The Provençal tian with smoked tomato and fresh ricotta cheese is a delicate vegetarian masterpiece, and the solid oval of chilled olive oil, which dissolves the second it touches a multigrain sourdough, is a stroke of genius. Here I’m thinking of the creamy lavender-tinged English pea risotto with chanterelles or the perfectly cooked short rib ravioli topped with garlicky dried currants and Moroccan gremolata in a rich braised beef sauce. The dining room, open 24 hours a day, overlooks a parking garage.īut when Graham’s food is good, it’s right on. For starters, all the action seems to be in the adjoining Miesian lounge, where a torch singer belts out “Smooth Operator” and huge windows provide a lovely river view. Unfortunately, something’s not right at Travelle. The striking second-story restaurant’s pure lines and wall of see-through Plexiglas tubes are meant to reflect what the press release called an “industrial age aesthetic inspired by the 1960’s corporate culture.” This place obviously wants to be in conversations about Chicago’s Best Hotel Restaurant. Travelle’s chef, the Tru veteran Tim Graham, wears his ambitions on the sleeve of his starched whites in the glassed-in kitchen, where his disciplined crew toils over niçoise ahi crudo and crisp “pita balloons” the size of volleyballs. FYI: The lounge’s 30-foot-long video screen was built to be a “beacon” for drivers heading north on the Wabash Avenue Bridge.Despite the misses, Beatrix has enough goodwill-and points of entry-that it’s tough to walk out feeling anything but positive about the experience. In other words, this is just the kind of restaurant you want in your hotel. All over the room, you’ll see folks kicking back with fresh fruit juices (any of which can be spiked with alcohol, of course). The airy space, with its dark wood and hanging plants, also includes a wine bar, a cocktail bar, and a coffee bar with an enticing bakery counter proffering sticky buns and all kinds of cookies and mufffins. The young and cheerful staff treats every dish with equal passion, and you end up adoring your waitress even when she’s flirting with the bartender while you wait for your dinner. For every wonderful dessert (the impossibly rich caramel pie with a flaky shortbread crust), there’s a head-scratcher-for example, the thoroughly unappealing vanilla milk and chia seed pudding. Problem is, the same kitchen has produced its share of duds, too, such as a flavorless, distinctly uncaramelized “caramelized” pork shoulder with wilted romaine and blunt butter mashed potatoes and obvious hotel capitulations such as bland hummus with veggies and warm naan. Beatrix even manages to get people excited about turkey meatloaf and braised kale. And, OK, the cauliflower Milanese, a special that sounds jokey, is vaguely brilliant: Light, crunchy breading crowns mild florets amped up by a chili-yogurt dipping sauce. I wouldn’t go that far, but Beatrix is onto something with the tsukune, soft and irresistible Japanese chicken meatballs in a simple chili-cilantro sauce, and standouts including a long sheet of truffled pasta harboring two impeccably poached farm eggs in a lemony butter sauce. “Whatever the chefs love to cook is what it will be” was how Melman described the concept last fall. Nothing fancy, just clever stuff: deviled eggs surrounded by a deconstructed potato salad, Caesar salads with fried capers subbing for croutons, and golden tomato gazpacho drizzled with olive oil. John Chiakulas, Rita Dever, and Susan Weaver, all veterans of Lettuce Entertain You’s test kitchen, load Beatrix’s affordable menu with bright flavors and enough flourishes to keep things interesting. Instead of choosing a trend, Melman handpicked chefs who know what people like and how to give it to them. “But the guest is the most important part of the equation.”Īt Beatrix, Rich Melman’s latest helping of Lettuce, the chefs and customers want the same thing. “For success in a hotel, it takes a manager or owner that understands people and can differentiate what a chef wants from what diners want and have an even mix,” says Lee Wolen, executive chef of the highly acclaimed Lobby at the Peninsula. Some places outsource their restaurants to established restaurateurs such as the Boka Restaurant Group, which opened Paul Virant’s eminently likable Perennial Virant in the Hotel Lincoln before the hotel was even finished a renovated Renaissance Blackstone gave itself over to Jose Garces’s colorful Spanish machinations at Mercat a la Planxa. Now that the hotel industry has been dragged across its patterned carpets into the land where the rest of the dining world moved years ago, good things have followed. I’m happy to report that those have become the exceptions.
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