The place was Paris a couple of decades ago. I was living there, soaking up the different ambiences and varied cooking styles of as many restaurants as time and very restricted resources would allow. Friends arrived from the States-well-heeled friends with unlimited curiosity but limited time. ”Show us your Paris,” they said.
Could I select a single restaurant that summed it all up? Impossible.
Was there another way, something that would provide a frame of reference? If only I could construct a sampler plate of my favorite foods.
It was Ernest Hemingway who pointed the way to a solution. Not in person, of course. He was nine years dead. But the title of his book ”A Movable Feast” suggested a plan of action. Why not eat and drink our way around town and visit a handful of places in a single evening? An aperitif on the terrace (and a peek inside) would suffice at Lipp. We would move on to sample the magnificent shellfish platter at Le Dome, eventually get to Androuet for cheese ….
It worked. My friends were excited at the prospect of a gastronomic treasure hunt. The restaurants were receptive and hospitable. So what might have been an agreeable but unexceptional evening turned into a night that was special and has been remembered vividly.
All of which brings me, as the fall dining season swings into high gear, to suggest trying something similar in Chicago.
The excitement of sweeping into two or three restaurants and being served something special at each stop can be the ”extra something” that makes an important birthday or anniversary stand out, or a way to make the most of a celebratory gathering of two or three couples. (Once the party grows beyond six, you`ll need a Desert Storm logician to stage the evening.)
Actually, the contemporary restaurant scene is more conducive to movable feasts than was the case only a few years ago.
The ”grazing” movement, which caught on in the `80s, bringing with it tapas bars and appetizer menus, has conditioned restaurateurs to not insist that customers follow the classic menu patterns. In addition, a great deal of creativity has gone into appetizer and dessert selections, some of which qualify as a restaurant`s signature dishes.
Finally, the recession and accompanying drop-off in dining out has made a new customer, even one with offbeat requests, a person to be respected instead of an annoyance. There`s no need to feel requesting a table for a single course is out-of-bounds.
Common sense and common courtesy do suggest several considerations to be kept in mind, however.
First and foremost, don`t try to stage a movable feast on a Saturday night. Not only will you become a burden on several crowded restaurants, the fairly precise scheduling that`s needed will be jeopardized. In my experience, three restaurants is an ideal number, though doing two is still an adventure. More than three is a challenge for even professional eaters. It requires a major commitment of time and major appetites.
From the beginning, someone must be in charge of advance planning and act as train conductor en route. Once the restaurants have been selected, the planner should allow at least an hour at each stop and an hour-and-a-half or more for the main course. Factor in travel time between restaurants as well, and keep an eye on your watch.
Making reservations is mandatory and be sure to tell each restaurant when you call that your party will be coming for only one course. (This avoids misunderstanding and possible anger on site. Better for the restaurant to say no or suggest a different time of arrival over the phone than at the door. Once seated, inform the waiter of your limited stay.)
Use conversation time to request the dish or dishes you want if you know the menu, or consider asking that the chef select something for you. This not only makes the event even more special, it will avoid time-consuming perusal of menus and the possibility of anarchy setting as too much is ordered at the first stop. You might even give credit card information to expedite paying the bill.
As for transportation, many restaurants in the city offer valet parking. Consider leaving your car at or near the final destination and using taxis for the tour. If possible, select at least two restaurants that are within comfortable walking distance of one another. It will save time, money and will allow for a second wind between courses.
As for the mix of restaurants, suit yourself. Doing two or three steakhouses strikes me as redundant. Instead, my instinct is to mix cuisines but not vary the style of the restaurants too greatly. For instance, Oriental appetizers followed by an Italian main course and a French dessert would be fine, but I would be unlikely to move from the crowded informality of Bob Chinn`s to the formal elegance of Le Francais on the same night, despite their proximity.
I have a prototype movable feast to present and, in addition, will sketch out several others.
Tour One: Streeterville Special. Appetizer at Avanzare, main course at Gypsy, dessert at Streeterville in the Sheraton hotel. Logistics: Park in a lot near Grand and Columbus and proceed on foot.
Avanzare (at Huron and St. Clair, 337-8056) offers a handsome, clublike atmosphere and notably light American variations on classic Italian dishes. Italian aperitifs are available along with a good selection of wines by the glass. Antipasti items such as a salad featuring baby shrimp and asparagus, carpaccio (their raw steak dressed with olive oil and cheese) or an appetizer- size portion of pasta would be a good start.
Walk three short blocks south to Ohio and a long half-block east to Gypsy (about 5 minutes.)
Gypsy (215 E. Ohio, 644-9779) has an agreeably relaxed feeling, heightend by live jazz Wednesday through Sunday. Youthful chef-owner Stewart Parsons is an enthusiastic practitioner of eclectic or cross-cultural cooking. Go back another time for his appetizer pizzas and concentrate on the ”speciality plates,” entrees such as his signature braised lamb shank with lamb caraway sausage or jumbo sea scallops with fresh spinach and roasted garlic cream. Prices here, for wine as well as food, are agreeably moderate. Portions are immoderate.
If a blizzard intervened and you were forced to stay at Gypsy for dessert, the only harm done would be to your waistline. Instead, take another walk, this time the half-block to Columbus then turn south and walk uphill until you reach the giant Sheraton that looms on the horizon two blocks away. Once inside, the Streetville restaurant is a sharp turn to the right.
Streeterville (670-0788) is a delightful departure in hotel restaurant design. It`s full of graceful curves, has a high ceiling, widely spaced tables and a view past the NBC Tower toward the Chicago River and the Wrigley Building. The room is conductive to conversation. The staff is attractively dressed and polite (if sometimes a little slow). More to the point, the dessert list is short but sweet and the coffee is very good and can be ordered in a multitude of preparations. Tiramisu comes in an intriguingly shaped glass cup floating on custard-cream. The fruit sorbets are a face-saving way to end the feast and there`s always something rich.
Several self-guided movable feasts, restaurants named in order of the courses:
Noshing on Halsted: Cafe Baba-Reeba! (tapas), Carlucci (veal or lamb), Relish (dessert).
River North Ramble: Hat Dance (appetizers), Coco Pazzo (fish or game), Tuttaposto (special dessert presentation).
Lower Loop Tour: Prairie (soup and bread), Printers Row (duck or pheasant), Yvette Wintergarden (liquid dessert and dancing).
Italian Night in the Loop: Trattoria Ten (antipasto), Vivere (anything that is well-matched to a classic Italian red wine).
Party Time on the Magnificent Mile: Petrossian boutique in Bloomingdales
(caviar and champagne), Le Perroquet (salmon or squab), Seasons in the Four Seasons Hotel (dessert).
On the other side of Michigan with Nick and Nora Charles: Le Coq d`Or in the Drake Hotel (martinis and pate), the 95th (Great Lakes fish), the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room (dessert souffles).
An all-Levy Evening: Cafe Spiaggia (gourmet pizza), Blackhawk Lodge
(grilled tuna or beef), Bistro 110 (cappucino cheesecake).
Lettuce Entertain You: Papagus (lots of appetizers), Tucci Milan (spit-roasted chicken or lamb), Shaw`s (key lime pie).
Low-key France and Italy night: La Locanda (risotto), Kiki`s Bistro (fish stew or steak-frites), Mirador (dessert in the Blue Room.)
Pig-out: Dixie Que (barbecue sandwich), Bub City (garlic bread and garlic crabs), Rosebud (chicken vesuvio).
