“You guys know Bobby, huh? I’m sorry…. Right this way.”
So began our recent trip to Sola in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago. A table for three adventure this time, we were joined by one of the lady’s flatmates for a dinner cooked by the other flatmate, Sola’s new Chef de Cuisine, Bob. (Or Bobby, as everyone at the restaurant seemed to call him, much to our amusement.) Bob invited the three of us to taste the changes he brought to the menu and to spoil us with some off-menu items. In the interest of full disclosure, we paid for most of what we ordered but had lots of surprises with extra courses that came gratis care of our chef-friend hard at work in the kitchen.
Decor-wise, Sola has a nice feel to it. There’s a fireplace near the front and the booths are tall and cozy. A big screen LCD TV seems very out of place near the otherwise clean back-lit bar, but it wasn’t distracting.
Speaking of the bar, the cocktail program at Sola is probably better than average (fresh ingredients and high end alcohols), but since we are even bigger drink snobs than food snobs, we found some flaws. They shook the fellow’s Manhattan (Aghast!), the Irish coffee was a shot topped by some Joe (Do better!), and the other drinks, though showing some originality, seemed a bit out of balance.
Our dinner started off with light appetizers and a fantastic bread-plate. We ordered the Parmesan truffle fries with truffle honey aioli and the gnocchi with smoked chicken, sweet potatoes, ramps and tatsoi. The fries were good (though mostly forgettable compared to everything else), but the gnocchi was a big hit; fresh and delicious. Cooked perfectly and paired well with the other vegetables, we were sad to see it go so quickly.
Next, we got our first of several gifts from the kitchen, three portions of hearty seared scallops in a ginger sauce with golden beat puree. Neither the fellow nor the lady are especially fond of seafood, but this was cooked very well with lots of flavor and the beet puree was an especially nice pairing. The third at our table was so smitten, he maintained that this was his favorite dish for most of the night!
We then got two more “first courses.” A surf and turf plate arrived with langostino and pork belly over house-made kim chee. The langostino was light and buttery with lots of flavor and we’ve never turned away pork belly, — the key to our hearts, — but the kim chee was a real clincher here. Bob has been pickling everything he can get his hands on since starting at Sola and this was a great example of that work in action. After this, we got a medium rare cut of wagyu beef over a barley risotto with fava beans. The beef was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious and a highlight of the night for all three of us while the texture of the barley risotto played just right with that of the beef. Amazing!
By this point we were stuffed, but our entrées were only now arriving. Most of this had to be boxed up for lunch the next day, but we all got to try each other’s plates; two of the three were stand-outs. The pan seared halibut was cooked just right and came over a risotto with fava beans that was much lighter than the barley version earlier. The braised short ribs were packed with flavor from being slow cooked for six hours and came with a hosin sauce over quinoa and snow peas. The third entrée, though, was a disappointing duck breast; there was a lot of it, but the pieces were too thickly cut and the meat lacked a punch of flavor. The saving graces of the dish were a potato-duck confit hash (a delicious version of duck, flavorful and rich) with kale and a side of sweet kumquats providing a nice contrast. Maybe we’re still jaded after our disappointing duck at Lula or maybe we’re too snobby after the extravagant pressed duck at Next, but either way, we decided that we should lay off the duck for a while.
Ours didn’t come in cones, but they still tasted as good as this looks.
With our stomachs ready to burst, Bobby sent out two more plates for dessert. We poured coffee, port and whisky to help trick our bodies into finding more room and began with an assortment of house-made sorbets in mango, passion fruit and coconut flavors. After this, we ended on a savory note with a plate of cheese. Aged cheddar, huckleberry blue and a goat cheese with a prosecco-glazed rind were paired with grilled bread, blueberry and kafir lime jam, roasted macadamia nuts and fresh honey.
None of us had tried Sola before Bob took over the menu, but we really enjoyed what we had. Hearing him discuss his contributions, he is moving the food in a great direction. The kim chee this night demonstrated his long-term pickling efforts and we know that he is responsible for the increase in slow cooked dishes, even adding sous-vide capabilities to the restaurant. We also felt that a lot of our favorites from the meal were the little things like the golden beet puree pairing and the barley risotto.
Sola’s got a lot of tough competition in this town, including many restaurants in the same vein that pull out slightly ahead, but it’s worth checking out. It’s great to know that Chef puts a lot of love into what he does and we’d go back, even without gut-busting presents from the kitchen!
Photos courtesy of sola-restaurant.com
