Avenues: As Good as the Hotel (Chicago-Area Restaurant Review 9)

We were in the mood for a special dinner, so we went to Avenues at the Peninsula Hotel in downtown Chicago. The hotel is rated as one of the best not just in Chicago but in America, which it is, and the restaurant easily lives up to that standard, despite needing to be in Mensa (of course, Lisa is) to read the menu. There are four choices at Avenues -- a three course menu (one hot or cold appetizer, one meat or fish dish, and one dessert), a five course menu (hot and cold appetizer, meat and seafood courses, and dessert), a ten-course tasting menu, or a twenty-course extravaganza. Since we're both dessert people, and the ten course offered only various souffles for dessert, we opted for the five course.

Dinner started with two amuse bouche, both goat cheese based, and both excellent. The first was a tiny puff pastry with goat cheese and red pepper, and the second was a custardy goat cheese with heirloom tomato. Lisa's first course was beef tartare, which was wonderful, and Steve had the peeky-toed crab salad, which he loved even though he usually dislikes crab, and even though we don't know what "peeky-toed" means. Second course was scallops -- which were very fresh and tender, and were the best scallops Steve's ever tasted -- and risotto with white truffles. Lisa thought the risotto sauce a bit spicy, but still liked it, and Steve thought it was really good.

For the third course, which was seafood, Lisa ordered the Tuna Menage a Trois. This consisted of ahi tuna, which was very good, tuna tartare, which was amazing, and grilled tuna, which did not have a lot of flavor and was the only item we didn't particularly like. Steve had King Salmon, with a rice base. The salmon itself was great, but it was paired with some sort of pork, which seemed like an odd combination.

For the meat course, Lisa ordered the American Kobe beef strips, medium rare. While we don't really understand the whole Kobe craze, it certainly was cooked to perfection and very flavorful and well-marbled. Steve had the lamb chops, which were small but great.

For dessert, Lisa had the chocolate candy bar. This was a chocolate mousse bar with a somewhat strong expresso flavor, a scoop of peanut butter ice cream that really tasted like peanut butter, and a marshmallow and caramel sandwich that Steve loved (because only he would eat something that fattening and full of sugar, but Lisa did taste it and liked it, too). Steve ordered a corn pudding, which came with popcorn ice cream. Popcorn ice cream sounds rather strange, but actually tasted both buttery and sweet, and both Steve and Lisa liked it. The meal finished with complimentary tiny desserts, including one chocolate and raisin, one raspberry chocolate, and one very sweet white chocolate sandwich cookie.

We had a bottle of Henry's Drive Reserve Shiraz. Henry's Drive is our favorite Shiraz, and the reserve was a bit more tart. While we liked it with the food, we prefer the slightly sweeter (and less expensive) Henry's Drive if drinking the wine alone.

The total bill at Avenues was $540 with tip, and would have been about $380 without the wine.

Not surprisingly, Lisa rated the Women's Room higher than Steve rated the Men's. Lisa gave the Women's bathroom a 3 (her first one). Each stall was a separate room, and was very clean, with colorful tile. The faucet was hands free, and almost warm enough, and there were plenty of heavy, cloth-like towels. The entire bathroom was very clean and smelled good. The Men's Room could have been a 3 for similar reasons, except for the fact that the automatic flushing system in the urinals was not working, thereby lending somewhat of an unpleasant odor to an otherwise well put together restroom.

While obviously pricey, we really liked this restaurant, and think it was well worth it. Our overall rating for Avenues, 108 E Superior, Chicago, Illinois:

9.5 of 10 Steak Knives and 2.75 of 3 Bathroom Brushes