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Restaurant review: graham elliot
Now in version 3.0, graham elliot has become a thoughtful place.
graham elliot the restaurant has transformed itself more times than Graham Elliot the chef has changed his glasses. Today, the restaurant is in version 3.0 (or is this 3S?), which encourages tasting menus by offering three of them: a five-course tasting, a ten-course “collection” and a 15-course “repertoire.” The restaurant also kindly allows ordering à la carte, which is the route a companion and I took on a recent Wednesday night. From the beginning it was a classy meal: An amuse-bouche of the world’s tiniest persimmon cake was followed by an ornate plate of crab accessorized with nasturtium leaves. Those dishes, as well as the pumpkin soup (a riff on pumpkin pie), leaned on sweet flavors. But the hen was heavy on the savory, and in a miraculous way: The dish starts with a heady tea floating earthy mastutake mushroom shavings, flavors that are complemented by the hen, which arrives a few minutes later. It’s clear that somebody is putting serious thought into g.e. 3.0—whether that’s Elliot himself (who is more easily caught on TV than in his restaurant) or executive chef Merlin Verrier is unclear. Whether it really matters is unclear as well. 217 W Huron St, 312-624-9975.
