Gypsy Boy wrote:

jesteinf wrote:I don't think Avenues has ever offered an a la carte option under Duffy....

If that's the case, someone needs to fix their website posthaste. The first thing that comes up when one clicks on "menu" for Avenues at the Peninsula website is a complete "A la carte" dinner menu clearly dated "December 2010."

That is weird.

I will say that the Avenues menus that the Peninsula posts on their website have always been less than accurate (and, in this case, far less than accurate). Sort of bizarre considering how well run the hotel is overall.

Agreed. I will note that there is a disclaimer that individual dishes may vary from time to time--completely understandable, of course. But that a la carte menu has been there for a long time because we've been planning our trip for quite a while.

When I visited in late January there were two tasting menus as well as an a la carte menu. They very strongly encouraged the tasting menu to the point that it was a bit uncomfortable, and were not very clear on how we should best construct an a la carte meal. As it was a Tuesday night, we had already decided that we didn't need a full tasting menu….and ended up selecting 2-3 courses each. Short rib was my fave and the bread service could have been the best ever. However, I wasn't as dazzled by some of the flavors as others (Salmons and Hamachi were my dishes, and I had the crab and chestnut previously) but that boils down to personal preference and why there are so many tasty options in Chicago.

Avenues is certainly worthy of their two stars and worth a visit.

chico

I've heard from other reports that they really push the tasting menu, and when paired with Gypsy Boy's experience, it makes me think that Chef Duffy is looking to eliminate the a la carte altogether and just focus on a single tasting experience.

New member here (although I've been lurking for quite some time)..

With the wife's birthday coming up, I wanted to try something new, and it had also been
a looong time since we'd been to a restaurant of this caliber (last time was Tru in December
of 2006! Yikes!)

We narrowed the choices down to Avenues (to some extent due to Gypsy Boy's excellent review
of Feb 8 - thanks and a tip of the hat to you, sir)...and Henri (Chef Flanigan is a close neighbor).

We settled on Avenues. In summary, a nearly perfect dining experience. The staff are highly
polished pros, and it was a pleasure to see them work. Four hours of great enjoyment.

Quite similar to Gypsy Boy's review, the meal began with the champagne cart. Three choices:
1. French, Loire, 2. Alsace, Rose 3. Italian. We chose the Italian - bold and intense .

We also chose a lovely Mersault half bottle for the first few courses, and a half bottle of
a Cote Rotie for the latter course.

Next, an amuse of sea urchin, nitrogen treated baby peas, et al. First time I've actually had
sea urchin that tasted 'right'.

The Alaskan King Crab course with the sheet of sugar separating the two parts of the
dish was exquisite. I echo wholeheartedly the previous descriptions of this preparation.

Departing from the earlier menu, next was Nantucket Bay Scallops, romaine marmalade,
white poppy, nasturtium with a coconut milk broth poured table side. The flavors were
so evocative. Slightly sweet & nutty. Fabulous.

Next the Grains, Seeds and Nuts. I loved it. Evoked memories of time spent many years
ago in a cabin in an isolated forest watching the sun come up.

The Hamachi course (lardo, yuzu, purslane) was very good, but something was missing.
Loved the carrot 'froth', the lardo.. Enjoyable, and perhaps relative to everything else, just
ever so slightly off.

Like Gypsy Boy's description of the short ribs course, the next course was pretty much
the same, but substituting ribeye for short ribs. Beautiful.

The Sudachi course can best be described as "startling". Absolutely wonderful.

We were brought an off-the-menu birthday desert; I remember the raspberry sorbet
part of it, but, honestly, that's all I remember. (I wasn't taking notes..heh..) The next
desert was very similar to the "Strawberry Tube" described by Shyne (Sept. 2010) except
that banana was the star. Finally, the last course, Sambirano Valley Chocalate, brown
butter, mandarin, and stevia. (BTW, stevia has an interesting history: )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

Accompanying the desert courses was a glass of the Yalumba Botrytis Viognier - which
matched perfectly. Not too sweet.

A truly enjoyable and memorable evening. Overall, I came away with impressions of
refinement, elegance, clean, clear flavors with a reliance on the use of herbs with
precision. I was not "conscious" of the use of salt, at all, at any time. But the
seasoning was spot on - for nearly everything.

Oh....one other thing. We admit to a bit of a distraction - Rod Stewart, his wife
(Penny?) and (I assume) one of his daughters were at the next table the entire evening.
Rod flashed my wife a smile and said "Hi - happy birthday". Cool.

Cheers...

-mm

nostromo-

Great first post! Welcome. And happy birthday to your wife!

Nice post; just one question. A champagne cart with no sparkling wine actually from Champagne? ??????

BR wrote:Ronnie, my very recent meal at Avenues was very similarly composed to yours. I agree with you on the salmon belly - I thought that was the highlight of the meal, followed by the composition of peas, cantaloupe and lavender. Right up there would also be the truffle dish (menu said black truffle, but one of the service staff told me it was white truffle, so who knows) and the wagyu beef.

I really loved the wagyu beef dish. I thought the flavor of the beef really stood out, and although I liked the black sesame served with the dish (the dark mound in Ronnie's picture), I'm not sure I ever really figured out how it worked with the beef. But the dish I expected to love the most - the pork belly - disappointed me. I actually found the flavors and texture of the dish to be so one dimensional and the chocolate pasta on the plate was almost impossible to pick up.

The waffle, with basil and coconut, was quite the revelation. If you've become as bored with waffles as I have over the years, this is the waffle for you. Also, my favorite dessert was the Flavors of Chai which Ronnie mentioned.

Some dishes/concepts didn't work so well for me. First, there were six dessert parts (including a palate cleanser and tiny sweets). I love sweets, and yet even I found this to be overload. I also was not so impressed by the blood orange component, but more disappointing was a mango and pineapple dessert which was way too sweet.

But don't get me wrong. I thought this was an excellent dinner and Avenues certainly merits consideration when discussing where to go for high end dining in Chicago. Where it fits with L.20, Tru and the like I don't really care to rate, although my first choice of places would undoubtedly be Alinea.

Look at the rind - that's black truffle. Besides with what white truffle costs don't ever expect to get any unless you paid $$$$$.

The GP wrote:nostromo-

Great first post! Welcome. And happy birthday to your wife!

Thank you! (And, the wife thanks you too.)

DutchMuse wrote:Nice post; just one question. A champagne cart with no sparkling wine actually from Champagne? ??????

{laugh!} Yeah - I guess it should be called the "sparkling wine" cart...and I was little taken aback too (I was hoping for,
say, an offering from Pol Roger. Oh well.)

Has anybody heard any talk of what will become of Avenues?

Closed and to be repurposed for events. They decided against re-opening.


(edited for errors)

DrkDragon wrote:Closed and to be repurposed for events. They decided on re-opening.

Should that post read "on re-opening" or "against re-opening"?

You are correct.. Let me fix that.

That's too bad. The space had a great run.

It is unfortunate that one of the great Chicago hotels will not have a great Chicago restaurant. Well, perhaps it will no longer be a great Chicago hotel. Sigh.

Well, perhaps it will no longer be a great Chicago hotel. Sigh.

The Peninsula? I wouldn't bet the house on that, son.