Want to know what's on the menu at Mado tonight? Well, thanks to the interwent, now you can.

My friend Wyatt has done up a new site for them and made it easy for them to update the menus as well as post announcements, post past pics, and so on. Like so much at Mado, it's simply done but spot on. Go here:

http://www.madorestaurantchicago.com/

Note that some of the tasty images are Steve Z's, from one of these threads.

Yes, kudos to Wyatt. The revised Mado website is excellent (said so in today's Local Beet column). It's great that a place like Mado, with an always evolving menu, can have a web site like this.

In other Mado news that some may know, there should be porchetta on the menu today. Get it for the green sauce made by my wife! Also, Mado's Aniversary Dinner is April 19. No better way to see the fuss then at this blow-out dinner.

Biased as I am, I have to also add that dinner last night just really hit all my buttons. Fatty, suet on toast; part-y, tongue salad; inspired, duck egg carbonara, and over-the-top, if a bowl full of guanciale was not enough, they brought out the full array of award winning sweets to leave us very well stuffed for the concert up next.

Oh yawn, another excellent Mado Sunday family dinner. This one in honor of their 1st anniversary, a well-deserved milestone.

Some particular highlights for me, which might be on the menu if you go this week and are lucky:

• Excellent testa, a bit of charcuterie that has only improved over time (since this). They also debuted their housemade prosciutto, which was too salty, but still, for a first effort had admirably clean flavor, this is the kind of thing where you really taste how good the non-factory pork is.

• Fresh smelts, filleted (!) and cured with preserved lemons.

• Radishes and whipped butter, couldn't be simpler, and a tantalizing reminder of how much good stuff is coming soon to the farmer's markets.

• Tagliatelle with rabbit, the best pasta dish I've had there yet, the slightly sweet stewed rabbit a really nice, gentle game flavor for the silky pasta.

• Wood-fired striped bass, served whole (forcing every table to wrestle with how to serve such a thing-- we said whole animal cooking, folks!)

• Porchetta, good as it was, outclassed by its sides-- some wonderful big nutty white beans called judeon beans, and a simple arugula salad, another, peppery reminder of spring produce coming soon.

• A subtle, not-too-sweet blueberry cream chocolate birthday cake for dessert.

In a year Mado has grown into a place that not only has a tangible connection with its farmers, but one with its customers, too, doing a better job than any other place I know of making seasonality and localness a visible, understandable basis for what you're served. Happy anniversary to one of the best new restaurants in town (it must be true, Chicago magazine says so).

Last night's food was fantastic even if the meal stretched well over 4 hours. I was a huge fan of the ramps with romesco and the cured smelt. The pasta course was excellent as well. Mike, I agree with you in that the porchetta was good, but the arugula and marinated beans carried the course.

Mado continues to put spectacular and simple dishes out to enjoy. The house was packed last night and the food was great.

Mike does a great job of describing last night's dinner. It was a long one, but well worth it. We arrived before the 6pm starting time and didn't leave until after 11pm. I never felt, though, that we were waiting too long for food. We sat happily, sharing 2 1/2 bottles of wine among the three of us. It was a great way to end a rainy day and forget about work the next day. We had no complaints.

For me, highlights included the moist testa, the grilled ramps in romesco, the rubarb crisp dessert, and the rabbit paparadelle. And, VitalInformation's lovely wife's salsa verde really made the porchetta. We asked for some extra and the friendly staff quickly brought us out a dish. Great stuff.

Can't wait for the next family style dinner. For anyone who hasn't been to Mado or who has been to one of their "regular" meals, I'd really suggest a family style dinner. It's a completely different experience, and in my opinion, the best thing Mado does.

Ronna

I need to thank LTH for bringing Mado to my attention. Had a great meal there this weekend:
Country pate with their homemade sourdough, mustard and pickled fennel.
Smelt with preserved lemons
Sweetbreads with romescu sauce.
A salad with croutons, a fried egg and pickled tongue (a play on salade Lyonaisse)
Three desserts: the rhubarb crisp and fool combo, migas bark, and shortbread.

Food was great, service friendly, and with the BYOB, the cost a steal. I then re-watched the Sky Full of Bacon video on their preparation of a pig's head and gained a further appreciation for what the folks at this place are up to.

Jonah

I then re-watched the Sky Full of Bacon video on their preparation of a pig's head and gained a further appreciation for that the folks at this place are up to.

Thanks, it is always nice to get some feedback.

jesteinf joined me for a terrific dinner at Mado last night. While everything was delicious, the highlight by far was this off- dinner-menu item that the kitchen put together for us:

Ronnie_suburban's brunch photo of blood sausage with duck egg and toasted cornbread


I think they were offering the blood sausage as part of the charcuterie plate, but chef Levitt knew we had seen Ronnie's post, and graciously offered to recreate the exact dish. I'd love the blood sausage on its own too, but the three components together really sang.

We also had:
- the country pate, which reminded me again that chef Levitt is as good as it gets at making meat taste like meat.
- the house-cured smelt, painstakingly deboned anchovy-style, and cured with a perfectly balanced concoction that let you know it was cured, but didn't let you forget that you were also eating straight-up delicious fish.
- handmade pasta with chicken, the highlight of which was the light but intensely-flavored reduced stock that served as a sauce.
- rabbit confit, which was no-doubt delicious, but less memorable right now, either because I ate it after too much wine, or because everything else was just so darn great.
- rhubarb fool with a rhubarb crisp, giving me another reason to be happy that spring has arrived. This and a yogurt pudding are my favorite of Allie Levitt's desserts.
- shortbread, the one thing at Mado that everybody else seems to love, and I don't particularly enjoy.

The dish pictured above was flat out ridiculous and one of the best things I've eaten in a long time.

I hadn't been back to Mado since the first time I went which was shortly after they opened. My first meal was ok, but certainly not at the level that subsequent reports put the place. Now after going back I see what the big deal is.

jesteinf wrote:I hadn't been back to Mado since the first time I went which was shortly after they opened. My first meal was ok, but certainly not at the level that subsequent reports put the place. Now after going back I see what the big deal is.

We'll now have to get you to a monthly Sunday dinner. Then we'll have you fully converted.

Ronna

REB wrote:We'll now have to get you to a monthly Sunday dinner. Then we'll have you fully converted.

Speaking of which, I received this notice earlier this week:

e-mail from Mado wrote:our next mado family dinner
will feature a variety of products from
the Stewards of the Land

Sunday, May 17th
6:00 pm
$65 per person
not inclusive of tax or gratuity

Stewards of the Land: Mission

To create, maintain, and support the family farm, to help them become and remain sustainable and profitable, and to provide the same opportunity for future generations.

To provide fresh, healthy, chemical-free foods of the highest quality - directly to the tables of those who have a deep sense of appreciation for the connection to the land. We are committed to a sustainable future for our families, our land and our communities.

Stewards grow a huge variety of fruits, vegetables, and heirloom plants and raise wide range of poultry and meats.

Our products are sold at farmer’s markets, to local food shops and grocery stores, and to high-end restaurants across the area.

Fruits & Vegetables - Lettuces, tomatoes, radishes, zucchini, cucumbers, berries, peaches, apples, and much, much more

Poultry & Meat - Beef, pork, cheese, eggs, chicken, turkey & goat products

Wild Plants & Seeds - Wild Leeks, paw paws, wild nettle, and prairie flower

Grains & Flour - Indian corn, Iroquois White Cornmeal,Whole Wheat Flour

OUR FARMS

The farms of our Stewards are all located within a 50 mile radius from Fairbury, Illinois, a small farming community nestled among large fields of commercially-grown corn and soybeans.

We are working to maximize the potential yields of specialty crops on our family farms. With the increased yield per acre, we are able to create revenue streams that are giving our children the hope of staying on the farm and enjoying the benefits of simple, clean, and refreshing farm life.

=R=

Once again the N.Y. Times does a better job of framing Chicago's local food scene than most of the local press.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/travel/31bites.html?scp=1&sq=mado&st=cse

Finally made it to Mado and am wowed. Pretty full on a Wednesday, thanks to the NYT article, and I am not sure if the crowd always looks as intellectual as they did last night, though I can say for sure that the guys at the next table were there due to the NYT, and this is the first time I have discussed Libertarian economics versus environmentalism, if briefly, with a waitress. Brainy looking crowd.

And the food.

Cured smelts, delectable. Preparation reminded me more of white sardines with exquisite olive oil than smelts (and does Lake Erie count as local?), but grand in any case.

Head cheese was an interesting and much more enjoyable variation. More finely ground and subtly flavored than what I have tasted and not liked so much in the past. Had some crunch in there, too.

Corned beef tongue on toast with mustard and a tiny sprinkle of salt crystals was the smoothest and most luxurious corned beef I have ever experienced. Repeatedly recommended by the waitress and we were glad we finally submitted.

Arugula salad with slivers of this and that crispy vegetable was good.

Grilled asparagus with the largest darned duck egg I have ever seen suffered only in comparison to a similar dish I had last week at Vie - sort of like deciding which incredibly beautiful woman is preferable, if you know what I mean.

Wood grilled sweetbreads were probably the high point. Nice rub, great hickory flavor, slight crust and tender and sweet inside.

The only thing that came close to a disappointment was the mixed grill - pork heart and sausage with judeon beans and mustard greens. It looked very pretty and probably would have been great earlier, but after two hours of grazing, and a whole lot of wonderful wine, the stakes were high, and I found the heart underseasoned and unexciting, the sausage very tasty but a wee bit dry and the greens and beans fine, but nothing special. A fine dish really, but it paled in comparison to what came before.

Finished with the Migas Bark, in part for the amusement of my dining companion, who was up from Austin.

Excellent ingredients, simple but very well executed preparations, and a good palate behind it all, at least for what I ordered that night. Nicely seasoned and interestingly composed dishes, confident, but not showy.

Comparisons with Bonsoiree above are interesting as I had considered going there or S&S first, before settling on Mado. Having only experienced each one once, I had a much better, and less expensive, meal at Mado. I do plan to go to both Mado & Bonsoiree again sometime, though most likely Mado much sooner, so I can get a second experience. I think that what is being done at Mado is much more interesting, but only if one likes offal, I suppose.

We ate and drank and I found the final bill, $36 each, a true bargain for all the handcrafted delights. No shortcuts there. Probably will stick with the antipasti and charcuterie/salumi next time, and try an older riesling as an accompaniment.

dicksond wrote: Probably will stick with the antipasti and charcuterie/salumi next time, ...

... and, might I suggest, whatever the current trout preparation is.

dicksond wrote:Finally made it to Mado and am wowed.

Thanks for the excellent report! The "beautiful woman" analogy was amusing & especially informative - I totally get your drift, and hope to give the grilled asparagus a try.

That tears it, I think Mado might have to move to the top of the "next to hit" list.

dicksond wrote:Corned beef tongue on toast with mustard and a tiny sprinkle of salt crystals was the smoothest and most luxurious corned beef I have ever experienced. Repeatedly recommended by the waitress and we were glad we finally submitted.

Glad to see it was on the main menu, as I believe it was originally intended just for brunch. I had it last Friday when I ate at Mado, but only because I had seen Rob tweet about it (yes, KennyZ, I'm pointing that out for you!) and had asked about it when he called to confirm my reservation. He said to ask the server nicely when we came in, which we did, and she happily brought us out a serving. Rob even came out to talk with us - likely wondering what weirdos would call ahead to specially request the tongue.
As to the tongue itself, I would agree that it was smooth, dense and luxurious. I would have liked a bit more salt (rare that you'd say that about corned beef), but it looks like that's now been addressed with the sprinkle at service time.

dicksond wrote:The only thing that came close to a disappointment was the mixed grill - pork heart and sausage with judeon beans and mustard greens. It looked very pretty and probably would have been great earlier, but after two hours of grazing, and a whole lot of wonderful wine, the stakes were high, and I found the heart underseasoned and unexciting, the sausage very tasty but a wee bit dry and the greens and beans fine, but nothing special. A fine dish really, but it paled in comparison to what came before.

How funny - I loved the heart. It was simple, but rich and meaty. The sausage, I would agree, was probably the only miss of the evening for me (we ordered a lot of things between two people, all fantastic). Though I don't claim to be a master, I've made my fare share of sausage and I think the issue may have been the bind. Once ground and seasoned, you mix the cold meat vigorously (I used a Kitchenaid) until it changes texture - it's this process that makes sausage feel like sausage, not ground meat in a casing. I've done it improperly before (too much mixing, not enough mixing, not cold enough, etc) and had a resulting texture like what was at Mado where the fat separates and melts off, leaving slightly dry, mealy meat.

Anyway, I need to get showered and cleaned up as I have an 8:30 reservation at Mado tonight - looking forward to porchetta! Mado does the best rendition I've ever had and through knowledge gained by following @madorestaurant on Twitter (see how useful Twitter is, KennyZ?) I know that they happen to have it on the menu tonight. This time, unlike last Friday, I'll bring a memory card in my camera and snap some pics.

-Dan

Dan,

Do me a favor, tweet me a description of the porchetta, and while you're @it, pass my congratulations on to @Rob and Allie for the NYT article. You can find me @ @kennytweets

When pig hearts sing.

Kenny

dansch wrote:This time, unlike last Friday, I'll bring a memory card in my camera and snap some pics.

I'll double tweet you about the memory card, that way we can see a few pics of the corned tongue.

I love corned tongue, pretty much every Jewish deli has, or at least used to have, tongue.

Another great meal at Mado last night and I finally remembered a memory card for my camera:

Beets and carrots with creme fraiche dressing and almonds


Salted fish with spring onions, chili flake, and olive oil


Ramp tagliatelle with pork ragu


Porchetta with chick peas, greens and salsa verde


Rob and team continue to do a fantastic job. Aside from loving the food, I'm a big fan of the atmosphere & service (which is quite casual, but extremely warm and they're all excited about the food). It was definitely busier last night than it was when I went on Friday, so it looks like the NYT article must be driving some traffic.

-Dan

tonight: beets with craime fraiche, tongue on rye, braised pork leg with chickpeas and judion beans, trout with radishes and watercress, buffalo ricotta with honey, and chocolate-butterscotch tart.

Not one of the above dishes could be described as less than outstanding. The sweetness of the beets was balanced by the subtle tang of the craime fraiche. The tongue reminded me of NYC deli tongue without the over salting, with a much cleaner flavor, and with a beautifully tender, thicker-cut texture. The pork leg had the tenderness of a great braise, but maintained quite a bit of pleasant chew without being at all dry. It was served in a flavorful stock flecked with hot pepper flakes that made the whole dish sing. Atop the dish was a perfectly fried, runny egg. Why? Because in restaurants these days, anything with a fried egg sells. The trout was a good as all of Mado's trout preparations. The buffalo ricotta was incredibly light and rich at the same time, and the honey was terrific. I protested just a bit the order of the second dessert because I'm not a huge chocolate pastry fan, and I'd rather have Allie's yogurt pudding than just about anything else. I’m glad I lost, as the tart was such a treat, with it's chocolate-cookie-like shell and rich butterscotch flavor.

I've loved Mado from its very early days, but the place just seems to get better and better.

I'm super, super excited about the recently-announced bistecca dinner. Here's the menu:

bistecca fiorentina dinner
tuesday, july 21st
through sunday, july 26th

antipasti
crostini toscano:
tuscan chicken liver paté on crostini

pasta
pappardelle con lepre:
house-made pasta with rabbit ragú

entrée
bistecca fiorentina:
charcoal-grilled porterhouse steak*

sides
fagioli al fiasco
wild arugula salad

dessert
cenci

$90

serves 2 family-style

call or email us for reservations
773.342.2340
madorestaurant@att.net

*in the tuscan tradition, the bistecca will not be cooked beyond medium-rare

http://www.madorestaurantchicago.com/whatsnew.html

Like the Bristol, Mado seems to change parts of its menu regularly as I couldn't find a few of the items we ordered on Friday.

The standout for me were the intestines. It was much more elegantly explained on the menu but after looking it up today, it appears they have replaced that dish with the sweetbreads and sausage. Similar option but a completely different preparation.

My GF will try more adventurous choices but often dislikes them, or doesn't enjoy them as much as I do. But the guts were delicious. It had the taste but it was masked just enough by the sauce (again, can't name the ingredients but was essentially like a spicy red sauce) to make it palatable for someone who may have never had tripe before.

The beef heart was great too. I have tried making heart at home and it comes out usually tough...edible but tough. Mado's was fantastic. It had some bite to it but it was tender, similar to a rare to medium rare steak. It still had the gamey taste that I love though. However, it looks like the pork heart option has been removed already, which would have been my second choice that evening.

The service was fantastic. Not invasive but when asked for suggestions, she had knowledge and great recommendations. Lastly, a HUGE thanks for the FOH staff member that ran out to hand us the shopping bag we forgot under the table.

We had one of the best meals that we have had in months at Mado this evening. We supplemented the Bistecca Fiorentina dinner with an order of the tripe and a few other small plates. The meal started with chicken liver pate on a really light crostini. The pate was wonderfully rich, yet very light in texture. The care taken with making this dish was obvious. Next came the pappardelle in rabbit sugo. It resembled very closely the pasta dish from the anniversary dinner and was excellent. My wife continues to marvel at the toothiness of the pasta. Then came the steak. A three pound porterhouse blasted to a nice char on the outside while maintaining a rare interior. It qualifies as the best steak I have eaten. In fact, the bite or two (or more) of fat off of this monster would qualify as the best steak that I have had in years. The meal concluded with a light, crispy fried dough, cenci, covered in local honey and powdered sugar. It was a great end to a truly great meal.

Been to Mado twice this month, once for the above-described Florentine steak dinner, and once for a Saturday night dinner for 6. I feel like I'm running out of things to write about Mado. It's just really good food that draws me in again and again. I occasionally have dishes that don't work for me: sliced rare beef hearts, for example, are not really something I need ever try again. But Rob and Allie seemed to find the perfect balance of experimenting with new things that keep the restaurant exciting, while maintaining enough old standbys to give the place a comfortable, homey vibe.

A nice honor for Mado, with which I couldn't agree more (even if the dish they chose doesn't sound like one I'd have chosen, but I'm sure it's good):

Mado named one of Bon Appetit's top ten new restaurants

Hmm, wonder who took that picture?

Mike G wrote:A nice honor for Mado, with which I couldn't agree more (even if the dish they chose doesn't sound like one I'd have chosen, but I'm sure it's good):

I've tried the dish, and it's among the least interesting things I've had there. Should have noted their varied trout preparations, methinks.

Kennyz wrote:I occasionally have dishes that don't work for me: sliced rare beef hearts, for example, are not really something I need ever try again.

As someone who benefited from you not eating your share of that heart earlier this month, I just wanted to point out that you really did mean that it didn't work for you. I thought that the heart - served rare with its juices flowing in to the garlic-rubbed toast it was served on, topped with some sort of charred chilies - was delicious.

-Dan

dansch wrote:

Kennyz wrote:I occasionally have dishes that don't work for me: sliced rare beef hearts, for example, are not really something I need ever try again.

As someone who benefited from you not eating your share of that heart earlier this month, I just wanted to point out that you really did mean that it didn't work for you. I thought that the heart - served rare with its juices flowing in to the garlic-rubbed toast it was served on, topped with some sort of charred chilies - was delicious.

-Dan

I was going to say it if Dan wasn't: the heart is the one dish I can still clearly taste and appreciate ten days later. Perfectly cooked heart and thick homemade garlic toast topped with salted, charred melrose peppers transporting me back to my grandma's Italian basement kitchen. One of the simplest and most effective dishes I've had at Mado. I actually thought the steak (while delicious) the weakest part when the hearts, those beans, and the rabbit noodles were on the menu.

Santander wrote:Perfectly cooked heart

Perhaps, but a well seasoned, evenly grilled rubber tire is still a rubber tire. Glad you guys liked it though

Pictorial tour of the Bistecca Fiorentina dinner (my first trip to Mado). Lighting did not make for optimal picture-taking circumstances.

Warning: post may contain intense meat visuals!

Perfectly cooked heart...served rare with its juices flowing onto thick homemade...garlic-rubbed toast it was served on topped with salted, charred melrose peppers

Charcuterie platter


Roasted Summer Squash, cherry tomatoes and ricotta?


Tripe in the style of an Italian city I have forgotten:


Cured smelt, preserved lemon. Wow.


Crostini Toscano (with chicken liver pate)

the rabbit noodles

(Pappardelle con lepre)

A three pound porterhouse blasted to a nice char on the outside while maintaining a rare interior.

Rare interior

those beans

Cenci


Migas Bark


Yogurt Sponge Pudding


After-Dinner Peas


Lucky Dog


Edited to fix image issues