Norman Fenton’s paean to Latin America can blind you with razzmatazz. So much happens during this tasting-menu meal: Clouds of beer foam go poof over michelada oysters, dry-ice smoke fills the small, cushy dining room every time salmon aguachile hits a table, a chicharron reaches so high from its vase you crane your neck to see the top. But it’s not all flash: The multiple components of each dish contribute to the impact of the flavors and the overall narrative of the 14 courses. As with many fine-dining blowouts in landlocked Chicago, this menu offers a coastal fantasy — the flavors of Tulum, where Fenton (pictured at right, behind the counter) operates another restaurant with a near-identical menu. It’s an expensive journey you’ll take just once or twice, but you may come more frequently for the taco omakase served at the seven-seat counter at 10 p.m., after regular service wraps: a swift hour of tortilla-wrapped bliss. 

Price: $$$$$
Address: 4662 N. Broadway
Website: carinochicago.com