Serious Dining at the Doubletree: Markethouse Restaurant

This place has grabbed little attention despite opening many months ago, and having some seriously pedigreed chefs in the kitchen. It escaped my radar until this week, even though I have an office but two blocks away.

"Heartland classics" are the kitchen's specialty, says the sign out front. My simple lunch included upscaled renditions of American housewife dishes, with many locally farmed ingredients - some coming directly from the hotel's 5th floor garden - replacing their canned counterparts. Corn chowder featured Nichols Farm corn, Benton Country Farm ham, and Anson Mills grits. It had an outstanding smooth, thick texture, and deep, real-corn flavor without any added sweetening that I could detect. A very fine soup that was hearty enough to be a meal. I also had a green bean casserole, which had crisp, barely cooked fresh beans, cream of mushroom sauce featuring fresh shitakes and a rich, earthy flavor, and crispy, very thinly sliced and freshly fried onions. The casserole was nicely seasoned, warming, and delicious.

I'll be back to Markethouse to explore the dinner menu and more of lunch. Thursday nights sounds like a good time, with half-priced wine bottles.

Markethouse
300 E Ohio St
(312) 787-7337

Ate there a few days ago and wasn't wowed. All the veggies I had were cooked well and fresh but absolutely drenched in butter. Rotisserie chicken was OK (Fox and Obells is better) and my martini was too short and watery. Blah. Oh and they were playing smoove jazz.

Sounds intriguing, Kenny.

Here's a link to their 'about us' page:

Markethouse: About Us

The executive chef is Scott Walton and the chef de cuisine is Thomas Rice, who has a pretty impressive resume.

=R=

Ronnie - thanks for the link.

Habibi - yes, the music and certain overly reheared aspects of the service did remind me that I was still in a corporate hotel.

For future info, smooth jazz is neither.

Markethouse was reviewed in the Tribune yesterday. Phil Vettel was hoping people would start giving it some love based on his review because it's tucked away in the hotel and apparently, not very visible to the general public.

As I implied upthread, I think Markethouse struggles a bit to balance the talents of excellent chefs with the culture of a giant hotel chain. For lunch yesterday, I had a terrific salad full of super-fresh ingredients from local farms and the hotel's own garden, plus really terrific house-smoked duck breast. On the down side, the bread service went way downhill. Last time, I received some terrific house-baked fennel-raisin bread. This time it was a pathetic, heat-and-serve style packaged dinner roll. Maybe it was a temporary replacement, but when I noted my disappointment to the server, he said "Yeah, that is a big change."


Smoked Duck Breast Salad:

arugula, mizuna, endive, roasted pears, wild rice, house-smoked duck, herbed creme fraiche


Bread Service:

Blech


Anyway, still some very good things happening at Markethouse, methinks.

Kennyz wrote:For lunch yesterday, I had a terrific salad full of super-fresh ingredients from local farms and the hotel's own garden, plus really terrific house-smoked duck breast.

Glad to see you enjoyed your meal there. We went about three weeks ago and had a really mediocre dinner (mac & cheese was the one highlight). And, while the server mentioned that ingredients came from the restaurant's garden, when the chef came out to chat with us, he mentioned that his garden, because of the cool weather, had been unsuccessful and that everything had already died. We, too, appreciated what the chef is trying to do, given the likely limits of being in a hotel - - but the food wasn't good enough. What was also strange was that the server was pushing the fact that their menu features seasonal ingredients, but the dishes weren't seasonal - - it was mid-September and the menu was already nearly filled with winter comfort foods. I am very interested in there being more and more restaurants focused on using local ingredients. But, I don't think this one is succeeding just yet.

Ronna

REB wrote:

Kennyz wrote:For lunch yesterday, I had a terrific salad full of super-fresh ingredients from local farms and the hotel's own garden, plus really terrific house-smoked duck breast.

Glad to see you enjoyed your meal there. We went about three weeks ago and had a really mediocre dinner (mac & cheese was the one highlight). And, while the server mentioned that ingredients came from the restaurant's garden, when the chef came out to chat with us, he mentioned that his garden, because of the cool weather, had been unsuccessful and that everything had already died. We, too, appreciated what the chef is trying to do, given the likely limits of being in a hotel - - but the food wasn't good enough. What was also strange was that the server was pushing the fact that their menu features seasonal ingredients, but the dishes weren't seasonal - - it was mid-September and the menu was already nearly filled with winter comfort foods. I am very interested in there being more and more restaurants focused on using local ingredients. But, I don't think this one is succeeding just yet.

Ronna

What did you eat that wasn't so good? Would be helpful to know what to avoid, should I ever decide to go for dinner. Did they give you a different menu than the one posted here, which is the same as the one I've seen when I ate there?* If not, I guess we just have different definitions of what counts as winter comfort food. Almost makes me wonder if we're talking about the same place. I see lots of summer produce featured on that menu, though the inclusion of asparagus is an unfortunate nod to hotel-dining practices, I imagine.


*Note, the menu I linked to is, right now, the menu that I've seen at Markethouse during the last month or so. As of yesterday, there is a new menu which has more fall dishes, but it is not up on the website yet.

Kennyz wrote:

REB wrote:

Kennyz wrote:For lunch yesterday, I had a terrific salad full of super-fresh ingredients from local farms and the hotel's own garden, plus really terrific house-smoked duck breast.

Glad to see you enjoyed your meal there. We went about three weeks ago and had a really mediocre dinner (mac & cheese was the one highlight). And, while the server mentioned that ingredients came from the restaurant's garden, when the chef came out to chat with us, he mentioned that his garden, because of the cool weather, had been unsuccessful and that everything had already died. We, too, appreciated what the chef is trying to do, given the likely limits of being in a hotel - - but the food wasn't good enough. What was also strange was that the server was pushing the fact that their menu features seasonal ingredients, but the dishes weren't seasonal - - it was mid-September and the menu was already nearly filled with winter comfort foods. I am very interested in there being more and more restaurants focused on using local ingredients. But, I don't think this one is succeeding just yet.

Ronna

What did you eat that wasn't so good? Would be helpful to know what to avoid, should I ever decide to go for dinner. Did they give you a different menu than the one posted here, which is the same as the one I've seen when I ate there?* If not, I guess we just have different definitions of what counts as winter comfort food. Almost makes me wonder if we're talking about the same place. I see lots of summer produce featured on that menu, though the inclusion of asparagus is an unfortunate nod to hotel-dining practices, I imagine.


*Note, the menu I linked to is, right now, the menu that I've seen at Markethouse during the last month or so. As of yesterday, there is a new menu which has more fall dishes, but it is not up on the website yet.

Honestly, nothing we ate was awful - - but nothing was memorable, either. The chop salad and iceberg salad were fine. Nothing special, but fine. The meatloaf, too, was ok, but a bit dry and not half as good as something you could make at home. Mini-burgers were bland and cooked to medium well (we ordered medium rare), but we weren't expecting a lot from mini-burgers.

The only real problem was the pork belly. We're fans of Slagel pork and were sad to see this preparation. Not sure what they did to it, but other than a nice crispy crust, it was almost inedible after a bite or two. It had a too thick layer of fat (close to 2 inches?) and the fat wasn't cooked in a way to make it good. I think this preparation would've been fine if it were just a small square of belly atop a dish - - but it was far too fatty to be served on its own. This dish was left on the plate.

Ronna

REB wrote:What was also strange was that the server was pushing the fact that their menu features seasonal ingredients, but the dishes weren't seasonal - - it was mid-September and the menu was already nearly filled with winter comfort foods.

Sounds similar to what Dominick's was complained-about having done (in a discussion elsewhere on LTH) - allegedly misrepresenting some of it's products - only costlier.

Bill wrote:

REB wrote:What was also strange was that the server was pushing the fact that their menu features seasonal ingredients, but the dishes weren't seasonal - - it was mid-September and the menu was already nearly filled with winter comfort foods.

Sounds similar to what Dominick's was complained-about having done (in a discussion elsewhere on LTH) - allegedly misrepresenting some of it's products - only costlier.

Actually, that comparison has little to no validity. As shown in the menu I linked to, the Markethouse menu is very seasonally focused.

Kennyz wrote:Actually, that comparison has little to no validity.

Really? And now you're also deciding what other people believe is valid, and not? You're quick to frequently dismiss the experiences and opinions of others - when they don't jive with your own. The comment appears (for the period the person who posted it was speaking of) valid, and the comparison with earlier allegations about Dominicks seem valid as well.

Kennyz wrote:As I implied upthread, I think Markethouse struggles a bit to balance the talents of excellent chefs with the culture of a giant hotel chain.

Kenny,

I think this is the central conflict that many (if not most) hotel restaurants face, though I've certainly been to successful, enduring restaurants in hotels. I think it was certainly true of the Tramanto ventures in at the Wheeling Westin, which closed for reconcepting relatively soon after they opened. In any event, do you think Markethouse can overcome it or is the trajectory here already determined?

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Kennyz wrote:As I implied upthread, I think Markethouse struggles a bit to balance the talents of excellent chefs with the culture of a giant hotel chain.

Kenny,

I think this is the central conflict that many (if not most) hotel restaurants face, though I've certainly been to successful, enduring restaurants in hotels. I think it was certainly true of the Tramanto ventures in at the Wheeling Westin, which closed for reconcepting relatively soon after they opened. In any event, do you think Markethouse can overcome it or is the trajectory here already determined?

=R=

Ronnie,
It's a good question, and I don't think I'm particularly good at answering it. When I ate at Lockwood shortly after it opened in the Palmer House, I thought it was doomed to hotel sub-mediocrity. I have since had fun, interesting meals there, and with Chef Foss's efforts throughout both the cyber and local communities, Lockwood may well be in it for the long haul. I wish the same for Markethouse, and I think it's just too early to tell what will come to be.

Bill,
Sorry if you thought I was dismissing your ideas, or anyone else's. My intent was merely to disagree with them, not to dismiss them. My choice of words ("little to no validity") may have been a poor one.

Kenny

Per Helen Rosner at GrubStreet, Thomas Rice's time at Markethouse has ended:

Grubstreet.com wrote:Thomas Rice was the opening chef at MarketHouse, the seasonal market-driven restaurant buried in the Streeterville Doubletree Hotel, this past February, and now he's out. Per Rice's twitter, he's looking for new opportunities. Help a brother out? [@RiceThomas]

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Per Helen Rosner at GrubStreet, Thomas Rice's time at Markethouse has ended:

Grubstreet.com wrote:Thomas Rice was the opening chef at MarketHouse, the seasonal market-driven restaurant buried in the Streeterville Doubletree Hotel, this past February, and now he's out. Per Rice's twitter, he's looking for new opportunities. Help a brother out? [@RiceThomas]

=R=

geez, that was fast. Too bad, much harder to find a groove with rapid kitchen turnover. My third visit a couple of weeks ago, fwiw, continued a somewhat downward slide in ingredient quality. On top of the heat-and-serve bread, Markethouse had also replaced house made lemonade with crappy purchased stuff.

Edit: I see from his comment on the grubstreet site that this was apparently a planned ending of his relationship as "consulting chef". Interesting that the Markethouse website never called him that title, and referred to him as Chef de Cuisine instead. My apologies for having participated in the Helen Rosner/ Grubstreet innuendo-over-facts style of journalism.

Rice sounded a little exasperated when I asked him why, in October, so many entrees were accompanied by asparagus.

LAZ wrote:Rice sounded a little exasperated when I asked him why, in October, so many entrees were accompanied by asparagus.

Turned into a Grubstreet headline, this would be "Markethouse Chef Furious About Stinky Piss at the Doubletree"

Who wants to eat inside the Doubletree? I do, at least for the bargain lunch that Markethouse has been serving lately. 7 bucks buys a soup and sandwich, each with fresh, house-made ingredients and excellent "cheffy" touches.


Pear, fontina and house-smoked turkey sandwich, house-made pickled cherry jam, smoked cauliflower soup:


Baked-in-house breads are back in at Markethouse, and locally-minded ingredient sourcing is still the thing. That pickled cherry jam was fantastic - just bursting with flavor. The cauliflower soup was creamy and tasted like pure cauliflower. The smoking must have infused too subtle a flavor for me to discern. This was a very good plate of food.


The Check:


If Markethouse keeps up this lunch deal, I'll be back many times. NB: don't ask the servers too many questions about the food. They don't know the answers.

I was very excited by Kennyz's post about the ridiculously reasonable Markethouse "30 Minute Executive Lunch." I work at Northwestern Law School, and when I don't bring lunch from home, am often left wanting.

Unfortunately, my experience was not quite as transcendent as his, but I'm definitely going to give it another try with a different combo of soup/sandwich (the full list is on the Markethouse website).

While I was waiting for my lunch, they served two warm pieces of bread, one whole-grain and savory, topped with sunflower seeds, and one sweet like pumpkin spice, with nuts. The butter, unfortunately, was hard as a rock, and was barely even melted by the warm bread.

On to the main event: I had the bacon, oven-dried tomato, butterkase grilled cheese sandwich. It had an excellent hint of rosemary (whether from the bread or tomatoes, I'm not sure). The tomatoes were a little skimpy (I was hoping they had been roasted in-season and saved, but that appeared not to be the case). The bacon was nicely meaty, and the bread was perfectly browned. On the whole, the sandwich was quite tasty.

The soup, unfortunately, seemed to have had an extended run-in with a hand blender or something stronger; so much so, that beyond being creamed, it was essentially foamed. The texture wouldn't have been a problem if the cauliflower foam had any flavor. Like Kennyz, I didn't get much "smoke," other than the smoked paprika sprinkled on top (no fancy garnish on mine, either). Unfortunately, I did get an undercurrent of "rubber" - to me, it tasted much like the air you breathe when scuba diving. I tried a little salt and pepper on the top, but it just wasn't worth eating.

I didn't send it back because 1) I was full from the sandwich, 2) it was just so cheap that I felt bad trying to get it replaced, and 3) I WILL go back and try other combinations. The women behind me were raving about the tomato soup, so that and the porcini with pancetta soup are high on my list. Kennyz's sandwich is also up next.

Glad you gave it a try, pamiam.

pamiam wrote:I was very excited by Kennyz's post about the ridiculously reasonable Markethouse "30 Minute Executive Lunch." I work at Northwestern Law School, and when I don't bring lunch from home, am often left wanting.

Unfortunately, my experience was not quite as transcendent as his

I said it was "a very good plate of food". I agree with you: not transcendent.

pamiam wrote:The women behind me were raving about the tomato soup, so that and the porcini with pancetta soup are high on my list. Kennyz's sandwich is also up next.

Haven't had the tomato soup, but I like the porcini and pancetta soup a lot. It's fatty and leaves a bit of a greasy mouthfeel, but the deeply flavored mushroom stock with cured pork accent make it worth the lowered life expectancy. And yeah, the fontina-pear sandwich is quite good - especially the cherry jam accompaniment. Hope you like it!

Subtle post-modern Ohio House series homage.

JeffB wrote:Subtle post-modern Ohio House series homage.

Ouch.

Not sure how much more I can add to the posts above, but I thought I'd chime in saying that I enjoyed the $7 lunch deal at Markethouse today.

I got the shortrib/cheddar sandwich and the smoked cauliflower soup - overall, a good pick. The BBQ sauce on the sandwich was slightly overwhelming, but I enjoyed the balance of meat and melted cheese. They must have modified the recipe of their soup or something, because I picked up a pronounced smokiness. This was the star for me - strong cauliflower flavor and perfectly smooth mouthfeel.

I'll probably return to try out other combos, in particular the porcini/pancetta soup mentioned above. This must be one of the best deals downtown right now. For $7, you get a significant amount of good food (more than enough to satisfy me) AND bread service in a restaurant setting. It makes me feel downright retarded for going to Panera for lunch earlier in the week, where I paid $8 for a much poorer meal.


Edit: to echo Kennyz's comments about the waitstaffs' lack of familiarity with the menu... my lunch companion asked our server what soups did not have a cream base, and he couldn't give us an answer

The $7 "Executive Lunch" at Markethouse is up to $9. Still a good deal.

My fiance and I went to Markethouse last night and had a great time. No pictures unfortunately, but I'll describe what we had. The service was attentive and knowledgeable. The beer selection was decent (though barely, by my standards), and the house-baked bread service was quite good. They gave us slices of a walnut-wheat bread, and a sweet-potato pecan bread spiced with nutmeg. The latter was amazing. I asked the waitress what it was spiced with (wasn't sure if it was clove or something else), and she went to the kitchen to find out for us.

As a starter we got the scallops. Three browned scallops next to a small heap of endive lettuce and melon-balled scoops of beets. It was well-plated, with beet juice drizzled under the scallops in an interesting pattern, and with three different shades of beet on the plate: dark red, medium red, and almost white. Very aesthetic. I'd never had scallops with beet before, and found it to be a great combination. The sweet, succulent, fried flavor of the hot scallops was complemented nicely by the cool, earthy (almost dirty) flavor of the beets.

For main plates, my fiance got the whole trout, and I had half of a rabbit, which was one of their specials that night. The trout was covered in small shavings of duck breast, another combination I'd never tasted before. Delicious. But the rabbit was the highlight of the meal. It came in three cuts: a tenderloin medallion, a forelimb, and a hindlimb/thigh, stacked on top of each other in that order from bottom to top, making a top-heavy Minoan column of hare. This rabbit column stood upright as a sort of "coney island" in the center of a saucy sea. At its base, two sauces divided the plate equally: on the left, a dark and sweet mole sauce, and on the right, a beige rabbit jus, apparently reduced from the rabbit's own juices. Finally, at the front of the plate, straddling both sauces, was a symmetrical garnish of fresh green beans. The rabbit was very tightly breaded and crispy. I started with the thigh and worked my way down. The meat was mostly white, but much sweeter than, say, chicken. It also had quite a bit more connective tissue than I'm used to (though the meat itself was very tender), so I eventually discovered that the best way to eat it was by hand (or perhaps I could have asked for a steak knife). Each cut of meat was subtly different in flavor, though they all had a certain sweetness to them, which was accentuated by the mole sauce, which I think I actually enjoyed more than the rabbit jus. Everything went very well with the Goose Island IPA I was drinking. I saved the tenderloin for last. In form, it was reminiscent of a McDonald's Chicken McNugget, though slightly larger and with much finer and crisper breading. This piece I ate with fork and knife, blissfully swirling it through the sauces.

Finally we split the chocolate pudding for dessert. We wanted to see what they would do with a very simple dish, and we were not disappointed. It was served in a sort of jam jar with hinged lid, next to two warm, silver dollar-sized chocolate-chip cookies. The pudding was topped with raspberries, which were themselves topped with chocolate whipped cream. Beautiful.

I give the Markethouse high marks overall. My only complaints are that they could have had more craft beers on menu, and that they could improve the ambience by playing something more classical than the forever-21-hipster music they had (I swear The Killers came on at one point). With tax and tip, we spent about $50 a person; we had a beer each, no wine. Our two entrees were toward the high end of the menu, and you could definitely spend $40 per person if you choose something more moderate.

Lastly I want to mention that this was on a Saturday night at about 8:00, and the place was practically deserted. I felt really bad for them. More people should eat here, the food is great!

I have had two incredible dinners at MarketHouse the last two weeks. Tonight, I was there with my mom after a show at the Broadway Playhouse and we were pleasantly surprised to find that they have a 3-courses for $20 deal on Sundays. We both opted for it, since the courses sounded delicious. Tonight the special was a field green salad, pea soup, and grilled whole trout. Our waitress was very attentive and knowledgeable. Kennyz and Puppy, it seems like the restaurant is improving in this respect. She knew that the pea soup was broth-based, not cream-based like I had been expecting. I greatly prefer broth-based soups, so that was what really convinced me to go for the 3-course deal.

Mom and I were wondering how big the courses would be. For example, at Blackbird, the 3-course $25 lunch deal comes with pretty miniscule courses. But MarketHouse really blew us away with the great food and generous portions. The Grilled Whole Trout was regular entree size, which makes the Sunday 3-course deal all the more incredible, since the entree itself regularly goes for $19. So we basically paid an extra $1 for soup AND salad!



Bread service was great. They didn't have the walnut-wheat bread tonight, though they did a coupe weeks ago, but the sweet potato-pecan was incredible as always. I also really adore their pickles. Last time I came, there were just the standard pickled cucumbers, but tonight there were pickled cauliflowers, garlic and pearl onions as well.



The salad was simple, but delicious, a refreshing beginning to our meal. The field greens were beautiful and I loved the white balsamic vinaigrette. I was amazed that there was no excess oil left on our plates when we finished the salad, which just goes to show that they nailed it with the vinaigrette.



The pea soup was really light and warmed me right up. I was expecting a sweet pea soup, so I was surprised to find more black-eyed peas than English peas in the mix. It worked really well though, and for once I had a soup in a restaurant that was not too salty. There were a couple pieces of La Querica in the soup (might have been a deceiving course for a vegetarian) and I suspect that they used the La Quercia to flavor the soup as opposed to liberally adding salt as restaurants are wont to do.



At this point, I had high expectations for our grilled trout and it did not disappoint. The trout here is better than the grilled whole trout I've had at Campagnola and Bistro Bordeaux, the latter was full of bones to the point of being quite a hindrance to actually enjoying my food. Here, the trout was perfectly grilled, with beautiful grill marks and served with a lovely wild rice, frisee, artichoke and golden raisin mix, along with a puree of some sort that I cannot quite decipher, but was very good nonetheless with lemony notes. The cider brown-butter vinaigrette was a perfect complement to the trout, though I would never have thought to serve grilled trout with sweet notes. Instead of the Muscovy duck breast advertised on the menu, there was some sort of ham, still very good so I have no complaints. Perhaps the entree was slightly different because it was the special? Or perhaps they mix up the dishes slightly depending on what is available. Either way, I commend them for doing a great job at putting together three wonderful courses. This might be the best value meal I have ever eaten in Chicago.



We then decided to have dessert, and we opted for the Michigan Blueberry Tart with brown butter crust and peach ice cream, one of three made-to-order desserts. The other two made-to-order desserts, a butterscotch bread pudding and chocolate molten lava cake are both exquisite as well, but I wanted to try something new. Just be warned, the made-to-order desserts can take up to 20 minutes to be served, but when I'm enjoying good conversation with good company, I do not mind in the least.

The waitress assured me that we are in the tail-end of blueberry season and that the blueberries are still good but won't be for much longer, at which point the dessert menu will change. The soft buttery pastry crust was easy to cut through with a fork and perfect with the piping hot and slightly tart berries. The tart was served a la mode with vanilla ice cream, though it was advertised on the menu was peach ice cream. It was tasty and went so well with the tart that I didn't mind.

Overall, a great meal, and I'll definitely be back.


Butterscotch Bread Pudding with Toffee Coffee Ice Cream

Garden Heirloom Salad - out of commission at the moment, since the rooftop garden tomatoes are out of season. This was a very light and yummy salad though, with housemade ricotta!

Maine Diver Scallops

Lobster Risotto - a special for the evening, definitely something I would hope to try again!

Alaskan Halibut with hon she medji mushrooms,fava beans, pickeled radish, ramps, arugula, sweet and sour brown butter; the sweet and sour brown butter foam and generous bed of arugula are worth noting

My girlfriend and I ate here last night and had a really enjoyable meal. The place was half full at best, and our waiter was friendly and attentive. We shared the mussels, I had the trout, she had the pot pie, and we split the bread pudding for dessert. The trout was very good, and the bread pudding was fantastic.

We had a Restaurant.com certificate ($25 for $1 with a discount) and they took it without the slightest fuss.

On a cold winter day, it's hard not to like a piping hot gratin dish that's filled with comforting mac and cheese. It's especially hard not to like it when bacon's thrown into the mix. So yeah, this dish at Markethouse is a bit of a gimme, but still - they execute it really well and use top-notch ingredients: super-creamy bechamel/ mornay with aged Carr Valley Cheddar, penne with some bite left to it, tasty but not overpowering small-diced bacon, and herb-seasoned, fine-textured breadcrumbs on top. One of the better restaurant mac-and-cheeses around.