- Address:
- 816 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL, 60614
- Phone:
- 773-248-6228
- Overall User Rating:
-
(14 ratings)
- Hours:
- First seating: 6-6:30 p.m.; Second seating: 9-9:30 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday First seating 5:30-6:30 p.m.; Second seating: 8:30-9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday Closed Sunday and Monday.
4 stars (out of four)
Rating key:
4: Outstanding
3: Excellent
2: Very good
1: Good
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Charlie Trotter is unquestionably the most famous chef in Chicago; foodies from around the globe make pilgrimages to this culinary icon's Chicago restaurant for a dining experience that has no equal.
Culinary excellence and imagination are a big part of Trotter's success, as is his determination to offer the best of everything -- the finest fish, organically pure vegetables, and beautiful crystal and tableware. But I think the core of Trotter's appeal is that he strives to make every dining experience unique.
Trotter likens his cooking to jazz musicianship; his kitchen doesn't work with tried-and-true recipes, but spontaneously creates each menu from the best ingredients on hand each day. Patrons never know what will be on Charlie's menu when they visit -- but they also know that those dishes will not be available the following day, or ever (Trotter claims never to have repeated a dish). The result is the kind of communal experience between artist and audience that is unheard of in the fine-dining world.
And the fine-dining world has taken notice. The James Beard Society named Trotter its Outstanding Chef of the Year in 1999 (he was a finalist the previous four years), and just named Charlie Trotter's (click for address, maps, hours) the Outstanding Restaurant of the Year for 2000.
Charlie Trotter's remains remains one of the country's finest restaurants, a culinary temple where everything, from the crystal stemware to the fresh flowers to Trotter's meticulously crafted cuisine, is selected with perfection in mind.
Distinctions such as these can overwhelm many diners. Indeed, the idea of dining at Charlie Trotter's is intimidating. The act of dining there, happily, is not.
Service is welcoming, friendly and just formal enough to remind you that you're in the big league. Waiters, as they hand you the menu, deliver a brief introductory explanation of how things work here. Briefly, Trotter presents two multiple-course, degustation menus: a grand menu, priced at $125, and an all-vegetable menu, at $100 (Editor's note: Prices updated July 2002.). The number of courses is the same for both menus, making it easy, even advisable, for people at the same table to select different menus.
A recent visit found the kitchen in fine form. The grand menu began with a dish of remarkable textural range: big-eye tuna topped with osetra caviar, served with matchstick-sized bits of smoked salmon, a soupcon of horseradish potato salad and a couple of tiny, sweet Olympia oysters. This was followed by seared scallops and fiddlehead ferns set in an incredible sauce of carrot juice infused with asparagus and cardamom.
A cumin-infused broth complemented slices of earthy squab laid over crispy polenta. And slowly grilled lamb loin is paired with caramelized bits of julienned rutabaga, braised legumes (flagolets and black-eyed peas in this case) and a bit of pureed rutabaga.
The vegetable menu was even more impressive, in part because all-vegetable menus are still so rare at this level. First there was a salad of grilled, lightly smoky asparagus and endive, with sliced artichokes. Then a marvelous roasted-eggplant soup, a thick puddle surrounding bok choy leaves wrapped around kim chee; we especially liked the clever pairing of bok choy, or Chinese cabbage, with kim chee (a Korean dish of fermented spicy cabbage).
Mushrooms were the stars of the next two courses: A ragout of fava beans and wonderfully textured, earthy morels; and oyster-mushroom risotto with flecks of radicchio and a red-wine sauce.
Desserts included a trio of sorbets surrounded by chilled lemongrass soup; a triangular apple tart topped with caramelized sugar and ginger ice cream; and a phyllo-dough beggar's purse stuffed with macadamia nuts, with caramel-tamarind ice cream.
Concluding the meal is a plate of mignardises, miniature candy treats that are, after all the food you've tasted, more to be admired than eaten. Not to worry; waiters are ready to box them up.
Service shines even when things are not at their best. On our last visit, there was a prolonged, unaccountable delay between the first and second courses. We did not complain; we didn't have a chance. Our waiter returned to the table with sincere apologies, assurances that the pace would be picked up (it was), plus a compensatory extra dessert and dessert wine. Our baby-sitter got a little richer, but it wasn't a night for cutting costs.
Trotter's exemplary wine list, like the rest of the operation, is no place for bargain hunters either. The selection is broad and deep; Trotter has two wine cellars to hold it all. But if the selection seems daunting, servers are handy with knowing advice, and wine steward Joseph Spellman is the reigning America's Best Sommelier.
If you want to eat at Trotter's on a Saturday night, plan on calling at least six weeks in advance. You may need to plan further in advance; Trotter has been talking about serving even fewer meals in the future.
"We used to flirt with 200 covers on a Saturday night," he says. "Now we try not to exceed 160, and we want to push it down to 140, maybe 120.
"Ideally we'd do 100 covers a night, five nights a week, and hit a home run every time with every table."
Given Trotter's reputation and prices, a home run every time out is exactly what each customer expects. Given my experiences at Trotter's over the years, I'd say the customer pretty much gets that home run -- at the very worst, a standup triple.
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Charlie Trotter's
816 W. Armitage Ave.
773-248-6228
Related content:
• Browse Chicago's other 4-star restaurants.
• Looking for a more affordable Charlie Trotter's experience? Check out Trotter's To Go in Lincoln Park.
Phil Vettel is the Chicago Tribune restaurant critic.
