Everest (Chicago, Illinois) #Everest_Chicago

There are good meals and great meals and outstanding meals.  Then there are meals like the one we just enjoyed at Everest.  So named, I imagine, because of its perch high atop the Chicago Stock Exchange.  Aptly named in that it is a place in which dining becomes a trip to the pinnacle of that experience.

The conquest of the 7-course tasting menu with wine pairing required no more skill or daring than any other meal, though it did take several hours.  The payoff of the journey was an experience which saturated every sense.  The room is intimate and elegant, the ambience low key and muted, the views are phenomenal; Everest feels like the interior of a Romanov jewel box. The plentiful staff is understated and seemingly psychic—every desire is met before expressed and any question answered almost before it is asked.

I believe the brilliance of this menu lies in Chef J. Joho’s gorgeous marriage of the foods of his Alsatian heritage and international training with beautiful ingredients which one would not expect.  Luxurious chunks of lobster served over a Russian style fingerling potato salad, a perfect filet of lake fish crowning an Alsatian choucroute (sauerkraut), a ballotine of pheasant wrapped and braised in savoy cabbage, the most gorgeous piece of seared New York State foie gras it has ever been my pleasure to have melt on my tongue.

The wine pairings were perfection, even the sweetness of the Gewurztraminer, to which I am normally averse, exactly right with the savory, seared softness of the foie gras.  The white served with the lobster course so good I asked for the name; it’s Domaines Bellier, Romorantin, Cour-Cheverny, 2013.

Next time you’re in Chicago, block out an evening, put on your fancy duds and go on a trip to the summit of what dining out can be.