Sprout (mkIII)?

Anyone? A search only shows a mention in the comings & goings thread.

I ate there last night. It was good. Got there around 6:15 or so, we usually roll pretty early. I suppose an advantage is that places are never out of anything and you can usually get in even w/o reservations. It was empty. By the time we left it was around 60-70% capacity and surprisingly loud. Crowd tended a little older, we were probably the youngest people there, although the staff was all around our ages or younger. There was only one other couple, all the other parties were 4-6 people.

We did the CYA $60 menu. For 1 My wife had the octopus, and I had the foie gras mousse. Both were good, mine was better. It was very rich and has an amazing texture, but wasn't very "foie"-y. The cold torchon prep at bluestem in KC is still the best foie I've had. But this was still delicious. It had some reduced sherry and some currant toast and some quince/cashew chutney type stuff. The octopus was cold with a slightly spicy sauce. Good texture, very tender.

Intermezzo of champagne/raspberry shaved ice, which caused a major flashback to my mom's homemade popsicles. Not sure why, but the way the ice crunched between my teeth reminded me of homemade popsicles. A good thing.

For 2, I had the short rib, wife had the wagyu. Short rib was very good, nice and unctuous but maybe a bit too stock-y, it tasted like it had about a quart of strong veal stock reduced to a tablespoon or so... The truffled dumplings were delicious though, little quenelles of what I'm assuming was a pate a choux based dumpling with truffle flour, then lightly browned (I wish I could pull them off that well, I've given up on quenelling something that sticky and just do gnocchi like blobs piped out of a ziploc). Short rib meat was shredded and very tender, but perhaps chunks would have been better. But it was in no way tough or stringy.

The wagyu was good as well, had an almost piney, citrusy edge to it. Served with a brandade and haricots verts.

"cheese course" was a toasted cheese sandwich with apple and a sweet mustard and also a half-glass of a very fruity sauvignon blanc which was a nice touch. Delicious. The cheese had run out from between the bread and been grilled crispy. I gather this is Dale's signature dish, or rather, a variation on it. 3 was an eggnog bread pudding which was also quite good. The wife had a cold poached pear thing which wasn't bad but was maybe a hair overspiced.

Overall? I'd go back but probably not for a while. The room was a bit odd but I gather they're in the midst of a redesign. Pacing and service were fine, very friendly and stuff came out almost exactly when I'd want it to. Saw dale a couple of times, did not see sara and didn't get to say hi. Peeked in the kitchen window and it seemed like a pretty relaxed kitchen.

Overall, I liked it. Dale can definitely cook, and it's a good story. Everything was plated in a style I like, not overly fussy but there was a lot going on in every plate. $60 seems like a pretty reasonable price for what you get and the portions could have actually been reduced by about a third and I would be saying the same thing, but it's a bit high for an everyday restaurant. It's kind of an odd price point, in between something like blackbird or north pond and a more casual foodie type place like say avec or lula but the vibe is very casual. I think our tab came to $180ish after tax & tip and drinks.

Sprout Restaurant
1417 W. Fullerton (1/2 mile west of the fullerton L stop)
773-348-0706

Can anyone translate the parenthetic part of this thread title?

Kennyz wrote:Can anyone translate the parenthetic part of this thread title?

I think he's referring to Dale-at-the-helm being the third incarnation of the restaurant. mkIII = Mark 3.

Great description. We made a bit of fun of Sprout in this thread. I am somewhat interested in trying this place and your post made me a bit more interested.

Mark III? Ah, memories of Crawford and Dempster....

I just read this article in this week's Time Out: http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/res ... e-levitski

Three of us were SO excited to have reservations at Sprout for last night. The entraceway and the room were beautiful, and the host and serving staff were very welcoming. They showed us to our table for three - a round, high-top cocktail table with three bar chairs. We fifty-to-sixty-somethings said that we didn't think that we would be comfortable sitting at that table for the amount of time that it would take to really enjoy a three course meal. We were told that the other regular tables in the room were reserved, but we were welcome to wait at the bar until something opened up. Many apologies were said, but no complimentary beverage was offered, it was 7:15, our group host was mortified, and there really wasn't an appetizer menu available, so we left. I was so disappointed, as I had spent the day agonizing over the menu. So, when you make your reservation at Sprout, indicate your table preference if you have one.

Yikes. I cannot really imagine any experienced restaurant simply assuming that customers would want to spend a liesurely full dinner's amount of time perched at a high cocktail table.

A pitcher and a basket of wings at a sports bar, maybe, but otherwise no way.

Certainly if a res. was made, it only makes sense to have let people know that this was all that was available for the date and time. Really doesn't make any kind of sense.

(And yet the orig. long report keeps me very interested in tasting the food.)

I'm still very interested in trying the food. We'll probably wait a bit to let them work out the rest of the kinks - which I hope was what we experienced last nite. It was a bummer, cuz we had each selected three different courses so that we would have tasted nine of the menu selections by the end of dinner. I was looking forward to joining in on this chain to provide more info. The time will come.....

Vicky, as a person who had spent half of my adult life in the restaurant business (21 years) I can completely sympathize with your experience. I have always found it very professional for the restaurants that I have been involved with (unless they were bar/grills) to have the reservationist ask certain questions when taking said reservation. Questions like "are you celebrating a special occasion?" "is this your first time dining with us?" "are there any special diets in your party?" etc. As for this instance, the obvious question would have been "is anyone in your party averse to sitting at a high table?"

I'm sure your next visit will be more pleasant now that the dining room layout is known to you, and the staff became aware that some people won't take a high-top as an acceptable table.

Although I sympathize with VickyP's predicament at Sprout, I don't think a thread about the restaurant should be all about a non-experience of a diner, versus the food that it actually serves.

I was able to dine at Sprout in early December, roughly three weeks after Dale Levitski took over as chef and it was a very pleasant, enjoyable experience. I thought the octopus appetizer that I had was pretty delicious (well-cooked, complemented by a hearty white bean puree, olives, and arugula) and was pretty sizable in portion size. Two of us had the braised short rib as main course and it was tender, melt-in-your mouth, with robustly-flavored wild mushrooms, although I didn't really taste the impact of the truffle oil that was supposed to have been in the dish. My other friend's sturgeon was beautifully cooked, the fish firm and sweet. I really, really liked the second intermezzo (the first one was some form of flavored ice), which was Dale's version of a meatless croque monsieur, which he also introduced at La Tache. The brioche was toasted just right, the cheese warm and gooey, and the currant jam it came with, sweet but not cloying. The intermezzos both came with wine pairings.

Interestingly, I cannot recall the desserts. I thought they were good but not memorable.

I thought the 60 bucks prix fixe (appetizer, intermezzo one with wine pairing, entree, intermezzo two with wine pairing, and dessert) was a pretty good deal.

Dale also made it a point to come around to all the tables and speak to the diners, which I thought was a welcome touch.

I think that Sprout might need a little more time to grow.

We had a pretty disappointing dinner there last night. If this restaurant is around in 6 months, I'll give it another shot as there is some promise, but I don't think they're quite ready for primetime yet.

4 of us arrived for a 9pm reservation. We weren't seated until 10pm. We were told that the people at our table were lingering, so I'm not sure how much the restaurant was at fault (I couldn't get a straight answer from the hostess about what time the people at our table sat down). The restaurant comped our drinks at the bar. While we appreciated that, we were still starving by the time we sat down.

Sprout will inevitably be compared to Sweets & Savories just down the street where you can get 3 courses for $29 versus 3 courses (well, maybe 5 depending how you look at it) at Sprout for $60. Unfortunately for Sprout, based on what they're putting out right down, Sweets & Savories is kicking their tail up and down Fullerton.

I started with the scallop which was served with parsnip (little discs that were too hard), corn, peanuts, and popcorn. The scallop (a single, small-ish scallop) was well cooked but a bit oversalted. The mix of textures on the plate (the popcorn in particular) didn't really do it for me.

Between appetizers and main courses we got an intermezzo of shaved raspberry ice. Aggressively sour, but I liked it.

For my main course I had the Wagyu. I don't know if it was real Wagyu or not but the meat itself was pretty tasty with enough melty-fat to maybe convince me that it was almost the real deal. The menu advertised both salt cod and potato as accompaniments, but I only found mashed potatoes. Maybe there was salt cod in there somewhere, but I couldn't taste any. Overall, a fine dish but nothing remarkable and certainly nothing you couldn't get in any number of restaurants.

Between main courses and desserts we got a composed cheese course. It was a little grilled cheese sandwich served with a 1 oz pour of some sort of sauvignon blanc. The sandwich was good, but I totally disagreed with the wine pairing. Something bubbly (or something sweeter) would have been nicer to help cut through the richness of the sandwich.

My dessert was a collection of chocolates. A scoop of chocolate mousse with a cup of hot chocolate and some shaved white chocolate. The plate also came with a cookie that was a little too hard, but was nice to dip in the hot chocolate.

Wine was some sort of granache (a $60 bottle ordered in honor of Kennyz). Service was nice enough.

The meal came out to about $100 per person including tax and tip. While some of the dishes showed promise, the meal definitely did not rise to the heights indicated by its price-point. Again, I'd consider going back, but I'm going to give Sprout several months to get things figured out.

This year’s Xmas gift from my daughter Abigail was a dinner at Sprout.

The prix fix is, as comrade Sula mentions, definitely the way to go.

Abigail had the short ribs, which were exceptional, lusciously presented in a tangled and delicious mess of saucy steer threads, with mushrooms and what I believe to be radicchio and parm shavings. The flavors worked well, and I appreciated the veggie balance to the rich meat. Truffly griddled gnocchi were also a hit, adding a crunchy bit of texture and an earthy echo of the other fungi on the plate.



My daughter almost didn’t order the short ribs because she feared she was just being “too safe” (that’s my kid!), but I’m glad she did because on a cold night, this warm, colorful bowl was heartening and satisfying.

My entrée was less successful. The lamb with anchovies is apparently a signature dish (I understand it got high marks on To p Chef), and I was intrigued to see how the flavors would mesh.



Turns out, they didn’t.

The fish seemed laid on top, almost as though they had flopped over from another dish and really didn’t belong there. I’m honestly having trouble imagining how these flavors could ever be complementary, but perhaps…

…perhaps if Levitski had selected a more aggressively flavored piece of meat it would have worked out better; as it was, this milder tasting lamb (which is what I find most of the time in restaurants and grocery stores) just could not match the intensity of the fish.

After my daughter and I finished dinner, I asked the lady at the table to us if perhaps we didn’t know each other.



Turns out, we do know each other. She’s the matriarch of one-half of the RAB-REB LTH tag team, and we had met over the holidays (but neither of us actually recognized each other until dessert arrived).

David Hammond wrote:My entrée was less successful. The lamb with anchovies is apparently a signature dish (I understand it got high marks on To p Chef), and I was intrigued to see how the flavors would mesh. I’m honestly having trouble imagining how these flavors could ever be complementary...

I love lamb with anchovies, but it has to be a good, strong, gamey lamb rather than the mild, boring Colorado racks served in most upscalish restaurants. I cook a lot of lamb at home (cheap, delicious stuff purchased from Lebanese butcher on Kedzie), but almost never order it in high-end restaurants, where it is often as expensive as top-quality beef, and not half as good. I vaguely remember Dale's dish from Top Chef, and I don't think it had the whole anchovies strewn about the top as in what you had at Sprout. I believe the Top Chef version was just made with a Sauce Vert, which is not-unlike the anchovy-based rub/ marinade I made and posted about in the link above.

"Comfort food on crack" is how Dale described his food, which I think is a pretty fitting description LOL he was really sociable, funny, and gracious. There are plans to serve Sunday brunch in early 2011. Service couldn't have been better. The food was really good- creative, tasty, comfort-esque. The flavor profiles verge more on the hearty side, but nothing felt heavy/greasy. I think the appetizers and entrees were a little stronger than the desserts. $65(?) for three courses plus two intermezzos. My favorites of the night: EGG, LAMB, GRILLED CHEESE (intermezzo), and CORN.

Like the previous poster we did the prix fix, three courses plus two intermezzos with wine pairings. Wife had Egg...pork belly - truffle - frisee - potato. I had Duck which was different than as listed on the website menu. The Duck was good but the wife won that round.

To backtrack a bit. I had a Sazerac to start. Not "traditional" and easily the worst thing we had to eat or drink. Too sweet.
Our service was excellent. In a way it's kind of like Alinea in that the menu lists the main ingredient or focal point of the dish, a few additional ingredients and it's left to the server to "fill in the blanks" as ours put it. Masterfully done. Some of the dishes had a lot going on and rather than glossing over them we got detailed explanations.

First intermezzo was a tomato soup that was really the best tomato soup I've had. Just intense flavor.

For mains we each got the Rabbit. A clear winner. If I knew Rhambo, I'd ask him to pass an ordinance forbidding Levitski from ever changing or removing this dish from the menu. Wow. Superb. Spring peas, beets, truffled dumpling I think , I don't know what all was in it but damn it was delicious.
Second intermezzo was grilled cheese paired with Scrumpy's? Hard Cider. These combined to make a perfect dish.
For dessert the wife had a chocolate coffee something. It's late, I'm tired, we had the wine pairings (which were really good). Anyway she found it a bit too rich after everything else but I liked it. I had the Rhubarb strawberry waffle which was way better than I thought it would be.
Two and 1/2 hours $248 befor tip and it was one of those meals that we just didn't want to end. I highly recommend.

We celebrated our aniversary last night with the prix fixe at Sprout. It was a good choice and one of the nicest over-all dining experience we've had in recent memory.

Service was a real highlight. In addition to being helpful and knowledgable, the friendliness came accross as sincere. You can tell when staff is just going through the motions and when they truely believe the the place they work is a great place to be. The latter was the case at Sprout.

We began with the Octopus and the Shrimp starter. Both were excellent with the seafood pristine and not overcooked. Intermezzos were the same as the previous poster. I thought the tomato soup was a little on the sweet side for my taste. The "grilled cheese" with the cider pairing was outstanding though.

For mains, I had the Skate and Jonathan went with the Steak. Possibly the best skate I've had (not that I eat alot of skate,) but it was extremely fresh and perfectly seasoned and cooked. Jonathan's steak was nothing special, but was properly cooked to his specification and also seasoned nicely. I liked the wasabi caviar sauce a bit more than he did - it's a texture thing.

The only disappointment came with the desserts. We went with the Lemon and the Chocolate. The lemon dish was so sweet I couldn't make it past one bite. The chocolate combo was more about textures that didn't work together for me and also on the boring side. I determined it wasn't interesting enough to waste the calories on. Fortunately, portions of everything else we had were generous and I was quite satisfied before dessert arrived.

We would be here often if it weren't for the $$$. A bit more than we typically spend for a Saturday night out. Great for a special occasion though.

I typically try to avoid going out for brunch at restaurants. Though some destinations do it well (The Publican, The Bristol) More often than not, I leave pretty unsatisfied. This was not the case with Sprout.

Sprout doesn't stand out from the outside, but I found the decor quite beautiful once I entered.


Ordered the frites with wasabi tobiko dip to begin our meal



No heat, but there was an essence of wasabi. Frites were nice and crispy, though.

Dana ordered their

HAM: "CROQUE MADAME" Shallot, Cherry Mustard, Egg, Potato Green Bean Salad





Beautiful runny egg, lovely crisped cheese - thoroughly enjoyed.

I ordered the

SKIRT: "STEAK & EGGS" Crab, Fingerling, Sunny Side Egg, Thai Basil, Sambal







I'll go on record here, Sprout has the most perfectly cooked eggs I've had in a long time. Seems so simple, but Sprout elevates this to an art.

The not so great
Buns with Vanilla Bean Butter



Like the wasabi, no real vanilla taste, just the smell. Fairly flavorless, though the buns were airy.

Another enjoyable brunch in the city - I may just start to make this a habit.

I am surprised Sprout has not received more attention on this forum. I dined at Sprout for my first time a few nights ago with a couple of friends and was extremely impressed. We all had a wonderful time. The food is very modern, high quality and excellent. They recently moved away from the Prix Fixe concept and now offer an eight course tasting menu (for $85, optional wine pairings for an additional $60) or a la carte pricing. The three of us opted for the tasting menu and I highly recommend doing so unless you are a picky eater: Lots of extra courses for not a lot of extra money - and the food is so good the more the better! Portions are decent sized for a tasting menu too. Service was good and Sprout has an upscale yet casual vibe. I really enjoyed the whiskey cocktail and decent inexpensive wines available as well.

Amuse Bouche:


English Pea Soup:


Fluke with Ramps & Ginger:


Burramundi with Sunchoke:


Veal Cheek with Ramp & Escargot:


New York:


Licorice:


Celery Parfait with Peanut Brittle:


Chocolate with Deconstructed French Fry:


Rhubarb (Extra Course We Ordered not on Tasting Menu):


Mignardises:
Photo Not Available

I have been meaning to get back here - i had a so-so experience on my first visit a couple years ago. I can't answer for the rest of LTH, but I felt that the dishes were overly complex for their own good. Maybe an ingredient or two less per dish would been more successful. Thanks for the post.

So, the wife and I have wanted to visit Sprout for some time - finally made it last night; birthday dinner for yours truly. Reservations for 7pm. We were seated immediately at the two top at the back of the restaurant which the host referred to as "the stage". The interior is clean, sleek and modern without being stuffy. We began with an apertif of a very nice Albariño, and opted for the 8 course tasting with the wine pairings.

First up - cucumber soup, creme fraiche, borage, tiny crispy croutons, and soup poured tableside. Paired with a bright, crisp Riesling, this was a nearly perfect start.

Next, what we called the "giggle dish" - that is, a preparation with enough whimsey that elicits giggles between bites. Watermelon geleè, watermelon chunks, a smear of foie gras (and other ingredients that I'm having trouble remembering. LOL). The Furmint Sec (basically Hungarian Tokaji) exhibited notes of ripe peaches and the match was extraordinary.

The introduction to the savory portion of the tasting featured ricotta, lardo, pork belly and carrot. Awesome, complex, fatty goodness. The Alsatian Pinot Blanc was a great pairing, since it's uncomplicated, linear and straightforward. Anything else would've created a cluttered, unbalanced dish.

The sweetbread, braised oxtail course with a Gigondas wine pairing was my favorite of the evening. The meatiness of the oxtail, the perfectly cooked sweetbreads and cleansing flash of pickled scape were sensational.

Rounding out the savory section of the tasting was filet mignon, panisse, unagi, bok choy and cucumber. This was the only course of the evening that was slightly disappointing. The filet was not as "melt in your mouth" as we were hoping for, and the seasoning was somewhat inconsistent - one bite had none, the next had a tad too much. Nevertheless, there was enough good things going on (that panisse!) that nothing was left on the plate. Heh. The wine pairing was fine - another Rhone style blend (Syrah, Carignan, Grenache).

The 6th course is described as licorice, pear, goat cheese, macadamia nuts - and greens. A salad. Really? Yeah - and it works. It's a breath of freshness and a palate cleanser, washed down with Champagne. Lovely indeed.

First desert course I'm having difficulty remembering - fruit, raspberries, gelato. Nice balance of sweet and tart. Unusual wine pairing - Cinsault (not sweet). A bit of a stretch, but it accentuated the tartness of the fruit which I enjoyed.

Second desert course - chocolate, cocoa nibs, fruit (strawberry). In a word - yum. Paired with a Hidalgo Sherry - medium sweetness, a nice combo.

Service was professional, attentive, and friendly. Our server expressed his (and the kitchen's) pleasure at serving us. Made us feel welcome. Easily one of the more enjoyable dining experiences in recent memory.

Ironic that I just added photos now from my meal in May (to my post a couple up from here); I did not realize they had not loaded properly back then. What caused me to look at this thread again was Chef Levitski had started a thread on Facebook flaming people who take pictures of food and post pictures of food on social media - I then saw that I had not loaded my pictures properly at the original time I posted my review. Anyways I have been back to Sprout once since my May photo review and while I enjoyed it, it was not as good as my first trip. Chef Levitski's recent Facebook rant does not sit well with me and with so many great restaurants in Chicago I think I will give my money to chefs who do not insult a large segment of those passionate about food.

Photos of food seem like free advertising to me. It's 90%+ upside, more likely to attract than vice versa.

Lancelac wrote:Photos of food seem like free advertising to me. It's 90%+ upside, more likely to attract than vice versa.

I could not agree more and lots of chefs "get" this and some even encourage tweeting/picture sharing during a meal. I can totally understand being miffed if someone is using flash photography in an upscale restaurant, talking on their cell phone, or spending copious amounts of time using social media rather than focusing on the food - but to be insulting about someone shooting some pictures of their food and sharing them via social media is surprising to say the least. The Facebook thread is taking an interesting twist though...

Gonzo70 wrote:

Lancelac wrote:Photos of food seem like free advertising to me. It's 90%+ upside, more likely to attract than vice versa.

I could not agree more and lots of chefs "get" this and some even encourage tweeting/picture sharing during a meal. I can totally understand being miffed if someone is using flash photography in an upscale restaurant, talking on their cell phone, or spending copious amounts of time using social media rather than focusing on the food - but to be insulting about someone shooting some pictures of their food and sharing them via social media is surprising to say the least. The Facebook thread is taking an interesting twist though...

Especially ironic for a chef who appeared on Top Chef. I guess Reality TV is ok.

=R=

Good point!