I hadn't previously heard of Sixteen, but apparently it was the hyped restaurant of chef Frank Brunacci on the 16th floor of the Trump Tower. I booked it for our anniversary dinner as a new hot spot that was good for special occasions. I would agree the place is decked out for a special event. Unfortunately the clientele is clearly businessy. Still the restaurant is extremely nice. You exit the elevator to a lounge type area, and the seating is through a hall of wine racks. Once you enter the main dining area, you are greeted by thirty foot ceilings and a giant chandelier. The entire outer wall is made up of windows giving you an excellent view of the River North skyline from any angle. The best view is that of the clock tower atop the Tribune Buidling.
I went in not knowing what to expect from the food, and it turned out to be fairly akin to our experience at Trotter's. Both a six and ten course tasting menu were available for $95 and $135 respectively; but seeing that most of the tasting items were available on the regular menu, we decided to forgo the tasting menu and ordered two appetizers and two entrees. The portions we received were fairly small, and I was slightly regretting not going with the tasting menu. However, by the time the meal was over I was more than full.
This is probably due to their fantastic bread. They offer a selection of french rosemary, black olive, multigrain, and orange blossom breads. We tried the french rosemary and orange blossom at first. The french rosemary bread was very good, but just not nearly as good as the orange blossom. There is a hint of white chocolate in the dough, and the crusts are very sweet. This bread is amazing.
For our drinks, we went with two glasses of the Marguet rose. This champagne was slightly fruity and very playful, perfect for my wife who prefers lighter champagnes. I will definitely be looking for a bottle of this.
I ordered the pork belly and pork taco appetizer followed by the duo of beef. My wife had the rock lobster salad and the hazelnut crusted scallops. It's a good thing we ordered two appetizers as they were portioned more like tasting courses. If possible even another appetizer or entree would have been ok, but is there any good way to order three appetizers or three entrees for two people?
The pork belly was one moderately sized piece, and it was fat. So juicy and fat. I don't really have a big problem with eating pure fat, and it was well seasoned and quite good. The pork taco on the other hand was tiny and generally subpar. There were small chopped pieces of pork marinated and laid on a crispy piece of tortilla about twice the diameter of a quarter. The pork was seasoned to taste almost like ground beef.
My wife's appetizer was also small but very tasty. A small portion of lobster was topped by a ring of fried phyllo with some lobster salad inside. The lobster was all cooked perfectly. The salad part was some deconstructed micro greens with servings of avocado mousse and a lemon gel. Everything was very good, but it's similar to other dishes with deconstructed salads.
My duo of beef was probably the best thing we had. It was a pairing of a filet and prime rib. The prime rib was incredibly flavorful and just melted in your mouth, simply fantastic. The filet ended up a little tough as I ordered it medium, but it ended up fairly well done. Still it was simple and crusted beautifully. I've had better steak but never better prime rib. Both were laid on a slice of potato surrounded by pieces of sauteed oyster mushrooms and potato.
The hazelnut crusted scallops were perfectly cooked. Not quite melt in your mouth as the ones we had at Trotter's but almost there. However, the hazelnut crust actually overpowered the scallops somewhat. They were topped by some nicely seasoned fennel and surrounded by juicy bits of rhubarb.
We finished with their strawberry trio. It actually had a very complicated name, but I can't quite recall. Something like: A small tour through the land of strawberry. Ok, the name wasn't that lame, but you get my point. This entire dessert put strawberries together with mint and basil, and did it surprisingly well. There were fresh strawberries with mint and basil floating in a jus. This dish was actually the least appreciable as the fresh basil was a little overpowering. There was also a strawberry, mint, and basil sorbet. The sorbet actually turned out to be quite delicious. There was just a hint of mint and basil and it added a freshness that went well with the cold of the sorbet. A lobster dessert ravioli was unusual, but the infusion of strawberry made it pretty enjoyable. The final piece was a bar of pistachio cake topped by strawberry gelee and then fresh strawberries and a basil mousse. Pistachio crumbles were sprinkled over the assembly. This dessert was great; the basil mousse was very light, and my wife who typically turns away from basil in dessert and things like gelee gladly took my offer of the last bite.
Overall, Sixteen is another one of those restaurants that make you think as you eat. Not quite as creative as Trotter's but very very good and perhaps executed better. Bold flavors were on display in every dish, and for the most part the chef does a good job not overthinking himself. The second best part of Sixteen, the first being the duo of beef, is the fact that there are countless little surprises. Every now and then the server will slide by and present a little gift from the chef. Before our appetizers it was a mushroom puff topped with some chive creme fraiche. Before dessert was a small candy of chocolate cookie topped with a banana and passion fruit mousse. After dessert was a sampling of cookies and desserts, the likes of which included a chocolate macaroon, a small rum cake, a lemon jelly, a piece of chocolate, a coconut crisp, a caramel with peanuts, and a cherry pastry.
Will I be back for seconds? Not for a while; there are a million other places on our list, and it wasn't inexpensive enough for us to become regulars. But I'm sure we'll be back sometime, albeit not sometime soon. The view, the service, and the food all make for a great evening. If you're not too hungry and want to eat something interesting, I would definitely recommend doing an appetizer and main course or even the six course menu at Sixteen. Just know that you'll be surrounded by parties in the middle of business dinners.
No comments:
Post a Comment