The room that was once home to the brilliant but short-lived Le Prince, and later the equally short-lived Land of Plenty, is a restaurant once again. The Swissotel Chicago, which already has The Palm within its walls, recently unveiled Currents, a contemporary American with Mediterranean influences, into a space that has not been kind to restaurants in the past.
It isn’t hard to figure out why. The restaurant space has neither a street-level entrance nor any windows. It’s so far below the lobby that it takes two escalators to reach it. Giving diners a reason to eat here is a formidable challenge.
And it’s a challenge the Swissotel has met boldly. The 65-seat dining room has been completely transformed into an elegant space with a palette of beige, gold and honey. Indirect lighting casts the room in a warm, shadowless glow; stretches of shiny mosaic tile along the far walls add a bit of glimmer. Tables are draped with Frette linens and set with high-end flatware and stemware.
Cream-colored, two-seat booths are so small and intimate that couples will be brushing against each others’ legs all evening; I haven’t quite decided if that’s a disadvantage. The booths are a comfortable, inconspicuous option for single diners.
Occasionally the circa-1940s music plays a bit too loudly, but for the most part the thickly carpeted dining room is very quiet. With creature comforts like these, a person could learn to live without windows.
Opening chef Robert Simpson departed recently; executive sous chef Christof Egli runs the kitchen, though new chef Daniel McGee is due on board soon. When he arrives, he’ll inherit a short, by-the-numbers menu that’s high on quality and low on risk.
The appetizer list comprises the usual suspects: a little smoked salmon here, a Caesar salad there. A plump, solitary crabcake is well made and satisfying, served with a light mustard cream alongside matchsticks of jicama, beets, mango and bell pepper. Shrimp cocktail is served on a plate, not in a martini glass (are you allowed to do that?), spreading a half-dozen good-sized shrimp among thin-sliced avocado and hearts of palm.
Tuna carpaccio isn’t really carpaccio, the tuna served in thin slices, not in long, thin sheets. But the barely seared tuna is nice, enhanced with dabs of black-olive mayonnaise and shaved celery root. Light gnocchi pair well with sturdy oxtail meat and mushroom cracklings (shaved button mushrooms, deep-fried) in a rich and somewhat salty reduction sauce.
Entrees are divided among broiled meats, seafood and pastas, and slow-cooked dishes, the last category offering braised shortribs and lamb shank, along with a very pleasant honey-roasted duck breast, served in precise, fanned-out slices with red cabbage and a banyul (a sweet wine) reduction.
Seafood choices include a flawless fillet of roasted salmon, draped over truffled asparagus risotto; the catch of the day might feature roasted halibut over buttery orzo and a yellow-pepper sauce fortified with shellfish stock.
First-rate lamb chops arrive with white beans, ratatouille and thyme-seasoned fingerling potatoes. An excellent peppercorn-crusted pork chop, with cippolini-onion marmalade and a modestly sweet Calvados sauce, is a star.
Desserts are disappointing. My molten chocolate cake spent a little too much time in the oven and was pretty much a dry chocolate cake when it got to the table. A traditional savarain, a ring-shaped, rum-soaked cake, was a bit too rummy for me. The almond tart had a base so dense it defied any attempt to cut it with a fork.
If you must have dessert, go with the fudgy chocolate terrine, with candied kumquats and a kumquat- orange sauce. Better still, opt for the cheese course, an assortment of three cheeses portioned large enough for two.
The very modest wine list consists mostly of young and moderately priced wines; 10 wines are offered by the glass. Surprisingly, the wine list devotes an entire page to grappas, listing more than two dozen. More surprisingly, at meal’s end servers make no effort to sell any, nor even to remind diners of their existence. (Service is very attentive otherwise.)
What Currents lacks in electricity it makes up in reliability. The kitchen takes premium ingredients and presents them artfully in a room that is a model of understated elegance.
Currents is never going to surprise or challenge anybody, but will provide a solid dining experience in a lovely room. And the windows are never dirty.
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Currents (star)
Swissotel Chicago, 323 E. Wacker Dr.
312-565-0565
Open: Dinner Mon.-Sat., lunch Mon.-Fri.
Entree prices: $13-$29
Credit cards: A, DC, DS, M, V
Reservations: Accepted
Noise: Hushed
Other: Wheelchair accessible; $6 valet with validation; No smoking
OUTSTANDING (star)(star)(star)(star)
EXCELLENT (star)(star)(star)
VERY GOOD (star)(star)
GOOD (star)
Reviews are based on no fewer than two visits. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
