Bonsoiree Review
Jan 12, 2009, 12:59 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: TVC
Programs: AA EXP/LT PLT., Marriott LT GLD
Posts: 504
Bonsoiree Review
Mrs. Planecrashlaw did a detailed review of the 14 course degustation we had last Friday, for a foodie relative. Knowing how this forum likes to dine, I thought I would pass along our comments. It is a must do--probably one of our top 5 meals in the 15 years we have been in Chicago.....
Bonsoiree is a small, 26 seat restaurant at 2728 W. Armitage. The website is: http://www.bon-soiree.com. BYOB. The chef serves only prix fixe menus: 5, 7 and 13 courses. Of course, we chose the 13 courses, which also must be reserved ahead of time. The chef is a young (28 years old) extremely creative and talented guy who, keeping up the pace he is going at now, will burn out quickly! But, in the mean time, puts out awesome, gourmet, creative, delicious, and many other adjective-filled foods. This is the 13 course tasting we had. $150 per person.
Here we go... Amuse: Rabbit Shooter with potato gnocchi and the creamiest liquid with some white truffle essence hidden somwhere. The rabbit part was a tender morsel at the bottom of the glass. You ate the gnocchi first, then "shot" the rest. Left you crying for more!
1. Hamachi sashimi with a torched grapefruit section, dehydrated sesame seeds, which when put in your mouth somehow tranformed back to their normal state; dried and crushed nori powder; wasabi, and a pomegranite reduction.
2. Salad of Puget Sound sea beans; "inside out trout", which was a toasted macadamia nut tucked inside a "paste" of smoked trout with dehydrated dried tomatoes and sage; stuffed lotus root; baby red watercress with crispy duck skins; pickled radishes and a miso leek vinaigrette.
3. Parsnip and roasted chestnut soup, served with grilled snow crab which the chef recommended dipping in the soup. I preferred it on the side.
4. A smoking mesquite box with homemade bacon, quail egg and toasted marshmallow. When the lid of the box was opened, smoke came pouring out. All senses were in play here.
5. Oxtail with trumpet mushrooms in a bone marrow sauce scented with lavendar; spaetzle; and a corn and forget what kind of fruit mixture. So warming and rich. Perfect for the snowy evening.
6. "Duck, duck, goose": duck confit, duck breast, foie gras, served with a ceamy puree-type sauce with apple; and 2 shiny orange half-orbs of some kind of fruit - odd, but yummy!
7. Poached cobia on roasted rutabaga with thinly sliced and fried leeks, chervil, and some kind of vinaigrette.
8. Huckleberry roasted whole, boneless quail, stuffed with cabrales and fennel, with lardons, 2 kinds of tiny little roasted potato squares and huckleberry reduction. The meatiest and most succulent version of quail I've ever had.
9. Nantucket bay scallops served in a scallop shell with the most delicious Motoyaki aioli with a torched ponzu sheet. This was the PERFECT dish. It had lots of residual heat, some crispy salt for texture as well as flavor, the mellow sweetness of the scallops, the crisp of the ponzu sheet, and the creaminess of th Motoyaki aioli. Absolute food art.
10. Lamb tenderloin medallions, perfectly rare, served with a honey, yogurt & brandy sphere, which the Chef said that we could either eat it mixed with the lamb, or pop it in our mouths with a lamb medallion and have it explode. We chose the latter, and it was a mouthful of creamy fluff for a mere few seconds, and simply evaporated away as we ate the lamb. Amazing!
11. Goat Cheese pound cake with Explorateur: a cheese frosting, and blackberry ash imbedded on the outside of the "cheesecake", served alonside a blackberry reduction. But, the highlight was some sort of Japanese flower bud which the chef explained was quite spicy-hot and would give an electric sort of sensation in the mouth. He said that we may want to only have half of it at first, and to eat it after the cheese. We popped the whole bud in our mouth, chewed it's floral essence and then POW our tongue started to tingle, then the roof of our mouth, then our lips filled with a sort of shocking electric sensation! We savored this feeling for minutes while smiling and laughing about it. It changed the whole character of our wine while the sensation lasted. Give me a bag of these goodies!
12. 1st Dessert: a peanut butter wafer topped with a Panang curry sauce with Kafir lime leaves and an ice cream that we can't quite describe: ginger, Kafir lime, curry all working together in an icy delight!
13. 2nd Dessert: 2 dense chocolate mousse pyramids, accompanied by a profiterole of strawberry and white chocolate truffle mousse and a couple of raspberries. The perfect ending to our Tempranillo.
Bonsoiree is a small, 26 seat restaurant at 2728 W. Armitage. The website is: http://www.bon-soiree.com. BYOB. The chef serves only prix fixe menus: 5, 7 and 13 courses. Of course, we chose the 13 courses, which also must be reserved ahead of time. The chef is a young (28 years old) extremely creative and talented guy who, keeping up the pace he is going at now, will burn out quickly! But, in the mean time, puts out awesome, gourmet, creative, delicious, and many other adjective-filled foods. This is the 13 course tasting we had. $150 per person.
Here we go... Amuse: Rabbit Shooter with potato gnocchi and the creamiest liquid with some white truffle essence hidden somwhere. The rabbit part was a tender morsel at the bottom of the glass. You ate the gnocchi first, then "shot" the rest. Left you crying for more!
1. Hamachi sashimi with a torched grapefruit section, dehydrated sesame seeds, which when put in your mouth somehow tranformed back to their normal state; dried and crushed nori powder; wasabi, and a pomegranite reduction.
2. Salad of Puget Sound sea beans; "inside out trout", which was a toasted macadamia nut tucked inside a "paste" of smoked trout with dehydrated dried tomatoes and sage; stuffed lotus root; baby red watercress with crispy duck skins; pickled radishes and a miso leek vinaigrette.
3. Parsnip and roasted chestnut soup, served with grilled snow crab which the chef recommended dipping in the soup. I preferred it on the side.
4. A smoking mesquite box with homemade bacon, quail egg and toasted marshmallow. When the lid of the box was opened, smoke came pouring out. All senses were in play here.
5. Oxtail with trumpet mushrooms in a bone marrow sauce scented with lavendar; spaetzle; and a corn and forget what kind of fruit mixture. So warming and rich. Perfect for the snowy evening.
6. "Duck, duck, goose": duck confit, duck breast, foie gras, served with a ceamy puree-type sauce with apple; and 2 shiny orange half-orbs of some kind of fruit - odd, but yummy!
7. Poached cobia on roasted rutabaga with thinly sliced and fried leeks, chervil, and some kind of vinaigrette.
8. Huckleberry roasted whole, boneless quail, stuffed with cabrales and fennel, with lardons, 2 kinds of tiny little roasted potato squares and huckleberry reduction. The meatiest and most succulent version of quail I've ever had.
9. Nantucket bay scallops served in a scallop shell with the most delicious Motoyaki aioli with a torched ponzu sheet. This was the PERFECT dish. It had lots of residual heat, some crispy salt for texture as well as flavor, the mellow sweetness of the scallops, the crisp of the ponzu sheet, and the creaminess of th Motoyaki aioli. Absolute food art.
10. Lamb tenderloin medallions, perfectly rare, served with a honey, yogurt & brandy sphere, which the Chef said that we could either eat it mixed with the lamb, or pop it in our mouths with a lamb medallion and have it explode. We chose the latter, and it was a mouthful of creamy fluff for a mere few seconds, and simply evaporated away as we ate the lamb. Amazing!
11. Goat Cheese pound cake with Explorateur: a cheese frosting, and blackberry ash imbedded on the outside of the "cheesecake", served alonside a blackberry reduction. But, the highlight was some sort of Japanese flower bud which the chef explained was quite spicy-hot and would give an electric sort of sensation in the mouth. He said that we may want to only have half of it at first, and to eat it after the cheese. We popped the whole bud in our mouth, chewed it's floral essence and then POW our tongue started to tingle, then the roof of our mouth, then our lips filled with a sort of shocking electric sensation! We savored this feeling for minutes while smiling and laughing about it. It changed the whole character of our wine while the sensation lasted. Give me a bag of these goodies!
12. 1st Dessert: a peanut butter wafer topped with a Panang curry sauce with Kafir lime leaves and an ice cream that we can't quite describe: ginger, Kafir lime, curry all working together in an icy delight!
13. 2nd Dessert: 2 dense chocolate mousse pyramids, accompanied by a profiterole of strawberry and white chocolate truffle mousse and a couple of raspberries. The perfect ending to our Tempranillo.
Jan 12, 2009, 4:51 pm
#2
Moderator: CommunityBuzz!, OMNI, OMNI/PR, and OMNI/Games & FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: ORD (MDW stinks)
Programs: UAMM, AAMM & ExPlat, Marriott lifetime Plat, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 23,500
that's some fine knife skills
Dec 9, 2010, 4:53 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,229
BF and I went there last night to use our Groupon. Visually, each plate was a work of art. Overall, though, I was underwhelmed. The style of food just seemed overly fussy without any justification. In comparison, I thought L2O was outstanding in every way, and just as elaborate - but executed in a way that didn't feel fussy, just elegant. This seemed to be overly complicated food just for the sake of complication. Still, everything was artfully prepared and most of it was very good.
We got the four course menu ($58), which actually included a fifth course:
1. Salad of grilled sardine and butter poached escargot, mirin glaze, baby frisee, pumpkin 5 ways (rind crisp, fresh crisp, toasted pumpkin seeds, citrus pumpkin vinaigrette, pickled pumpkin), and frozen fennel-Thai basil mousse. Neither of us really liked this salad, but we were so hungry that we ate it all. The "salad" part of it was just a tiny bit of frisee with the other ingredients separated on the plate.
2. (extra course) Motoyaki of scallops and peekytoe crab. This was outstanding - creamy, spicy, delicious. I could have eaten six of them but would have been gravely ill from all the cream and butter.
3. Nasturtium soup, maitaki chips, cognac apple melt, sesame-cajun spiced chive bits, and oberon caramel. This was a cream based soup that was very good. The caramel sounds odd, but was a really delicious touch. They make it from Bell's Oberon ale.
4. Japanese-Buffalo smoked pork shoulder, bourbon-barrel salt and pepper sugar snap peas, hominy-coriander tostone, and soy sauce flakes. This was very good with a nice spiciness.
5. Boston cream beignets and burnt caramel ice cream. Delicious! I could have had ten of the chocolate beignets (with almond icing). The vanilla ones were also really good.
Overall it was good, if a bit overdone. I don't feel a strong urge to return but wouldn't necessarily be opposed.
We got the four course menu ($58), which actually included a fifth course:
1. Salad of grilled sardine and butter poached escargot, mirin glaze, baby frisee, pumpkin 5 ways (rind crisp, fresh crisp, toasted pumpkin seeds, citrus pumpkin vinaigrette, pickled pumpkin), and frozen fennel-Thai basil mousse. Neither of us really liked this salad, but we were so hungry that we ate it all. The "salad" part of it was just a tiny bit of frisee with the other ingredients separated on the plate.
2. (extra course) Motoyaki of scallops and peekytoe crab. This was outstanding - creamy, spicy, delicious. I could have eaten six of them but would have been gravely ill from all the cream and butter.
3. Nasturtium soup, maitaki chips, cognac apple melt, sesame-cajun spiced chive bits, and oberon caramel. This was a cream based soup that was very good. The caramel sounds odd, but was a really delicious touch. They make it from Bell's Oberon ale.
4. Japanese-Buffalo smoked pork shoulder, bourbon-barrel salt and pepper sugar snap peas, hominy-coriander tostone, and soy sauce flakes. This was very good with a nice spiciness.
5. Boston cream beignets and burnt caramel ice cream. Delicious! I could have had ten of the chocolate beignets (with almond icing). The vanilla ones were also really good.
Overall it was good, if a bit overdone. I don't feel a strong urge to return but wouldn't necessarily be opposed.
