Mado - A Pictorial Feast

I had the good fortune of making my first visit to Mado last week. I was accompanied by G Wiv and Kennyz who are both well versed in the wonders of Mado. After asking Chef Rob Levitt to "hook us up", I was treated to a wonderful feast of thoughtfully prepared, rustic, locally-focused dishes.

Overall the food was very good. I enjoyed some of the dishes more than others, but all were good and well prepared.

White Bean Soup with Cracklin' Corn Bread


Panini with House-smoked Ham


Smoked Trout with Chopped Egg, Radicchio and Mustard Crème Fraîche


Marinated Sunchokes with Lemon & Parsley


Roasted Beets with Pistachios


Charcuterie Plate with Testa and Chicken Liver Pate


Frisee Salad with Pickled Pork Tongue, Fingerling Potatoes, Truffle Vinaigrette and Fried Egg


Guanciale on Toast


Toast with Truffled Butter and Fried Egg




Casuela with Tripe, Braised Pork, White Beans and Egg


Trout with Confit of Pork Belly, Lemon and Sea Salt


Orange Semolina Cake


Citrus Yogurt Pudding with Candied Grapefruit


Migas Bark and Shortbread Cookies


Mado
1647 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL
773-342-2340

Steve,

Beautiful pictures, as usual. I'm especially glad that your camera captured how gorgeous those beets were, because they were at least as tasty as they were photogenic. Though beets do store quite well, before this meal I had started to believe that they were done for the season, after a few lackluster ones at other restaurants. These beets, which Rob said were from Werp Farm, were phenomenal. I think he said they were actually fresh dug from a hoop house, and not actually storage beets at all.

Kenny

I have to thank the folks at Mado for getting me to try sunchokes - they are much easier to deal with than jicama, and are even more delicious. I did this at home, it couldn't be more simple - mandoline up some sunchokes, dress with lemon juice, zest, and parsley.

The spread looks incredibly rich and delicious, steve! Nice work!

What stands out for me with Mado’s food is how the chef stands back, letting the power of the ingredients punch through. The beets, guanciale on toast, sunchokes with lemon and parsley, all simple stuff, prepared with restraint, as though the more the stuff is touched, the less it will be.

David Hammond wrote:What stands out for me with Mado’s food is how the chef stands back, letting the power of the ingredients punch through. The beets, guanciale on toast, sunchokes with lemon and parsley, all simple stuff, prepared with restraint, as though the more the stuff is touched, the less it will be.

I'll agree wih you there, Mr. Hammond; although I will admit to messing with the equation a bit by taking a piece of the Guanciale on Toast and a piece of the Toast with Truffled Butter and Fried Egg and combining them into a pretty tasty "ham and egg" breakfast sandwich.

nice pics steve,

I see Mado offers quite a few dishes with one of my favorite toppings... a yolky sunnyside up egg. I may have to give this place a try someday.