Avec

Yes, I'm updating my blog 3 months too late. It's better late than never, right? I'm actually not gonna give the excuse that med school has taken up too much of my time because I definitely have had time to write about my last meals in Chicago and New York. I just never got around to it for some reason.

Anyways, I've chosen to write about Avec tonight because it was my last nice meal before I left for med school. It has a very hip but cool and laidback vibe that's inviting and not pretentious at all. It's very Momofuku-esque, if you will. It's headed by Chef Koren, who if any of you watch Top Chef, was the judge for the beer pairing quickfire last season. She uses inspiration from Spanish and Mediterranean food and puts her own contemporary spin on it without being too out there. Seriously, everything we had absolutely did not fail, and I think this restaurant does an amazing take on tapas slash "small plates." A lot of people call it tapas, but I prefer to just call them small plates because the food is not strictly Spanish by any means.


We started out with the Housemade Baccala, with red and yellow watermelon, cucumber, pickled watermelon rind, mint, aleppo pepper, and olive oil ($11). This was an ABSOLUTE winner. I personally love baccala, but this really was an interesting take on it, and it just worked so well. It was refreshing, and not a single ingredient overpowered another. This stands out in my mind as a perfect summer dish.


Next, we had Avec's oh-so-famous Chorizo-stuffed Medjool Dates, with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper sauce ($9). While Avec changes its menu quite frequently, this is the one item you can count on staying on the menu. It is one of their signature items, and certainly for good reason. Again, every flavor blended together perfectly well, and the strong taste of the chorizo, bacon, and sauce did not overpower the sweetness of the dates.


Next was the Wood-roasted Half Chicken "Panzanella" with bread, heirloom tomatoes, kalamatas, golden raisins and mint ($16). Normally, we probably wouldn't order chicken in a place like this, but my sister wanted chicken, and they didn't have a pork dish on the menu. Surprisingly, this has to have been one of the best non-fried chicken dishes I've ever had, if not the best. Even the white meat was ridiculously moist and tender. I'm usually not a raisins fan, but the raisins went surprisingly well with this dish.


The next "large plate" was the Trofle Puttanesca with albacore, picholine olives, caperberries, and thyme ($16). This was actually a pretty large portion of pasta, which I wasn't expecting. I think I remember being somewhat iffy about this dish. It was certainly good, but it didn't speak to me as well as the other dishes. I think the overall taste of the pasta was pretty strong in a way that wasn't very summer-y like the other dishes.


Our last dish was the Pan-roasted Hanger Steak with rapini, roasted corn, smoked paprika, lima beans, and herbed butter ($12). I actually don't remember too much about this one besides the fact that it was good and perfectly cooked medium rare to our liking.

We did have dessert, but I don't remember what it was. Also, my choice of drink for the evening was a Belgian wheat beer, Blanche de Bruxelles. It was very light and refreshing.

Overall, I HIGHLY recommend Avec. It's definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago in terms of food, service, and atmosphere. We didn't have to wait too long, but we went around 6:30pm on a Wednesday night. Expect longer waits if you go any later than that on any given night, and ESPECIALLY on the weekends.