Roasted:
$39 for whole chicken with house potatoes
Chefs Tony Mantuano and John Hogan researched chicken recipes for a year, ate until they were blue in the face (hey, I know that feeling!) and arrived at one that’s become the top seller at their River North roast house. The twist here is it gets cold-smoked with applewood for half an hour before it’s roasted. This suffuses the chicken with a whiff of sweet wood smoke, plus it removes moisture from the skin, which produces something crisp and verging on crunchy. This all gets theatrically carved tableside, as juices drip onto crispy potatoes nested at the bottom. Besides salt and pepper plus herbs stuffed in the cavity, there are no gimmicks with this chicken, no sauces to cover flaws, just a master class on how to roast meats.
315 N. LaSalle St.
312-822-0100
riverroastchicago.com
—Kevin Pang
