Blackbird Restaurant

Reviews 4

AL

Alice Wang

Blackbird. Home to a James Beard Award and Best Chef of the Midwest winner. Home to another James Beard Award for Best Restaurant Design and Best Restaurant Design Graphics. Named the Jean Banchet 2017 Restaurant of the Year. And of course, a one Michelin star restaurant. Noted for their Midwestern, farm-fresh cuisine, Blackbird is one of those restaurants that executes complex flavors in elegant dishes. This is probably not your average dine-out restaurant, given that most entrees are around $40. But if youre looking to impress, look no further. The decor is minimalist and bright. Tables are crammed next to each other, which adds to the energy of the place. Service is impeccable; servers are always moving about swiftly and efficiently to serve and clear plates and utensils and to refill drinks. Ive heard their prixe-fixe lunch menu is quite a bargain so for those strapped for cash but want to experience this Chicago staple, that may be the ticket. The menu has everything from quail to king trumpet mushroom to sturgeon, duck breast, rabbit, and suckling pig. We decided to try their winter tasting menu, hoping to get bites of all the best Blackbird has to offer. +Herbed chicken broth tea, leek and pea tart with cured egg yolk, cromesquis of duck with smoked red seaweed +Arpege egg with cauliflower cream, crispy potato, and osetra caviar +Rye berry porridge with malted apple and black truffle +Confit of king trumpet mushroom with dulse and dried duck +Gentled smoked hamachi with royal trumpet, schmaltz pudding and ginger consommé +Squab leg zampone with fermented cranberry, cooling herbs and buttermilk +Roasted squab rack with ember charred persimmon, nicoise olive crème anglaise, and pot pie of winter squash +Kalamansi "egg" in a nest +Cotton cheesecake with pomelo and mint licorice +Chicory hot chocolate with chestnut The tasting menu is $125 per person. If you want to get the wine pairing, its $70 extra. For 10 courses, it may not be the most inexpensive meal but for what youre getting at a restaurant of exceptional caliber, its a bargain. I have nothing but good things to say about each course. I especially liked the herbed chicken broth tea (which they bring out in a teapot and pour into glasses at your table) and the roasted squab with the pot pie. I was very impressed with the simplistic execution but complex notes of each beautifully plated dish. Even the cocktail I had was well-designed and complemented the food perfectly. The food, the service, the ambiance were all outstanding. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone.

WE

Wesley Kim

Tired of reading reviews that Blackbird is a tasty, inventive, contemporary American cuisine establishment and oozes with razzle dazzle goodness in the mouth? Well go read a book or a billboard as you can throw this on the pile of "it is pretty damn good". If there are hundreds of reviews saying it is pretty good can only mean one thing, we fall into peer pressure or something perhaps, or maybe it really is good. The restaurant has a very open feel to it, a giant-ish window looking out to the street. Kind of like the gym where they place the beautiful people out front, maybe thats why I was put in the back. The service is attentive, they dont rush you, and the meal is at a good pace. Also you can see the chefs making the meal (which is always a very reassuring feeling) and somehow gives you a bit more love to your food as it gives the feeling that its not something made from a far distant planet. I had the prix fix menu for lunch and for $25 dollars not a bad way to spend lunch at a michelin star restaurant. It rotates seasonally so my guess is the winter menu stays the longest. I shared my lunch with a chums so I got to try the other options as well. The soup and tartar was a good start, it made me hungrier. The duck sausage actually wasnt mind blowing, I suppose it is a very well made sausage. I will say the dessert left a fantastic lasting impression. Light, yet slightly savory, a hint of wasabi (I later found out it was mustard), and refreshing. It felt delicious and soft, like a tender kiss from your significant other if they were made up entirely of marshmallows. Oh and this has been said probably in plenty of reviews but look behind the curtain in the bathroom before you use it. Or do it after you use it. The good: playful food, not too snobby of an atmosphere, reasonably priced lunch The not so good: prix fix menu can stab a hole in your wallet if youre buying for others, the sausage was good but was hoping for a bit more, it is crowded. Get reservations.

MI

Minh Chau

Our party of four had an early reservation - 6PM - so the noise level was actually perfect for conversations. The service was a little slow, although this may just had been the kitchen starting up for the night. Onto the food... I had a bowl of falafel, egg yolk caramel, and white pepper, all mixed together in a smoothly blended soup of garbanzo bean. Even though the soup had no cream, it was rich in flavor, especially when eaten together with the falafel. For my entree, I had the roasted lobster, laid on top of fried white polenta, braised lobster mushrooms, carrots, and, yes, coffee. The lobster was cooked perfectly, not chewy like some places like to make it. The coffee added a nice bitter taste to balance the richness of the lobster. All in all, a great entree. For dessert, the four us ordered individually, but did a clockwise rotation of plates until we all had a bite of each of them. First up for me was the dark chocolate-sourdough sponge cake with yogurt panna cotta, sarsaparilla figs and coriander. While this sounds delicious, it was perhaps my least favorite. The sponge cake was bland and the yogurt panna cotta was a lightweight contender at best. Next, I took a bite of the sweet, soft, valrhona chocolate paired with pistachio pain perdu, buttercream, and candied beets. Every bite of this was a bite of heaven and a sharp contrast to the spongecake. My third bite was of the espresso chiffon with blood orange, honey, and golden turnip ice cream. The bitterness of the blood orange went well with the espresso chiffon cake and would be something I would try again. Finally, I had a bite of the white chocolate mousse with stewed rhubarb, pine nut granola and saffron. As expected, this was on the sweeter side of things, and had a nice finish to each bite as my taste buds switched from the white chocolate to the rhubarb. Though on the pricey side, I would definitely come back for another bite of the valrhona chocolate!

BR

Brandon Norris

I went for the reputation, but for me Blackbird was an expensive mistake. I was PUMPED to get there for my reservation. By the time I left I was muttering to myself, "why...why...why..." Service: The server, Sarah, was sweet, competent, and impersonal. I wasnt in a rush, but there was an odd 10-minute gap between each course. Why? Food: lots of potential, but it reminded me of a hotel lobby grill. The endive salad ($15!) is flashy but not particularly memorable. I ordered medium rare duck and started to salivate. My duck was overcooked -- medium well at least. "Thanks for letting us know," Sarah said. The kitchen replaced it with a mealy Ahi tuna, but at least it was medium rare. Sides are very small -- dont expect to get full. Thank God for the excellent bread. Youll need it. The free dessert is free because no one should pay for it: a couple of bites of chewy candy and dry shortbread. Why? Atmosphere: it was definitely stylish in 2007. In 2016, its in need of updating, a reminder of the design philosophy that if you dont have any ideas, just paint everything white and bring in white furniture. Chairs arent particularly comfortable. Pleasantly quiet anyway. Cost: Dinner for me, without wine, was over $80. Why? As I left I walked down Milwaukee and passed a place called The Dawson. It had an awesome enclosed patio where people looked like they having a great time. I thought, damn, why didnt I go there? Why? Why?