Hey Ladies and Gents,
First, thank you all so much for all your suggestions on where to dine in Chicago on a Sunday evening. There were so many great choices, I couldn’t decide, so I sent my girlfriend (dining companion) all the websites and let her choose. In the end, she decided that she wanted to try NoMI (pronounced no-ME) which is located at the top of the Hyatt Park-Plaza Hotel.
I loved the décor. One of the walls was all windows with a beautiful view of Water Tower Place. Even in the dreary weather the view was lovely.
To start we ordered a glass each of the Nino Franco Prosecco, Primo, Veneto. It had a nice straw color. There were some peaches and a nice floral aroma on the nose. On the palate were some apple pie and ripe pears. It had an orange rind finish.
We were presented with an Amuse Bouche…I can’t recall of what exactly, but it was some small pieces of sushi served on a Japanese soup spoons. I do recall there was foam, which tasted nice, but oh, it is just NOT pretty!
With the Prosecco, we ordered the UME Sushi Selection which consisted of 2 pieces of yellowtail sashimi and a nigiri piece each of tuna, salmon, and eel. It was excellent.
After looking at the menu, I realized that their Foie Gras did not say “faux” or “blond”, so I asked our waiter about this, and that is when I found out, to my complete delight, that the Foie Gras ban in Chicago had been repealed…Foie Gras it is!
My girlfriend and I decided on our appetizers and entrees, so I went ahead and ordered 2 bottles of wine that I hoped would compliment each selection.
The first was a bottle of 2006 Domaine Huet Vouvray, Le Mont Sec. Its color was golden straw and it had a nose of lemon and mineral. There were flavors of orange, pear and a pleasant lemon pith finish. This vouvray had some sweet notes of honey. It was good, but could have used a bit more acidity.
The other bottle of wine was the 1995 Icardi Parej Barolo. This wine was very nice, more of a modern style Barolo. Its color wasn’t ruby, but more of a translucent purple red which I was surprised by. It had lots of floral notes of roses and violets, tons of black cherry and a hint of vanilla (also something I am not used to in a Barolo). On the palate there was again lots of black cherry, blackberry, and hints of cinnamon. It had a very nice cherry tobacco finish and lots of nice soft tannins. The wine was a good medium body and was very fruity without being jammy. I really didn’t get a lot of typical Barolo earthy notes like truffle or funk from this wine. I thought the name seemed strange; I wasn’t even sure how to pronounce it…LOL. If anyone has any info about it, I would love to hear it. Like where did the name Parej come from?
For our appetizers my girlfriend ordered the White Asparagus Veloute, with Jamon Iberico, Morel Mushrooms, and Marcona Almonds. It was delicious. The asparagus had a really nice texture and a delicious flavor with the veloute sauce and mushrooms. The Barolo seemed to match nicely.
For the appetizer, I ordered the Burgundy Truffle Foie Gras Crème Brulee with Caramelized Hazelnuts and Petite Herbs. It was spectacular, a beautifully prepared foie gras crème brulee with toasted hazelnuts on top served with an amazing long square breadstick. The appetizer was great…but the vouvray wasn’t doing it for me. So I called over the server and asked if could get a glass of dry sherry, preferably an Oloroso.
They didn’t have a dry Oloroso, only a cream sherry, so I opted for a glass of the Emilio Lustau Amontillado, San Bartolome. Its color was a golden brown. There were flavors and aromas of toasted nut – walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts and almonds. There was a good amount of raisin and orange peel on the palate, and it had a good nutty finish. Definitely a good match with the appetizer. However, in retrospect, I wonder if the cream sherry would have been a better match as my foie gras crème brulee had the caramelized sugar on top and was quite sweet and I know that a sauterne is a classic match for foie gras. What are your thoughts?
After we finished our appetizers the server informed us that we should stick with the vouvray for our next course. I argued with him, because my girlfriend’s entrée was lamb and that the Barolo would be much better. He said, “you’ll see”. Ok!
The next thing you know, he delivers to each of us a complimentary appetizer! They were the Divers Scallops, with English peas, Smoked Agnolotti, and Scallop-Thyme Jus. I was so pleased, since that was my original choice when I thought that foie gras might be “faux”. The plate had a perfectly seared scallop on top of brush stroke of pea puree, some peas, and a little tiny smoked eel ravioli. It was so good. (Apparently, our server was impressed with my sherry pairing and the foie gras appetizer and thought we might have been in the food and wine business…boy he must have been kicking himself when I told him I was just a Mom…LOL).
We drank the vouvray with that…however, I disagreed that it was a good pairing. I told the server, that I would have much preferred a Cote-du-Rhone or a smoky Syrah. The agnoletti was VERY smoky and was really the dominant flavor. He was surprised that I would pick a red for that dish, but I think once he realized that I was paring it with the smoked eel and not the scallop, he agreed. But I was of course, ever grateful for the extra appetizer!
Onto our entrees…my girlfriend ordered the Jamison Farms Lamb with Black Olive Panisse, Artichoke, and Romesco. The presentation was magnificent and the lamb was perfectly cooked. It went well with the barolo.
I had the Butter Poached Maine Lobster, Lobster Brandade, Chorizo, and Ras el Hanout. It was superb, the lobster was so sweet and tender…it was served on a bed of mashed potatoes that were creamy on the inside and golden crisp on the outside. There was a nice flavor of nutmeg (maybe from the ras el Hanout) in the sauce. The meal did well with the vouvray and the spices didn’t overpower too much. The slight sweetness of the vouvray seemed to marry well with the nutmeg.
Dessert time…my girlfriend wanted a cheese plate, but wasn’t sure of what direction to go with the ones they had, so she told the server to surprise her and that her favorite cheese is blue. The cheese plate was wonderful, it had 4 cheeses, an aged Manchego, a domestic Blue Cheese, a “triple threat” soft cheese made with goats’, sheep’s, and cows’ milk, and another soft cheese that had an herb rind of rosemary and lavender. I can’t remember all the names or where they came from (uh, hello…glass of processo, glass of sherry, and five glasses of wine, not to mention the 2 glasses of wine my girlfriend and I had at my hotel BEFORE we went to dinner…LOL), but I do remember that I did not care for the herb rind on the soft cheese. It tasted like Vick’s Vapor Rub, and that we LOVED the cheese made with the 3 milks. My girlfriend said it tasted like her Aunt’s farm (that was a compliment) in Wisconsin.
I ordered dessert and again I can’t remember the name off hand, but it was an Apricot based dessert. On the plate there was a half of a poached apricot with a bead of crème anglaise on top. Next to that was a paper thin (I mean THIN) sheet of chocolate. On the other side of the chocolate sheet was a round thin candy shell, that once you cracked it open, a burst of apricot coulee exploded forth. There was also a quenelle of ice cream. It was a spectacular presentation, and they obviously were big on the Molecular Gastronomy (I even joked with the server…what no foam on my dessert?). I am not a dessert person, but everything was delicious and I am a huge fan of apricots.
We decided not to order any dessert wines or drinks…we just stuck to the rest of the Barolo and Vouvray for the cheese and drank water with the dessert.
It was a great evening, I would definitely recommend NoMI. What I really liked was that there was a lot of personal attention (ie, the server and chef took time to talk to us about what kind of experience we wanted, our preferences, and about food and wine in general.) and also that fact that the restaurant closed at 10:00pm and we didn’t leave until 11:30pm. We paid our check at 10:00pm and not once did anyone bother us or try to get us to leave…I swear they would have let us sit there for 3 more hrs…LOL!
Thanks for reading!
? I didn't either...apparently, from what I have read, it is a Middle Eastern spice blend. There is no specific recipe (like curry, I guess). When I tasted the meal though, I mainly tasted nutmeg.