The Ghetto Gourmet

Last Friday, I went to the Chicago edition of the "Ghetto Gourmet," a bit of a renegade fine dining experience. I just wrote out my recap in an email to some friends, and thought it might make a good post. Sorry, no food photos...

Here's the scoop...

---> the setting: gallery space on milwaukee ave, in the epicenter of wicker park, next door to heaven gallery. tables were about a foot off the ground. it's BYOB, and BYOFloorCushion. they were very necessary, and ranged from throw pillow to couch pillow to straight-up beach chair. there were four tables with about 10 people per, each set with wine glass, plastic cup for water, and the night's menu. hold on to your utensils b/c you only get one set.

---> the vibe: super chill, laid-back, friendly, diverse (age, race, and style) mix of folks. the emcee/host/co-runner of the operation is a guy named david. really positive dude. there was a good amount of time between courses so you could really digest, hang with your dinner companions, and wander through the space and out on to the roof-deck.

---> and of course, the food: it did not blow me away, but it was good for sure. the only real issue was that i felt it could have been a touch warmer. however, given that there were two chefs and four servers for 40+ people, i really can't complain too much because the service was excellent. even with the "ghetto" set-up, they could accommodate a vegetarian.

course-by-course:

- our amuse bouche was a juicy grape rolled in blue cheese and nuts. really good, and i don't even like bleu cheese.

- first course was two empanadas, mine with mushrooms instead of pork, both with apples and cherries. i think these were the best part of the meal. flaky crust, flavorful moist filling.

- second course was soup. everyone else had meatball with plaintain dumplings in a rather watery broth. i had carrot and leek which was delicious and creamy and a little spicy.

- turns out that my "soup" was also the sauce for the main dish, stuffed shells. the filling was acorn squash, chihuahua and feta cheese, pumpkin seeds, and fresh basil. the pumpkin seeds totally made it for me because it was such a contrasting texture. i'm big on texture. could have used some added spice, and definitely could have been warmer.

- dessert was great. ice cream sandwich with homemade chocolate cake, vanilla bean ice cream, sitting on a bed of chocolate mousse and caramel. it was almost too rich for my blood. almost.

oh, and when you arrive, you get an envelope with your name on it so you can leave comments, questions, and, of course, tips at the end of the night. our host informed us that the GG will be back in chicago sooner than later, and might even be setting up a residency in july. i will definitely be back.