Kendall College Dining Room

On Saturday night we celebrated my mom's birthday at the Kendall College Dining Room. Back when the Dining Room was in Evanston, I remember people raving about it, noting especially that it was a good deal for the quality of food. I was a student at the time, so I didn't have the disposable income to see for myself. Our dinner on Saturday was pretty disappointing (though my mom loved it and insists on going back).

First was a strawberry tartare with peppercorn amuse. I can't comment sufficiently on the taste of this dish because when it was delivered to our table, I immediately picked up the camera to take a picture of it. My sister, brazenly disrespectful of the rule about not touching the food until it's photographed, reached for her portion (the tartare was served on three little spoons--for three people--laid on a single plate). Without thinking, I swapped her hand away trying to get my picture and knocked over her glass of chardonnay, which spilled all over the amuse. Apart from taste, I thought the tartare was on the mushy side. I realize strawberries aren't exactly crisp, but Shawn McClain would have done this better.

Starters:
Crispy soft shell crawfish, lobster-pea salad, lobster foam, and saffron-lime oil
I could have eaten an entire paper cone of these things, just the breaded crawfish and saffron oil. The only other time I'd encountered crawfish was on the dissection table in 7th grade.

Bouillabaisse with lobster sausage, halibut pavé, saffron foam, and mussel-mustard-saffron jellies
Very good.

Scallop-celery consommé, mushroom crusted scallop, and meyer lemon “en saor”
I actually wanted oysters for my starter, but they were out, so I picked something else quickly. I keep trying to like scallops, but they've never really done anything for me in terms of flavor or texture. There was no crust on the single scallop I got in this dish. This portion, like our other starters and the short rib entree, were unnecessarily minimalist in presentation and too small.

Main courses:
Pan roasted wild salmon, braised pork belly, wild mushroom risotto, peach-bergamot paint, and peach foam
My sister was a little freaked out by how pink this salmon was. At first she thought it was raw, but it was definitely cooked. There wasn't much difference in texture between the salmon and pork belly. I didn't taste any bergamot.

Wood-grilled halibut, beluga lentil ragout, pea-spring squash “en saor”, smoked grapefruit-sorrel nage, and grapefruit brulee
I was afraid there would be too much grapefruit in this dish, but this wasn't the case at all. I love any fish dish that has crispy skin and no head. After tasting the halibut, I realized that I really enjoy the combination of fish and grapefruit. The one other time I've had it was at Blackbird.

Braised short rib, horseradish-cauliflower puree, pickled sunchoke, short rib caviar, horseradish air, and rosemary bubbles
This dish was OK. The beef was cooked too long, and I think the cauliflower diluted the the horseradish too much.

Cheese course:
We got a cheese plate of the four selections they had. One was a parmesan with black peppercorns. Despite my love of pepper-crusted things, I could only tolerate one bite of this cheese. In flavor, it just fell flat. The next was a generic manchego. The two others were very soft Spanish cheeses, the names of which I didn't record unfortunately. They were wonderful, very pungent. With the cheeseplate, I also got to try my very first fresh gooseberry, which was delightful.

Overall, I thought the food was only OK and the prices, particularly for the entrees, about $3-$5 more than they should've been (each of our entrees was $26). The service was earnest, but a little clumsy, even more clumsy than I expected from students. All staff seemed to help with serving bread, which they pulled from the bread basket with two forks in kind of chopstick style. No one I saw on Saturday possessed the dexterity to retrieve or plate the bread easily. My mom berated me for saying, "Get these kids some tongs!"

The Dining Room
900 N. North Branch
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 752-2EAT (2328)

HI,

I am not apologizing, though I might be able to offer some insight. When I had a Roundtable there at the end of March, it was Spring break with students starting a new semester when they returned. I learned the restaurant would not re-open until the latest group of students was trained by the end of April. You may have witnessed students doing front of the house activities for nearly the first time instead of seasoned pros.

I know Leek is a veteran of many Kendall meals, perhaps she can offer some insight.

Regards,

happy_stomach wrote:Braised short rib, horseradish-cauliflower puree, pickled sunchoke, short rib caviar, horseradish air, and rosemary bubbles
This dish was OK. The beef was cooked too long, and I think the cauliflower diluted the the horseradish too much.

May I ask how you know that the beef was cooked too long? Braising is usually a long cooking process which, when done successfully, makes the meat extremely tender.

I'm not doubting what you're saying, just wondering how cooking it too long is reflected in the dish.

FWIW, I've had braised short ribs three times in the past few weeks. Twice (Sweets and Savories and Tallgrass), the meat was so tender it was falling apart, and was just fabulous. At Cafe Matou, it was served on the bone and was a bit drier and chewier (but I'm not sure whether that means it was cooked too long).

May I ask how you know that the beef was cooked too long? Braising is usually a long cooking process which, when done successfully, makes the meat extremely tender.

I think braising is traditionally done over a long period of time, but meat can also be lightly braised and turn out successfully. The steak (with eggs) I had at Moto last week is a good example. I think the only technical requirements for braising are heat, moisture/liquid and a covered pot.

My criticism of the short rib at Kendall College had mainly to do with the fact that I didn't care for the sauce (not horseradish-y enough for me). The more stringy the meat is, the more sauce seeps in, in this case really masking the taste of the beef.

happy_stomach wrote:I think braising is traditionally done over a long period of time, but meat can also be lightly braised and turn out successfully.

Not so much with short ribs. Like brisket, short ribs are a tough and fiberous cut of meat. Long cooking times are required to breakdown the proteens and render the fats from the cut. If anything, a piece of meat that has been briased and feels dry of fiberous has probably not cooked long enough or was cooked to fast and hot (fat renders too quickly and results in a dry mouth feel) or too cold (fat doesn't render enough and there is a greasy feel on the palate). Light braising works for gently muscle like fish or foul but I don't think I've seen to many preparations for briased short ribs that d not involve hours of cooking. Now, if you just did not like the sauce and thought it over posered the meat, that makes perfect sense to me.

HI

I've been to many dining room meals at Kendall, though mostly on Monday nights, which is a different set of students and a different menu than their fine Dining room.

We went for lunch Friday, and it was a very good meal, with very good service, for a good price. They have a la cart pricing, if you only want a main course, or you can do any starter, main and dessert for $18. I can't speak for every dish we had, but everyone we ate with (5 total) seemed to enjoy what they had. Many of the dishes seemed to exploit seasonal ingredients (peas, asparagus, salmon) and they mention farms they work with on the menu. I had a shaved asparagus salad with blue cheese and hazelnuts, grilled wild salmon with asparagus, potatoes, egg and greens (sort of a deconstructed nicoise without olives, which they kindly did not call nicoise) - that came with a side of green goddess dressing, and my dessert was strawberry sorbet with a ginger cookie and mascarpone custard. They had some cool things going on: they make mozzarella in house, and squeezed it table-side (I thought it tasted sour, but it was fun to watch).

Service was professional and polished, though I could see the server's hand shaking every time she poured water or iced tea (one way to spill something: be afraid of spilling something).

Yes, both the chefs and servers are students. Depending on when you go you may have beginners or students further into their studies. Chef students also must do FOH duties. I know that for the Monday night series the servers are generally in their first term and chefs generally in their last.

You can see the menus (though not the daily specials) and read more about the Dining room at
http://culinary.kendall.edu/news-and-ev ... ning-room/

leek wrote:Yes, both the chefs and servers are students. Depending on when you go you may have beginners or students further into their studies. Chef students also must do FOH duties. I know that for the Monday night series the servers are generally in their first term and chefs generally in their last.

You can see the menus (though not the daily specials) and read more about the Dining room at
http://culinary.kendall.edu/news-and-ev ... ning-room/

I just wanted to add a few things to your comments; yes, the chefs are students but I think it is worth to note that the instructor of the class is is chef Benjamin Browning (former head chef of Landmark).
Also, all students who do "fine dining class" are all in the same part of their program (final block)

leek wrote: (one way to spill something: be afraid of spilling something)

I'm making this my new mantra. Thanks

gocubs88 wrote:I just wanted to add a few things to your comments; yes, the chefs are students but I think it is worth to note that the instructor of the class is is chef Benjamin Browning (former head chef of Landmark).
Also, all students who do "fine dining class" are all in the same part of their program (final block)

Oh, for sure, no knock on their faculty at all! This is a professional school with a fine reputation.

They may be final term students but they are students, and so when you go, just like when you go to a hairdressing school, you have to keep that in mind.

I have been there six or seven times. The Grand Buffet is generally very good and well worth the $25 cost of admission.

The ONLY disappointment was last year's BBQ. the food was pretty good ... that is, the items that they were not out of in the first twenty minutes.