Mmm...mmm...good! We ventured out to dinner last Thursday to experience the culinary expertise of Charlie Trotter, chef extraordinaire! Charlie Trotter's is in our 1000 Places book and is also reportedly one of the top 20 restaurants in the world. It is an 8 course menu with items pre-selected by the chef and wow....the food was both amazing and a little interesting at times. As they always say on Top Chef, "I wouldn't have thought to put those flavors together, but they really work well."
After dinner we enjoyed a tour of the kitchen with the host, Christian. The kitchen was very clean....as in no dirty pots piling up....I know what my kitchen looks like when I'm cooking and I'm not always the clean as you go type!
The kitchen again. Chef Trotter was not actually present this evening (he lives in a brownstone down the street), but we can say that he has certainly trained his staff well...both in cooking and in service. For such a nice restaurant, it was not pretentious in any way and the staff was truly friendly and helpful.
A comment on our dinner, since you of course must be wondering what we ate. Here's the list: 1. Raw oysters served in a sea water jelly. We don't eat oysters, but they were actually really good...we could have done without the jelly. 2. Rare Lake Trout with crayfish and roe in a vegetable broth. Quite good, particularly the crayfish. The roe was larger than I've experienced, so took a little getting used to. 3. Quail...I don't remember exactly what it was served with but our 2nd fave entree. 4. Drumroll please....the #1 entree of the evening was hands down the Japanese himachi served with pickled fennel and something that looked like a small crab cake, but was actually made with pig tail. This was the absolute best fish we have ever eaten! 5. Lamb chops with black fermented garlic. The lamb was cooked to perfection, but I don't think either of us cared for the garlic. And in no particular order, the 3 dessert courses: grape sorbet (sort of a pallette cleanser), figs with a port wine, berries with a celery ice cream (surprisely good), carrot cake with a chocolate ice cream and very thin chocolate "hair" that was bundled like straw, and last but certainly not least was the apple fritter dessert that truly defined heaven on earth! And now that we have had this meal, we are living the rest of our time in Chicago on PB&J and Ramen Noodles!
This kitchen is on the other side of the restaurant and is where Chef Trotter films his cooking show. I want a kitchen like this! Equally impressive was the garden and greenhouse at back where the restaurant grows all of it's own herbs.
Not Charlie Trotter's but right next door was a very big shoe store, "Lori's...the sole of Chicago." I couldn't resist this photo op!
After dinner we enjoyed a tour of the kitchen with the host, Christian. The kitchen was very clean....as in no dirty pots piling up....I know what my kitchen looks like when I'm cooking and I'm not always the clean as you go type!
The kitchen again. Chef Trotter was not actually present this evening (he lives in a brownstone down the street), but we can say that he has certainly trained his staff well...both in cooking and in service. For such a nice restaurant, it was not pretentious in any way and the staff was truly friendly and helpful. 
A comment on our dinner, since you of course must be wondering what we ate. Here's the list: 1. Raw oysters served in a sea water jelly. We don't eat oysters, but they were actually really good...we could have done without the jelly. 2. Rare Lake Trout with crayfish and roe in a vegetable broth. Quite good, particularly the crayfish. The roe was larger than I've experienced, so took a little getting used to. 3. Quail...I don't remember exactly what it was served with but our 2nd fave entree. 4. Drumroll please....the #1 entree of the evening was hands down the Japanese himachi served with pickled fennel and something that looked like a small crab cake, but was actually made with pig tail. This was the absolute best fish we have ever eaten! 5. Lamb chops with black fermented garlic. The lamb was cooked to perfection, but I don't think either of us cared for the garlic. And in no particular order, the 3 dessert courses: grape sorbet (sort of a pallette cleanser), figs with a port wine, berries with a celery ice cream (surprisely good), carrot cake with a chocolate ice cream and very thin chocolate "hair" that was bundled like straw, and last but certainly not least was the apple fritter dessert that truly defined heaven on earth! And now that we have had this meal, we are living the rest of our time in Chicago on PB&J and Ramen Noodles!
This kitchen is on the other side of the restaurant and is where Chef Trotter films his cooking show. I want a kitchen like this! Equally impressive was the garden and greenhouse at back where the restaurant grows all of it's own herbs. 
Not Charlie Trotter's but right next door was a very big shoe store, "Lori's...the sole of Chicago." I couldn't resist this photo op!
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