ML - Michigan Avenue

2014 - Issue 2 - Spring

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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Keeping It Casual FIVESTAR CHEF KEVIN HICKEY PARTNERS WITH BILLY DEC ON SMART NEW SPOT BOTTLEFORK. BY MEG MATHIS AFTER 18 YEARS and countless accolades as executive chef of Four Seasons Hotels, Chicago native Kevin Hickey is taking a more casual tack in the kitchen at Bottlefork, a cozy River North concept that's equal parts farm-sourced food and carefully curated drink. With Rockit Ranch's Billy Dec, Hickey talks rotisserie chicken, craft cocktails, and why spring is the sweetest season of all. What are you most excited about, menu-wise? Kevin Hickey: I've spent today on the phone negotiating 500 pounds of cherries to be dropped off at Rhine Hall Distillery, where they're making our cherry brandy. I had another farmer today who brought in beautiful two-and-a-half pound chickens that we're going to do on the rotisserie sheared with Julienne—a spicy, scrambled salami—from a local Italian deli. Billy Dec: River North's evolution has caused so much activity that f lexibility is the way to go. We're ahead of the game with Bottlefork in being super experimental, especially with the bar being integrated into the food and the food being integrated into the bar. You're also working with Begyle Brewing in Ravenswood for the beer program. KH: I'm involved in the f lavor profile and choosing how to introduce food into the beer; we decide on a style of beer based on time of year and what kind of food elements we want to introduce into it, and they'll have an array of hops for us. What ingredients are you looking forward to this season? KH: In the pea family you get garden peas, snap peas, snow peas, and pea tendrils, and you start building dishes right there. We have wild river salmon, softshell crabs—a lot of proteins are really at their heart right at spring. Everybody gets their animals back to pasture, and they start producing milk with unbelievable flavors of the weeds, grasses, and herbs of the farm. It's my favorite time of year, as if you couldn't tell. 441 N. Clark St., 312-955-1900; bottlefork.com PHOTOGRAPHY BY GALDONES PHOTOGRAPHY (DUSEK'S) FROM LEFT: Kevin Hickey, chef at Bottlefork; the restaurant's smoked lamb ribs. Surf and turf goes high-end with confit octopus, braised beef cheeks, hedgehog mushrooms, Brussels sprouts leaves, and sunchoke purée. continued from page 78 Alsatian choucroute, a hearty helping of house- made sausages, pork belly, and duck confit nestled atop a bed of satisfyingly sharp sauer- kraut, which showcases his background in French cuisine. "The whole philosophy," says Wentworth, "is really simple foods, really pris- tine ingredients well-prepared, well-sourced... just good food." Wentworth may tout simplicity—everything is made in house, from bread to charcuterie—but this is original, thoughtful fare: Kentucky-fried quail with foie gras cornbread; General Tso sweet- breads accented with savory-sweet sauce, pickled daikon and shishito peppers; and an inventive take on surf and turf: confit octopus and braised beef cheeks. Pastry chef Jeremy Brutzkus gains his own fans with delectably straightforward desserts like airy churros with decadent roasted ancho- chile-spiced dark chocolate sorbet, which pays homage to the surrounding neighborhood. Dusek's greatest success is that it is a true pub- lic house, with a welcoming, convivial ambience and an eclectic, wide-ranging crowd that encom- passes everyone from couples on first dates to families to buzzworthy celebrity patrons like Guy Fieri, Brian Urlacher, and Brian Eno. Adds Finkelman, "We always say that you don't really choose the project, the project chooses you." In this case, the spirit of John Dusek chose well. In the hands of Bruce Finkelman, Craig Golden, and Jared Wentworth, Thalia Hall is already changing the culinary and entertainment land- scape of Pilsen, much like the original Dusek did more than a century ago. 1227 W. 18th St., 312-526-3851; dusekschicago.com MA 80 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM TASTE 076-080_MA_Taste_SMD_Spring_14.indd 80 2/11/14 4:17 PM

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