Tongue of pig:



Tongue of cow:



Chef gave me a taste of one of these (I think it was cow), and it was probably the best lingual tissue I've ever sampled, so tender, flavorful and pleasingly fatty. I believe RAB, REB and dansch may be eating some of this right now. Jealous? Yes.

David Hammond wrote:I believe RAB, REB and dansch may be eating some of this right now. Jealous? Yes.

You had good reason to be jealous - mixed grill of beef heart & tongue was a winner for sure.

-Dan

AlexG wrote:I really want to try Mado, but am hesitating ...

Groupon or not, don't hesitate - go. Make sure to leave room for Allie's desserts.

-Dan

All right, for $20 what do I have to lose?

AlexG wrote:All right, for $20 what do I have to lose?

Only your fear of animal head parts on a plate, and approximately 1/3rd of your temporary stomach capacity.

Santander wrote:

AlexG wrote:All right, for $20 what do I have to lose?

Only your fear of animal head parts on a plate, and approximately 1/3rd of your temporary stomach capacity.

Your fear of beets. I didn't like them until I had them at Mado.

Stopped by with C2 last night and had a little snack:



I was humbled by the quality of the coppa, more impressed than Ronnie with the ham, and did not agree with C2 that the brownish pate-looking rectangle* tasted like "Spam" (though as Rob explained, its preparation sounds very much like Spam's may be: take scraps of pork, cook at low heat for a while, form into molds). My favorite was the pate with pistachios, which was peppery and had delightfully crumbly texture. Overall, an excellent late night tasty...though I must remember never to go to Mado without a bottle of wine (rich pigmeat and water are not a great pairing).

*Rob told us the name; it was something like Chihuly.

I think that you are referring to ciccioli. It is my favorite of the charcuterie items that I have had there. It really is the porkiest of the great pork items.

And yes, wine is necessary. Beer is good too.

msmre wrote:I think that you are referring to ciccioli.

Yes, that's it. Tasty.

dansch wrote:Make sure to leave room for Allie's desserts.

Last week I had a dinner thing with coworkers at Piece and followed my own advice, saving room for dessert at Mado. I grabbed a seat at the bar and had a slice of Allie's malt cake - layers of strongly-malted cake, with whipped chocolate/bourbon ganache. I love the flavor of malt and this cake delivered. Paired with the light on the tongue, but deeply-chocolaty ganache (with just enough bourbon to let know it was there), this is a slice of cake not to be missed.

-Dan

LTH,

Recently celebrated a special occasion with out of town friends at Mado, days later our meal is still subject of conversation and praise. While Mado gets press for head to tail cookery, deservedly so, they have an amazingly deft hand with veg such as the humble beet.

Roasted beets with ricotta, spiced almonds and beet pickles



Another veggie stunner Wood-roasted eggplant with almonds and charmoula



Crispy skin, silky rich cheek, sweet peach, bitter greens brought into focus by the sherry vinaigrette, a memorable flavor and texture combination.

Spicy greens with roasted pig head, peaches and sherry vinaigrette



I love the cured lake perch, texture more herring than perch.

Citrus cured lake perch with preserved lemon and parsley



Simple satisfying spaghetti with spring onion, chilies and bread crumbs, takes an accomplished chef to make something so simple resonate so deeply.

Spaghetti with spring onion, chilies and bread crumbs



Tender, succulent meat, lovely wood roasted veg, for me it was all about the crisp as a fall day lovingly lacquered skin.

Braised pork shoulder with green chilies wood-roasted onions and potatoes, crisp as hell skin, delicious.



Rainbow trout with various seasonal accompaniment has remained a Mado menu staple, with good reason.

Wood-grilled rainbow trout with roasted corn, summer squash and smoked paprika



Crispy pig brain was met with trepidation by one at our table, she was converted not so much by the pig brain itself but the absolutely wonderful posole serving as this is your Brain-on. I very much enjoyed both, crisp yielding to rich custardy brain, mineral earthy upfront with lingering offal back of the woods funk for finish.

Crispy pig brains w/posole



Of course our meal started with Mado's signature pig tray of cured meat, rillette particularly good that evening.



We also had a Nduja-off between a test batch of Rob Levitt's and Boccalone (San Francisco), Rob's spicy spreadable salami made Boccalone's weep like a little schoolgirl. I much preferred Mado's nudja.



No matter how full dessert is always a highlight, crunchy crisp almond-cornmeal Bostock almost resulted in fork wounds as we jostled for the last scraps.

Bostock: almond-cornmeal financier baked with almond cream with creme fraiche and strawberry-rhubarb jam



Ambiance, service, general tone are right in my wheelhouse, casual on the surface with an absolute no nonsense eye to detail. Ben, our server, made a great meal even better hitting just the right friendly knowledgeable but still in the background note.

Mado, count me a fan.

Enjoy,
Gary

I'm definitely a fan of Mado.

They are also a drop off point for Slagel farms 2 days a week, so you can have a great meal and get your meat shopping done in one easy stop.

I’ll finally be getting a chance to visit Mado tonight and I’m pretty well prepared after following this thread for some time. However I was looking for some ordering advice given the restriction that it will only be myself and my pescatarian wife, so I’ll probably only order one dish with meat in it to maximize sharing possibilities. To anyone who has been recently, is there a must hit dish you’d recommend?

AlekH wrote:However I was looking for some ordering advice given the restriction that it will only be myself and my pescatarian wife, so I’ll probably only order one dish with meat in it to maximize sharing possibilities. To anyone who has been recently, is there a must hit dish you’d recommend?

Let Chef Rob decide for you. I've never been disappointed when I've let him choose. And his enthusiasm for his food is contagious.

Mado on Twitter today wrote:giant ribeyes return one week from tonight. reservation only

Ronna and I split one of these last week and highly recommend the experience. The steak was an approximately 3lb Dietzler ribeye, served seriously charred and on the rare side of medium rare, with salty and bitter braised Chinese broccoli. Table next to ours was seriously disappointed when they found out that we had reserved the last one.

A few appetizers, this steak, and Allie's buttery and light pear tart made for a terrific meal.

--Rich

Way before:



Just Before:


During:


After:

WOW!!! That is black and blue. I bit too charred and a bit too rare for me, but the experience must have been incredible. Love Mado and need to return soon.

Whole lot of good meat got turned into carbon there...

We had the pear tart and it was spectacular. That ribeye reminds me of their porterhouse from summer 2009. May have to reserve one for next week.

mattshafferHP wrote:WOW!!! That is black and blue. I bit too charred and a bit too rare for me, but the experience must have been incredible. Love Mado and need to return soon.

Tastes differ, that ribeye is speaking directly to me and its saying Eat Me!

Great picture Mr. R, makes me want to eat a steak and watch Flintstone cartoons.

I didn't see this posted yet, but seems like big news to me.

Rob, Allie and majority of the staff left Mado this weekend, and are planning on opening a butcher shop called the Butcher and the Larder in Noble Square.

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/ ... cher-shop/

the wimperoo wrote:I didn't see this posted yet, but seems like big news to me.

Rob, Allie and majority of the staff left Mado this weekend, and are planning on opening a butcher shop called the Butcher and the Larder in Noble Square.

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/ ... cher-shop/

Very exciting news! It just makes me sorry that I wasn't able to have dinner at Mado one last time before the crew abdicated but I look forward to the new shop. Rob's right (in the interview), that Chicago has nothing like it . . . and it definitely should. I wish them all the best.

=R=

So what happens to Mado?

ronnie_suburban wrote:

the wimperoo wrote:I didn't see this posted yet, but seems like big news to me.

Rob, Allie and majority of the staff left Mado this weekend, and are planning on opening a butcher shop called the Butcher and the Larder in Noble Square.

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/ ... cher-shop/

Very exciting news! It just makes me sorry that I wasn't able to have dinner at Mado one last time before the crew abdicated but I look forward to the new shop. Rob's right (in the interview), that Chicago has nothing like it . . . and it definitely should. I wish them all the best.

=R=

I am very, very excited for this. I have not bought supermarket meat in quite a while and a supplier of sustainable meat products is something I can feel good about supporting.

Plus I'm all for more butchering demos.

Wow, I'm shocked. I'm going to focus on the very bright side of this. I too rarely buy supermarket meat and look forward to the Rob and Allie's new shop.

Who would have thought Schwa (in its original form) would outlast Mado (in its original form)!?

Darren72 wrote:Who would have thought Schwa (in its original form) would outlast Mado (in its original form)!?

And I'm very excited that Rob and Allie have set their sights on Noble Square. With the closing of Sonotheque, the departure of Rotofugi and the Chicago Bowl talks, I've been worried about the cultural demise of the neighborhood (OK, exaggerated but I loved Sonotheque). I recently spent a lot of money at Brooklyn Larder in Park Slope. The idea of a shop like that married with Rob and Allie's myriad skills is extremely exciting.

The only problem now is that I'm going to have to find a place to eat after yoga on Wednesday nights. Mado's bar was my regular perch for a significant portion of the restaurant's existence, where, Rob recently reminded me, I went every week and "ate an enormous amount of food."

And to quote Mama happy_stomach's response to Rob, Allie & co's departure: "Good. For. Them!"

I was very surprised to read this yesterday, but so happy for Rob, Allie and crew. While I will be forced to find a new go-to dinner spot, it will be great to have what I believe will be an amazing "butcher plus charcuterie" spot. Given the traffic at Mado on Wednesday just picking up meat combined with the devoted charcuterie (and Allie dessert) crowd, there is likely going to be a line waiting for opening.

We were lucky enough to sneak one last meal in at Mado on Sunday and met gwiv, RAB, and REB. I know that there are some pictures out there. Two days later, I am almost hungry again.

SHEABAL.

msmre wrote:I was very surprised to read this yesterday, but so happy for Rob, Allie and crew. While I will be forced to find a new go-to dinner spot, it will be great to have what I believe will be an amazing "butcher plus charcuterie" spot. Given the traffic at Mado on Wednesday just picking up meat combined with the devoted charcuterie (and Allie dessert) crowd, there is likely going to be a line waiting for opening.

What I'm not clear on is how the Allie/pastry offering fits into the butcher shop equation. I know that steak and cake is a time-honored combination (see Perkin's), but for many (or at least this one) it may seem not a natural fit.

That said, it's hard to imagine how this butcher shop will not be a success. It meets a need, fills a niche, and will get a lot of biz from the many folks who come to admire the great work these two have done at Mado.

For me, it is hard to imagine a setting where Allie's shortbread cookies wouldn't be a natural addition, but I can see your point.

David Hammond wrote:What I'm not clear on is how the Allie/pastry offering fits into the butcher shop equation.

Perhaps there's an offal pot pie in your future.

So to re-ask nr706's question - will Mado continue on with new personnel? Just checking because I have an unused Groupon hanging out there.