NAHA – Restaurant Week 2010 « Making Chicago Home

We want to know: Is there a restaurant in Chicago that you are dying to go to, but haven’t yet?

In case you were wondering, NAHA was that restaurant for me. Last summer when I started volunteering at Green City Market, I learned about Chef Carrie Nahabedian through new acquaintances. Everyone praised both her exciting, local, delicious food and her very sweet demeanor. Then people went on and on about NAHA, this restaurant that seemed to be on everyone’s “Favourites” list.

Standing, in the back: Chef Carrie Nahabedian on the left, Chef Rick Bayless on the right at Chefs Collaborative

When Chefs Collaborative came to Chicago for their National Summit last year, I had the pleasure to dine with them at Cafe Brauer at the Lincoln Park and taste Chef Nahabedian’s food for the first time. Needless to say, I was smitten.

When Restaurant Week was announced and NAHA was on the participant list, I decided I was tired of waiting. Restaurant Week or not, NAHA is a place you must, must go to if you want some of the best food in the city.

Instead of wine, I started my meal out with Emperor’s Aged Keemun, one of the many exquisite teas from NAHA’s tea menu. This particular black tea is aged in oak barrels, which gives it a woody aroma and full-bodied taste. It is great with a little local honey and steamed milk, and it is the favourite tea of Her Majesty!

Emperor's Aged Keemun

FIRST COURSE: Salad of local, organic beets, Asian pear apples, young greens and Effie Mills cow’s milk cheese with “Beauty Heart” radishes, kohlrabi, “Tracey’s” pecans and apple cider.

This is everything a salad should be: sweet, earthy beets surrounded with tender young greens, balanced with spicy radishes, creamy cheese, crispy sweet pears and crunchy pecans. The attention to detail makes not only the taste gorgeous, but the texture wildly different from the run-of-the-mill house salad.

“Tarte Tatin” of roasted Gala apples, winter root vegetables and onions with goat cheese, Italian frisee and red wine anise seed syrup.

It’s really the caramelised onions and red wine anise seed syrup that gives this tarte a sweet, licorice flavour.

SECOND COURSE: Braised Kobe Waygu beef brisket with a Cannelloni of acorn and spaghetti squash, “Sylvetta” arugula, buttermilk ricotta and Seckel pears.

This is the most tender, classy beef brisket you will ever eat. It’s not mushy, but it cuts like room-temperature butter, and is paired perfectly with the starchy, sweet spaghetti squash. The buttermilk ricotta adds a salty, creamy taste that stays at the back of your palate long after the bite is gone.

“Lacquered” Kurobuta pork belly and organic carnaroli risotto with Matsutake mushrooms, roasted zucchini, tender leaf spinach, Parmesan Reggiano and thyme.

This dish is the one you cannot miss (sorry, the picture didn’t come out!!). The pork belly is fatty and flavourful; the risotto is creamy and tender; and the mushrooms are plump, earthy and sweet. This is the dish that made the night.

THIRD COURSE: A sampling of local cheese from Willie Lehner and Barbara Jenness – 13-month “Bandaged” cow’s milk cheddar from Bleu Mont Dairy, Wisconsin; and Midnite Moonlite Camembert-style cow’s milk cheese from Dancing Goat Dairy, Michigan.

Not my favourite finisher, I found the Midnite Moonlite cheese to be incredibly bland and both of the chutneys to be very vinegary. The cheddar was dry and salty, which was great since it paired well with the local honey on the plate.

Parfait of tropical winter fruits, rice “pudding” and mango sorbet.

Rice pudding is a homey dessert that I would have never paired with tropical fruits, but glad it was. Tangy, sweet and refreshing, this was the perfect ending to a nearly flawless meal.