**TLDR for Oriole** – every dish was good, classic fine dining, great service, a good place for a first-time fine diner, a few wow bites, some safe plays
**Food** – impressive that most everything was good to great, there were only 2 misses on the menu for me. The rest was all very good and some amazing bites. I won’t comment on everything, bug here are a few highlights and the two misses:
* Highlights: foie gras (probably the best I’ve had, the toast was amazing, foie was pure creamy, and the bite had texture and was akin to the best BPJ you’ve ever eaten); Maine scallop (perfect first bite of the menu); prawn (texture and cook perfect, with cool sorbet contrast was great); beats (refreshing and savory); the pasta was wildly good (one of the best dishes and generous with truffle) * Lowlight: caviar dish was not great for me; also turbot was meh (sauce saved the dish)
*Note: had issues with photos and uploads had to reduce size and quality suffered. Also couldn’t figure out how to add the amazing pasta picture after the fact as it didn’t upload.*
**Service / Atmosphere -** servers were all warm and engaging, we enjoyed the descriptions of the food and menu. The space was nice and moving to see a few things from the bar, to kitchen to dining room was enjoyable. This is definitely a great place to introduce someone new to the world of fine dining. My friend had the wine pairing and said it was the best of the three places we went this week.
Well done, Oriole!!
purging_snakes
House of Leaves menu.
Background_Cost_5768
Eh, just give them the third star already why not
apfeiff19
For me, Oriole and Valhalla are the best dinners currently in Chicago.
Looks like a pretty typical Oriole menu, wish they mixed it up more. Great write up, I’m glad you liked the beet dish – I had troubles with the textures and choice of chopsticks on that course.
That foie dish is the best I’ve ever had / Jont has foie and pineapple which is the closest second, but still blown out of the water by the Oriole foie. Service was good but closed off. Last time I went, our server made a challenge to “find a flaw in their dinner”…we had more than one!
Still one of the best dinners in Chicago, but it’s not on my shortlist of fav dinners in North America. That said, it’s very delicious and worthy of their acclaim – I still prefer Oriole to Alinea, Smyth, Moody tongue, Ever, etc. But it’s not on the level of other high end 2*s and 3*s I’ve visited across the globe
5 Comments
I had the same menu as you, loved this meal
**TLDR for Oriole** – every dish was good, classic fine dining, great service, a good place for a first-time fine diner, a few wow bites, some safe plays
**Food** – impressive that most everything was good to great, there were only 2 misses on the menu for me. The rest was all very good and some amazing bites. I won’t comment on everything, bug here are a few highlights and the two misses:
* Highlights: foie gras (probably the best I’ve had, the toast was amazing, foie was pure creamy, and the bite had texture and was akin to the best BPJ you’ve ever eaten); Maine scallop (perfect first bite of the menu); prawn (texture and cook perfect, with cool sorbet contrast was great); beats (refreshing and savory); the pasta was wildly good (one of the best dishes and generous with truffle)
* Lowlight: caviar dish was not great for me; also turbot was meh (sauce saved the dish)
*Note: had issues with photos and uploads had to reduce size and quality suffered. Also couldn’t figure out how to add the amazing pasta picture after the fact as it didn’t upload.*
**Service / Atmosphere -** servers were all warm and engaging, we enjoyed the descriptions of the food and menu. The space was nice and moving to see a few things from the bar, to kitchen to dining room was enjoyable. This is definitely a great place to introduce someone new to the world of fine dining. My friend had the wine pairing and said it was the best of the three places we went this week.
Well done, Oriole!!
House of Leaves menu.
Eh, just give them the third star already why not
For me, Oriole and Valhalla are the best dinners currently in Chicago.
Looks like a pretty typical Oriole menu, wish they mixed it up more. Great write up, I’m glad you liked the beet dish – I had troubles with the textures and choice of chopsticks on that course.
That foie dish is the best I’ve ever had / Jont has foie and pineapple which is the closest second, but still blown out of the water by the Oriole foie. Service was good but closed off. Last time I went, our server made a challenge to “find a flaw in their dinner”…we had more than one!
Still one of the best dinners in Chicago, but it’s not on my shortlist of fav dinners in North America. That said, it’s very delicious and worthy of their acclaim – I still prefer Oriole to Alinea, Smyth, Moody tongue, Ever, etc. But it’s not on the level of other high end 2*s and 3*s I’ve visited across the globe