Everest - Almost the Pinnacle (Chicago Area Restaurant Review Number 51)

And they said it wouldn't last. Our blog has reached its one year anniversary. We wanted to celebrate with a special dinner so we picked a restaurant we have loved in the past, Everest. Everest, which is a fine dining restaurant, is on the top floor of the Chicago Board of Trade Building and has a tremendous view of the Chicago area. The room is very relaxing and elegant at the same time, and the tables are perfectly spaced for conversation. The service is extremely informed and helpful, which adds to the overall grand experience.

With help from Everest's sommelier, we started with a bottle of L'Evengile Pomerol 1996. As with most Pomerol this tasted a bit tart at the outset but as the wine had time to breathe it got better and better. We really liked this bottle. Our first course was a heavenly caviar. It was accompanied by tasty blinis and more than enough creme fraiche (as well as other stuff we ignored). The caviar alone made this dinner worthwhile. Our next course was a cheese plate with camembert, goat and blue cheeses from the midwest. This came with raisin toast which was a perfect match with the cheese. Again this course was superb.

The only flaw of any substance with this experience was Steve's entree. The short ribs were surprisingly tough and chewy, rather than being tender as he would have expected. Lisa's beef tenderloin, however, was cooked a perfect medium rare and tasted wonderful. Steve had a bite and also thought it was great. Had he ordered that instead of the short ribs this might have gotten a perfect score but a bad entree does preclude perfection.

Desserts were pretty although Steve's banana crepe with chocolate was a bit much on the chocolate for his liking and Lisa's chocolate sampler with five types of chocolate was very good but none of them was superb on its own. Dinner also included a starter and dessert amuse bouche. The appetizer amuse bouche consisted of a pudding-like substance with pistachio, which we both thought bordered on vile. But the asparagus soup with lobster and the capon were both excellent. For dessert Lisa had some chocolate pieces including one that looked like a conehead and a jelly-like dish and a lemon maccaroon. She particularly liked the jelly and the lemon. Steve had a milk chocolate piece and the maccaroon. He wasn't fond of the chocolate but would have liked 10 maccaroons instead of the dessert he had.

Both of us thought the bathrooms were perfect. They were spotless, the right temperature and well decorated. Of particular note were the sinks which had a clear glass basin.

Dinner for two at Everest, with a bottle of wine and caviar was a fitting $1,000 (only the best for a dynamic blog like ours), but it would have been more like $500 with wine by the glass and no caviar. Certainly this is not a place to go often (unless your name is Pritzker or Crown) but it is the perfect place for a special dinner and perhaps, unlike Trotter's or Tru, one could justify a few trips here per year.

Our ratings for Everest, 440 S. LaSalle Street Chicago Illinois

9 of 10 caviar spoons (new rating); 3 of 3 Bathroom Brushes