Smyth (* – Chicago)

I can see why some people don’t like Smyth, but I actually enjoyed my time here. It’s a menu with weird combinations of flavors and ingredients, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I think if you’re looking for something different and are OK with not every dish being very tasty, then Smyth is a good choice. Overall, I think they’re a lower 3* for me, or maybe a very high 2* type of place.

This menu is from late September. Here’s my attempt to describe the dishes in the photos – I feel like there were a lot of ingredients and nut oils used in the dishes, but the menu doesn’t list everything out. Honestly, it was difficult to follow all of the details of the dishes. I think that some sort of nut oil was used in half of the dishes. The menu was less kelp-forward than I was expecting based on other reviews.

1. Amazake – a spin on a traditional Japanese drink made with fermented rice and hibiscus, and they spiked it with a bit of sake. A nice refreshing drink. I also ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail that was very good.  I didn’t feel like drinking much on this day, but their cocktails and non-alcoholic mocktails seemed creative. They also gave out a welcome glass of champagne at the start of the meal.
2. Dungeness Crab & Kakai Pumpkin – an OK bite but I don’t really remember too much about it. I think a nut oil is used somewhere here, too.
3. Smoked Eel Donut – Absolutely amazing bite. The donut is filled with a foie gras ganache, topped with an eel from Maine, and dry scallop is somewhere here, too. I don’t really care for foie gras too much, but this was wonderful. Definitely one of the better bites I’ve recently had.
4. Maine Lobster & Uni – I’m not sure why most of the ingredients are stuck to the sides of the bowl. Both ingredients from Maine, I didn’t really think that this Maine uni was as good as uni from Hokkaido or Santa Barbara. There’s an English walnut oil at the bottom and some lobster butter smeared on the side of the bowl, too.
5. Maine Lobster & Raspberry – a weird looking dish served in a tiny box, it’s a lobster egg custard at the base with a raspberry reduction at the top with a small amount of raspberry gochujang and a tomalley from the lobster. An interesting dish combining a lobster custard with raspberry.
6. Caviar & Salted Cream – This was a very good dish. It’s four pieces of lake kelp where two pieces had tomatoes in them, and the other two lake kelp pieces I forget now. More of some sort of nut oil (I think hazelnut) is here and it’s topped with some hybrid kaluga caviar. 
7. Avocado & Cucumber – The cucumber puree is a slushee that was a bit spicy, and the brown sauce kind of tasted of tamarind. Interesting dish that looks like random blobs, but it was alright. 
8. Rainbow Trout & Rhubarb Root – The trout is from southwestern Virginia where the two main chefs had earlier started a restaurant. There was also kombu oil used somewhere here, rhubarb root puree on the side and in the flowers, and there was uni on top of the trout. A very good dish. The trout was incredible. Seemed like the other tables around me also loved this dish.
9. Black Walnut Cured Quail Egg – this was just OK, and was the bite prior to the next quail dish.
10. Vermont Quail & Sprouted Greens – The chefs decided to stuff the quail with pork and foie gras, and the sausage accompanying the quail is also made from the same components. A nice little salad with buckwheat popcorn in it was included. I liked this dish.
11. Elysian Fields Rack of Lamb – they made sure to let us know that this lamb is from southwestern Pennsylvania and is only allowed to drink purified water. It was served with some sort of herbal and veal jus. I think there’s another oil at the bottom, too. It was alright.
12. Malted Milk Bread – covered with a glaze of veal and pecan, this was so good. It was served with the previous lamb dish.
13. Bittersweet Chocolate & Maitake Mushroom – chocolate with candied mushrooms, on top is a white chocolate wafer made to look like a mushroom. Just OK.
14. Cantaloupe & Tomato Mochi – this was very good. It’s some cantaloupe, tomato, and mochi covered with two sauces, one I believe was a rice Koji sauce and the other was a melon sauce. 
15. A Slice of Cake – I was getting full by this point and then they come out with what appears to be a slice of cake, but instead it’s actually some sort of aerated and then frozen ‘slice of cake’ that had heavy notes of rose water and also included a strawberry compote at the bottom. The frozen aerated slice just compresses down so I was able to finish it. Fun dish.
16. Preserved Kiwi Tart (with pistachio butter) and Pumpkin Pie – both nice bites
17. Cadbury Quail Egg – looks nice, was just OK white chocolate.

A piece of kelp caramel candy was given as a parting gift. It was interesting, and I actually liked it. I think that candy encapsulates Smyth – it’s a weird combination of ingredients that is sometimes delicious. 

Bonus Review: I also went to Alinea. It was horrible.