix are stupendous. The detail is excellent. I'm motivated more than ever to visit this place.

David Hammond wrote:Yellow truffle, these pix are stupendous. The detail is excellent. I'm motivated more than ever to visit this place.

As he told me in person, being ridiculously modest, the lighting was excellent!

Gorgeous shots, yt!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Yellow truffle, these pix are stupendous. The detail is excellent. I'm motivated more than ever to visit this place.

As he told me in person, being ridiculously modest, the lighting was excellent!

Gorgeous shots, yt!

=R=

David, Ron, thanx.
And the food tastes better than it looks.

yellow truffle wrote:David, Ron, thanx.
And the food tastes better than it looks.

I can't wait to go!

filbertman wrote:Ah, I was going to talk about the Tatami room a bit, but I see someone has already done so.

The cost of the tatami room is $225 and you need to book it through their private party coordinator since the staff dress especially for the service.

$225 is only the cost of the food. Wine service is extra.

filbertman, by all means, if you could talk about the tatami room from perspective, I would quite like to hear about it.

I'd love to, but my mom decided she did not want to have such a large meal so we went with the regular dining room so she could order a four course while the rest of the party had the twelve.

My info just comes from talking to the coordinator and also from the gentlemen that gave us a tour of the rooms and the kitchen.

I do have a cursory review of L2O on my personal site but it only has a couple pictures since my point-and-shoot digicam couldn't handle the lighting and I didn't want to take flash pictures every 10 minutes. I should see if I can get a couple of the pics my mom took, but she doesn't know how to transfer them to her computer...

http://www.filtsai.com/blargh_comments. ... rghId=1943

does anyone know who is creating the floral designs?they are stunning!how often are they changed?

filbertman, did I get this right on your website - they charge 37$ for a grand manier centenaire? With all due respect, but: are they insane??? (Over here this is an import liquor, too - but 10-20$ is the absolute max that you would pay, anywhere...)

best
kai

dug wrote:does anyone know who is creating the floral designs?they are stunning!how often are they changed?

i'm going to answer my my own query here,the floral designer collaborating with chef gras is tony polega from BUCKIETY [polish for bouquet],and these exqusite arrangements are attended to weekly.they certainly adhere to the avant garde pure simple design aesthetic and have tremendous impact amidst such austere surroundings.if you think about it in a room devoid of tradition artworks on the wall these floral designs are the art!

Finally went to L20 last Saturday evening. I'm still digesting the experience (hopefully more figuratively than literally).

While I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, not everything was great. I'm certainly glad I went, but am not sure that the expense can be justified. I don't know if this is a meal I'm going to be talking about a year from now.

My husband and I went to celebrate his birthday. The menu had a generic "Happy Birthday" on it, which was nice - - but other than that, no acknowledgment of the celebration (we didn't really care, but thought others might want to know that they don't do anything with candles or comp a special dessert). We went with the 12 course meal. Hubby had the wine pairing; I just had two pours b/c I was driving. The meal took more than four hours.

WINE - The wine was a highlight. Hubby was good enough to let me taste all of the wines. The sommelier, Chantal, was personable, knowledgeable, and had great timing. The wine was there in time to enjoy the food. Because the menu is largely seafood, the wine pairing focused on whites. The highlight was definitely a 10-year Riesling. I had never had one before, and don't often adore whites, so this was a real treat. The only strange thing is that our server was trying to get us NOT to order the wine pairing. She thought that we "might not like all the wines," and "might be happier with a few bottles." The only explanation we can come up with is that the pairing is $90 and she thought she might generate a larger time with a few bottles, which would almost certainly cost more than $90. The other thing to note is that the "glasses" are really pours. My pour of Riesling was probably about 3 ounces; the pour of pinot noir was probably around 4 ounces. I thought the pours were a bit light and together cost nearly $40. The 12 pours with the wine pairing at $90 are a far better "value." Had I known that the pours were so small, I would likely have ordered myself a half bottle.

FOOD - We didn't take notes and the tasting menu has one-word labels, so I'll do my best to describe the highlights and lowlights. The summer menu had a lot of tomatoes and potatoes. The highlights were the lobster/morel dish, the halibut, and the jackfish. The lobster/morel dish was by far our favorite. There were two lobster quenelles (looking like egg yolks) in a lobster broth with 5-6 earthy delicious morels. Big yum. The halibut dish had far more going on. It wasn't quite as tasty as the lobster dish, but was quite interesting. There were tomato "tubes" around cherry tomatoes. Also seemingly pickled cucumber squares with yellow spinach (?) that looked like basil. Okay, so there was more going on with this dish. A lot more. But, memory isn't serving me and I don't want to describe anything incorrectly. The dish was served with a separate bowl of light buttery mashed potatoes. They were really unnecessary. The last dish, the jackfish, was splendid. It was described as mackerel, so I was concerned about fishiness, but it wasn't at all fishy. Two of the desserts were good - - the cannale and the prailine souffle.

I think the bread deserves it's own paragraph. It was wonderful, but really didn't go with many of the courses. In my opinion, the best breads were the demi-baguette, the anchovy, and the bacon epi. I mean, bacon bread with grainy mustard?!! Excuse me?!! This bacon bread is a meal in and of itself. I asked our server what they do with the bread at the end of the night. The server said that they throw it away. They have not been able to donate it and won't let the staff have any of it to take home. I thought this was strange and too bad. As we were there past 11pm, I was tempted to request a take out bag of bacon bread. I resisted.

There were a few dishes that weren't winners. I really didn't care for the king salmon, mainly because the salmon was cooked medium well. I almost said something, but decided not to. I was surprised that it was cooked so thoroughly. The grouper, too, was cooked far to much for my tastes, but not as much as the salmon. A strange touch, the grouper had bee pollen on it. One of the desserts included a very sour carrot pop rocks-like liquid. My husband really disliked it. I thought it was palatable, but probably only because I'm one of those people who likes sweet tarts and sour patch kids. He also disliked the mango dessert, whereas I enjoyed this one.

One dish that disappointed me, but that I didn't actually dislike, was the shabu shabu. The butterfish in the dish was delicious, but I felt that dipping it in the kombu broth didn't add anything. I was happier just dipping the raw fish in the ponzu (which I did with the last slice).

All in all, I enjoyed the meal, but don't think I'll be running back given the expense.

(note: posted this as well on another site, so apologies for the duplication - - just thought more folks might be interested here)

As it turns out, I made reservations at L20 for a four-person birthday party (me and my three daughters, all born around summertime) just this morning. If I had read Reb's review first, I might have thought twice.

David Hammond wrote:As it turns out, I made reservations at L20 for a four-person birthday party (me and my three daughters, all born around summertime) just this morning. If I had read Reb's review first, I might have thought twice.

I'm not sure you should let one less-than-glowing review discourage you.

David,

Please don't let my review discourage you. The meal was extremely good. It just wasn't perfect. I didn't love everything, and that's okay. I'm sure much of it is preference, not error by the kitchen. And, given the cost, I wanted to express my areas of disappointment, however minor.

If there's anything I might clarify/add for you to aid in your decision making, please let me know. I'd hate to think that you'd miss a meal you might thoroughly enjoy because of my one less-than-entirely-glowing review.

REB wrote:David,

Please don't let my review discourage you. The meal was extremely good. It just wasn't perfect. I didn't love everything, and that's okay. I'm sure much of it is preference, not error by the kitchen. And, given the cost, I wanted to express my areas of disappointment, however minor.

If there's anything I might clarify/add for you to aid in your decision making, please let me know. I'd hate to think that you'd miss a meal you might thoroughly enjoy because of my one less-than-entirely-glowing review.

Hey REB, no problem. Reservations are made; daughters are jazzed about opportunity to eat at a place like this, so we're going. And I appreciate your willingness to sound a slightly negative note in an otherwise resounding symphony of approval for this place.

I think, though, that if I got overdone fish, I'd sqawk, though I can understand your, or anyone's, reticence in a place like this.

David,

Great! I can't wait to read your review. And, perhaps, slightly tempered, rather than sky high, expectations will allow you to have an even more wonderful meal than we had. Enjoy!

REB

I have a quick observation about the Kampachi "foie gras" or in other instances Monkfish "foie gras." Perhaps, it's splitting hairs on my part, but isn't it somewhat disingenuous to refer to it as "foie gras."

My point is that duck or goose foie gras isn't merely duck or goose liver but rather duck or goose liver that is the result of how the fowl has been raised and fed. In the case of Kampachi or Monkfish, unless the fish are farm raised in a certain manner to create a liver that on the palate is substantially different than the livers of fish in the wild, then it isn't really fois gras but rather merely a fish liver that naturally approximates the texture of duck/goose foie.

BTW, this splitting of hairs isn't meant to take away from the wonderful reviews of L2O. Everything looks fantastic. I can't wait to visit, and Chicago is very lucky to have this restaurant.