blackbird

an amuse bouche: cuttlefish with avacado puree and watercress


west coast mussel soup with white fish, saffron, garlic and basil (super salty)



sauteed skatewing with sarsaparilla, sorrel, pickled pear, parmesan and fried rosemary


slagel farms organic pork belly with parsnip-olive, black eyed peas,
black trumpet mushrooms and sweet potato jus

SY's entree image was blurry, so i can't include it here,
but the name of the dish is below:
roasted monkfish loin with black sesame panisse, endive marmalade and pomegranate


toasted coffee cake with parsnips, black walnut dacquoise and coconut pudding


meyer lemon curd with quince, pumpkin seeds and elderflower sorbet

SY kindly bought me dinner at blackbird in the west loop. the atmosphere was definitely more hipster than evanston to say the least. SY noted it had a relaxed NYC feel to it. the late twenties crowd was in full effect even though it was a tuesday night (although it didn't fill up - its sister restaurant avec was packed).

the service was always great throughout the dinner. the water glasses were always full and help was always around to help you.

the food presentation and construction was amazing and unique. the use of sweet elements in main courses and savory in desserts was definitely interesting. they never took away from the overall dish. they only added another level to them.

unfortunately almost the entire dinner was too salty for both of us. so much so that i was almost too hard to eat one of the appetizers. i let them know that they should be concerned and to their credit they sent over three different people to ask me what had happened and how they could best correct the issue. my main course was properly seasoned thankfully, and very delicious. but SY's dish was still a bit too salty. and that was a shame because the monkfish was beautifully prepared.


blackbird
619 w. randolph st.
chicago il, 60661
[link]