Oh my God, Schwa's fed Kenny!

I've been waiting a year to say that.

MikeG wrote wrote:Oh my God, Schwa's fed Kenny!

The rain this weekend was the angels weeping for joy.

I haven't checked yet to see if dogs and cats are living together.

Apparently, I also have 2 Twitser accounts now, so the times they are a changin'.

How far out can you make reservations? I'm pretty busy with work through the holidays.

Stephen wrote:How far out can you make reservations? I'm pretty busy with work through the holidays.

when you call you'll hear a message (if you catch it when the mailbox isn't full) that tells you how far out they are taking reservations.

Thanks Kenny!

FYI, they're currently taking reservations through the end of November.

FWIW, in the past month and a half, I've sent two people to Schwa.

Both called in the afternoon and got Michael on the line first try. Both were eating at Schwa that night or the next.

I don't mean to suggest that this is typical, but it happens.

I called this past Saturday and had a choice of reservations for two for early on Monday or late on Wednesday.

Does anyone know if this place is open for NYE?
that could be fun...


thanks!

heinz wrote:Does anyone know if this place is open for NYE?
that could be fun...


thanks!

not open

I called a couple days before NYE and left them a message on their voicemail. I still have yet to hear back from them. How soon should I wait before trying again?

they took 5 weeks to respond to my voice message

i think the best strategy is just to keep calling, stick to mid-afternoons, probably between 4-6, someone will answer eventually

We're going to Schwa on Thursday. Any suggestions on wine/beer pairings with the current menu?

Sweetbread wrote:If anyone here is going to Schwa, Mado, or Bon Soiree anytime soon, make sure you hit up Red and White as they seem very well-connected to all three restaurants and their current menus.

Red And White Wines
http://www.redandwhitechicago.com
1861 N. Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 486-4769

Is this menu up to date? Anyone sampled it?

amuse



henricks gin

cucumber, rose, coriander



french onion soup



phad thai

whitefish roe

white asparagus, black garlic, bacon



cobia

smoke, watermelon, red pepper



pickled beef tongue
fig, natto, tea



rabbit

peaches, gumballhead, wheatgrass



cheese



dessert

tropics wrote:Is this menu up to date? Anyone sampled it?

This menu is well over a year old. I can tell you that as of December 2009, they were no longer doing anything from this menu (though they were still playing with "flavors of Hendrick's Gin").
--Rich

I ate there last week and this is the menu we were served:

Amuse
(Oatmeal oyster shooter)

Crab
pine, mushroom, plantain

Apple Pie Soup
cheddar, savory, chestnut

Tagliatelle
huckleberries, black truffle, veal heart

(quail egg ravioli)

Maki
green curry, rootbeer

Tiger Fish
carrot, marshmallow, cardamon

Biscuits and Gravy
sweetbreads, gravy, mustard

Pork
zucchini, garlic, white anchovy

Cheese (chimay cheese puff w/ chimay foam)

Dessert
(1 - celery root cake w/ celery stem puree, white chocolate, and caramelized banana)
(2 - violet infused cones with white chocolate foam, beet ice cream and a red peppercorn)


Sorry for the lack of details but that should give you a decent idea. I brought a Gruner Veltliner and a Rose which worked nicely with all of the courses but I wish I would have had a red for the B&G and pork dishes.

The apple pie soup was probably my favorite dish of the night (other than the ravioli, of course).

I ate there last week and this is the menu we were served:

This is what we ate as well, on Thursday night.

I brought a Gruner Veltliner and a Rose which worked nicely with all of the courses but I wish I would have had a red for the B&G and pork dishes.

We had a sparkling rose and a Portugese red that was bright and full of aromatics. Delicious. Although I drank way too much of it.

wow... that latest menu looks amazing. will be testing it out in a few weeks, can't wait.

Headed to Schwa on the 4th of February for the first time! Quite excited, Any wine recommendations for this recent menu? I am not the brightest when it comes to wine pairings, also should we bring our own stemware?

tmo454 wrote:Headed to Schwa on the 4th of February for the first time! Quite excited, Any wine recommendations for this recent menu? I am not the brightest when it comes to wine pairings, also should we bring our own stemware?

You won't need your own stemware, unless you're particular about what you drink your wine out of. They have those stemless wine glasses for you to use.

As for pairings, we brought a split of champagne for the starter courses, one good, all-purpose white & one good, all-purpose red for the entree/main courses, and a split of dessert wine for the desserts. You hand over your wines when you're seated, and they keep them in the back for you & bring them out as needed.

If you let the chefs know you're okay with sharing your wines, they'll pool them in the back with the bottles of all of that evening's other patrons who were also okay with sharing, and will find you suitable pairings from the now-communal bottles to go with each course.

tmo454 wrote:Headed to Schwa on the 4th of February for the first time! Quite excited, Any wine recommendations for this recent menu? I am not the brightest when it comes to wine pairings, also should we bring our own stemware?

Based on the description of the menu, I think you want to stay away from heavy weight wines. For a white, I think a dry Reisling (Kabinett) from Germany or an Austrian Gruner Veltliner would work. For red, I would look towards a mid-weight Pinot Noir such as a village-level Burgundy or Oregon Pinot. For the cheese and dessert, it looks like a sweet white would be the ticket, so a Sauternes or from Germany an Auslese or TBA Reisling. Just my thoughts based on reading what's been posted.

Any insider tips for getting a reservation? Is persistence important or does that annoy Schwa?

I honestly just called twice and each time they called me back.

The first time was probably about 3 months ago left a message and they called about 4 weeks later however I missed their call.... I called back about 2 minutes after the missed call and got the dreaded answering machine, left another message. They called a few weeks later. I answered and they happily took my reservation. I am not certain that calling and leaving 100's of messages will make it happen any sooner but this was my path:) I think patience over persistence. I have no experience with this other that the attempt described above though.


Oh and thanks to the two who responded to my question. Cheers

-Tony

backorforth wrote:Any insider tips for getting a reservation? Is persistence important or does that annoy Schwa?

I realize that it's a little cumbersome to read through 21 pages, but this thread is chock full of tips, advice and counter-advice about getting a reservation at Schwa. It seems counterproductive to me to ask the question when all the information is already here. The responses will just make the thread even harder to navigate. I'd suggest just taking the little while it takes to scan through what's already here.

John Danza wrote:

tmo454 wrote:Headed to Schwa on the 4th of February for the first time! Quite excited, Any wine recommendations for this recent menu? I am not the brightest when it comes to wine pairings, also should we bring our own stemware?

Based on the description of the menu, I think you want to stay away from heavy weight wines. For a white, I think a dry Reisling (Kabinett) from Germany or an Austrian Gruner Veltliner would work. For red, I would look towards a mid-weight Pinot Noir such as a village-level Burgundy or Oregon Pinot. For the cheese and dessert, it looks like a sweet white would be the ticket, so a Sauternes or from Germany an Auslese or TBA Reisling. Just my thoughts based on reading what's been posted.

Do keep in mind that the menu that appears on their website is super old. It hasn't been updated since August 2009.

Khaopaat wrote:

John Danza wrote:

tmo454 wrote:Headed to Schwa on the 4th of February for the first time! Quite excited, Any wine recommendations for this recent menu? I am not the brightest when it comes to wine pairings, also should we bring our own stemware?

Based on the description of the menu, I think you want to stay away from heavy weight wines. For a white, I think a dry Reisling (Kabinett) from Germany or an Austrian Gruner Veltliner would work. For red, I would look towards a mid-weight Pinot Noir such as a village-level Burgundy or Oregon Pinot. For the cheese and dessert, it looks like a sweet white would be the ticket, so a Sauternes or from Germany an Auslese or TBA Reisling. Just my thoughts based on reading what's been posted.

Do keep in mind that the menu that appears on their website is super old. It hasn't been updated since August 2009.

My comments were based on Ziggy's post above, which was the current menu.

John Danza wrote:

Khaopaat wrote:Do keep in mind that the menu that appears on their website is super old. It hasn't been updated since August 2009.

My comments were based on Ziggy's post above, which was the current menu.

D'OH! Sorry about that, should have scrolled up.

http://chicagoist.com/2010/03/15/detail ... lson_o.php