It’s practically illegal to open a casual upscale restaurant in Chicago and not put a whole chicken on the menu, but this outpost of the Alinea Group finds appealing new directions for the played-out staple. After a daylong chamomile brine, the chicken gets worked in multiple ways: Its breasts are poached and seared to a caramelbrown in the kitchen’s open hearth, its thighs are dipped in buttermilk batter and fried, and the drumsticks and wings are confited and shredded into a sunflower-seed-strewn chicken salad. It’s an unbeatable trifecta.
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