Sobremesa- Latin-inspired vegetable-forward supper club

This morning on WBEZ I was listening to a story on how "foodie culture" has brought people who can't afford most other luxuries into the luxury of fine dining. Predictably there was an angry comment along the lines of how Chicago food culture, like Chicago as a city, is segregated.

A few weeks ago I attended Tuesday Night Dinner's Safari Supper, which was a progressive supper featuring a couple of different Chicago supper clubs. I only had heard of two of them- TND and Feast + Imbibe. One thing that was striking that night was the amount of diversity represented by both the hosts and diners.

My friends and I were particularly impressed with an appetizer made by a club called Sobremesa. It was crispy plantain chips with an intriguing bright orange dip called Aji Amarillo. I anticipated cheese, but it was actually a pepper-citrus dip, the color coming from the yellow Peruvian peppers (Capsicum baccatum).

So I got on their mailing list and went last night to Pilsen. They describe themselves as "vegetable-forward." Maybe too many people have negative connotations with the word vegetarian. Either way, I am the opposite of a vegetarian and didn't miss meat once. It was just the right amount of food too and the pacing was perfect.


The menu


The delicious Aji Amerillo dip. Totally addictive.


Fresh asparagus with tangy crema and delicious puffed crispy quinoa


Salsify, cucumber, ramps, and greens. Creamy, sour, sweet, with just the right amount of bitter from the wild greens.


Roasted sunchokes with sunchoke cream, which was really delicious. Sunchokes seem popular lately which is not a surprise, since inulin has a great sweetness, but also causes some people issues (google "fartichokes'). I've found that taking two bromelain (an enzyme) capsules allows me to enjoy them. But they were pretty well cooked here which makes them easier to digest anyway.



Awful pic, but these were wonderfully perfectly burned carrots. Not the bad kind of burned, the right kind of burned, like marshmallows over a fire with a crispy black coat of goodness over the melted sweetness inside.



Confit of rhubarb. Terrible pic, but this was one of my favorite dishes. Silky, sour, and sweet. After that we had ice cream made with rich Puerto Rican coffee beans.

We finished up the meal with a shot of what I think was some kind of Puerto Rican moonshine? A sugar alcohol cured with coffee? Maybe I can't remember because it put me over the edge into drunkness.

Also we got cool art to bring home.

It wasn't until later that I realized the meal was also pretty much gluten-free as far as I know. One thing I hate about most vegetarian eateries is that they seem to be serving the same food we use to fatten cattle. But this meal had very minimal amounts of things like grains. It was a vegetarian cuisine that was light but still satisfying. I hope the Next Vegan meal can measure up

It reminded me a lot of Thurk and I hope to introduce the two teams. It was also a welcome glimpse into Chicago Latin "foodie" culture that I don't think gets enough press or attention.

Sobremesa Supper Club
Pilsen, Chicago
https://www.facebook.com/SobremesaChicago

Interesting I just realized that Gabriel Moya, the chef, was the chef at Calyer in Brooklyn
http://chicago.grubstreet.com/2012/08/g ... icago.html

Looks fascinating and delicious! Thanks for the info on them. What did the dinner cost?

Aji Amarillo, the Peruvian/Ecuadorian condiment (not the pepper of the same name, which is essential to the dip) often has mayo and/or dairy, such as parmasean or similar, feta, condensed milk, and any number of other interesting items such as saltines and lettuce. This was once a hot topic here. The stuff is great and ubiquitous at Chicago's many Peruvian and Ecuadorian spots, always a bit different from one place to the next. Happy to see a veggie-focused Latino concept, oxymoronic as that seems to this wannabe Latino.

It was $55 a person, which was great for the quality of food. BYOB.