Portsmith Awards

Portsmith Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: An open dining room with soaring windows marks the spot for this chic restaurant on the ground floor of Dana Hotel & Spa. Locals make this a destination for extended seafood tastings, or for adventurous cocktails at the upstairs lounge, Leviathan (seeing the sea theme?). Expect a polished demo here: the River North professional, the executive in town for business, groups of friends meeting up for dinner.

Likes: The strong sea narrative flows through the cocktails and food.
Dislikes: The dining room lacks in intimacy.

Food & Drinks: From The Fifty/50 Restaurant Group, Portsmith honors port towns and the “smiths” who catch their seafood. Flavor-forward and precise, the items are culled from sustainable sources, direct from cooperatives of fishermen who catch tuna, wild salmon, halibut and other line-caught fish. Executive chef Nate Henssler changes the menu to reflect seasonality. Open with cacio e pepe, elevated with uni butter and caviar, or rumaki, featuring Georges Banks scallops, nuoc chom pork belly, green papaya, lemongrass carrot purée and ginger confit. Fried oysters, with squid ink panko, oyster basil aïoli and trout roe, make a lasting impression, while a bread program gets gussied up with butter (the nori ciabatta, for example, with wasabi butter). Entrées capture the essence of the sea, from the whole Maine lobster to the wild striped bass with braised veal cheek Bourguignon. Desserts reflect global tastes; try the Cuban-inspired baba au rum, compressed pineapple and mango ice cream. A balanced wine menu rounds out the experience.