Avenues at the Peninsula Hotel - Chicago, IL

This restaurant is located in the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago and has had a new chef for about a year, Curtis Duffy. He replaced Graham Elliot Bowles and comes to Avenues from Alinea. Previous to Alinea he worked at Trio and Charlie Trotter's.

We dined at this restaurant a couple years ago when Graham Elliot Bowles was the chef and to be quite honest, I did not see what the big deal was. Not impressed at all.

This was a totally different experience. Before the atmosphere did not seem fitting to a restaurant of its caliber, but now it does. The atmosphere was great and the service was unbelievable. I think I've only experienced service this excellent once before. We never wanted for anything.

There were three different choices on the menu based on the number of courses. We chose the largest degustation, which was 17 courses and $140 per person. Most of the courses were just a taste, but there were a couple courses that were a little larger than just a taste. Each course was very creative and absolutely delicious. A little of the Alinea style came through in a couple courses, but I would not say they are similar. This is a very different experience.

I won't go into all the courses (especially since I can't remember what they all were), but some favorites:

Dover Sole with caper berry seeds, apple milk, whipped chlorophyll (this was unbelievable)

Iberico Pork Belly made with cocoa, smoked bread, miner's lettuce (very creative, excellent flavors)

Wagyu Beef Cheek with black sesame, sudachi, shiso and blooms. (Sudachi is is a small, round, green citrus fruit that is relatively unknown outside Japan)

I wasn't overly impressed with the dessert courses, but they were very interesting. There were 5 dessert courses and it was the 4th one before we saw any chocolate!

During the meal they bring you different types of breads, which were really good (even though we really didn't need the bread, I can never pass it up. The bread was served with three types of butter - one was basil, regular butter and goat's milk butter. Warning to those who don't like goat cheese (me); the butter tastes exactly like goat cheese.

The dinner took about 2-1/2 hours and it flew by. What a great experience!

You can't see the menu online, but here's some info:
http://www.peninsula.com/Chicago/en/Dining/default.aspx#/Chicago/en/Dining/Avenues/