Chicago Restaurant Week Starts Friday

By admin

The Bristol is one of 200-plus Windy City restaurants participating in Chicago Restaurant Week (photo courtesy of Neil Burger.)

by Jennifer Olvera Just in time for a much-needed winter relief, Chicago Restaurant Week hits February 18-27 — yes, it’s longer than seven days — giving diners access to over 200 prix-fixe menus priced at $22 during lunch and usually $33 or $44 during dinner, plus drinks, tax and gratuity. We think it’s a pretty sweet deal. At The Bristol, that means a nighttime find of Bordeaux spinach salad with bagna cauda vinaigrette, pickled onions and hard-cooked egg; pan-roasted skate wing with red currant vinaigrette, Delicata squash and endive; and, for a finale, Mascarpone cheesecake with lemon and blood orange accents. Head across town to Mercat a la Planxa and find Serrano ham-fig salad with sherry-shallot vinaigrette; Penn Cove mussel gratin with confit artichoke and tomatoes with saffron hollandaise; house-smoked lamb sausage, ham hock and tomato stew studded with black-eyed peas; and milk chocolate croquettes with banana marshmallow, rosemary caramel and Arbequina olive oil ($35). Veering in a totally different direction is hot-spot Chizakaya, where choices include puffed pigs’ ears, a trio of sweet sausage, duck confit and shishito pepper skewers and pork belly with egg, followed by taro rice pudding. For the full range of participants, visit www.choosechicago.com. Keep coming back to GAYOT.com for more Chicago Restaurant News, Restaurant Reviews, Culinary Events and Chicago Wine Dinners.