Nacional 27

My dad received a few Lettuce Entertain You gift certificates for Christmas, so while I was home in Chicago, we decided to use two of his gift certificates at Nacional 27, a modern/fusion Latin restaurant/ceviche bar/salsa club.

Atmosphere: Trendy, modern, very good and attentive service. Even though NY has more to offer in terms of fine dining, I sometimes prefer the atmosphere in Chicago restaurants because even the trendy and scene-y places like ths are laidback and never rushed.
Dinner started out with a complimentary amuse for the each of us. Unfortunately, all I remember is that it was some kind of Tasmanian fish ceviche served on a chip. It definitely got our taste buds going, and I knew that the rest of the dinner would be great.

Normally I wouldn't care to note the bread, but this was particularly interesting. They gave us both foccacia bread and flat breadsticks that tasted like Indian pappadum to dip into 3 sauces - one cumin-based, a red spicy one, and something else which I forgot. They all definitely had Indian influences though which was interesting for a Latin-fusion restaurant.

The meal started with the Large Ceviche Sampler which served all 5 of us. It had Shrimp and Scallop, Cold Smoked Tasmanian Salmon, Ahi Tuna and Watermelon, Sashimi Farmed Bass, Oyster Shooters. The platter was much bigger than what it looks like in the picture. All of these were SO good, especially the Shrimp and Scallop ceviche. I'm not much of a fan of oyster shooters, but these weren't bad. Everything tasted so fresh.
This was the Slow Braised Boneless Short Ribs cooked in a red wine reduction. The meat is sitting on mashed cuban sweet potatoes and topped with crispy onion strings. As far as I know, my brother loved his dish, and from what I tasted, the meat was incredibly tender.







This was my INCREDIBLE Truffle Crusted Filet Mignon served over a chorizo potato hash in a Malbec reduction. Considering this was a 9oz Filet Mignon covered with amazing shaved black truffle (I<3truffles),>definitely a winner. It was so tasty and so tender...mmmmm.....

This was a Slow Roasted Gunthormp Farms Pork "Cubano" served with black beans, sweet plantains, coconut rice, and orange mojo. My dad had this, and from what I could tell, he liked it. I, for whatever reason, didn't try it, so I can't say much.






Ok, so I honestly don't remember what this was except that it was the "catch of the day." I really don't remember what kind of fish it was, and I don't think my sister (who ordered it) would remember either...but it was good! I ate her shoestring onion fries because she doesn't like onions.



This is the Pan roasted Alaskan Halibut with melted tomatoes and spicy onion jam.









They gave us another complimentary amuse. This time it was an octopus ceviche. I preferred the Tasmanian one they gave prior to dinner, but this was good too, and hey, it was free haha. You can't really tell from the picture, but it was a pretty large spoonful on each spoon.








For dessert, we shared a tres leches cake with a scoop of coconut ice cream on top. I thought it was good, but my brother and dad said it didn't taste like real tres leches cake. I wouldn't know because I've actually only had tres leches cake at places like this.

And we also shared the "churros" with tres leches ice cream. This was really good too. There were Brazilian nuts sprinkled on top which I liked.

I don't feel like adding pictures of the drinks, but I had a mojito which was really big. It wasn't the best I've had, but it's definitely up there. My dad also had a caipirinha which WAS the best I've tried.

Overall, this was a really great restaurant in Chicago. I highly recommend to anyone who's in the area.

Photo credit goes to my photo whiz brother.

Nacional 27
325 West Huron
Chicago, IL 60610