El Ideas really hasn’t changed much conceptually in quite a while and in many ways, I do really enjoy that. I’ve know Foss for quite a long time – I used to work in the Chicago food scene back in the day when he’d just opened the meatball food truck and he was one of the people I thought was really keeping food fun at the time. Fast forward to now and he’s been running El Ideas for quite a while now – sticking to a simple, stripped down approach to fine dining that leans heavy on the fun
Don’t let the atmosphere fool you though, Foss and the team are still very technically refined and many dishes are quite accomplished for how thin the team can be in some years. Molecular and deconstructive food have had their day in the sun and I think the world has largely moved on but it’s still fun to have a restaurant like this around – an approachable hallmark of what once was that’s still pretty close to what it was doing in its heyday
Unlike some of the places I used to work, I don’t think the bar has really slipped here as much – there’s little pretentiousness in the food being put out here and I think it’s helped Foss keep his eye on how dishes taste over superfluous details. It’s still dated, many of the dishes are repeats with minor tweaks from quite a while ago but I don’t know, it’s kinda nostalgic that way. Here’s hoping it sticks around for a long time
pavedlivinghell
I kind of like that retro plating style. I wouldn’t pay for it but I still appreciate it. Like watching luxury turn rustic.
2 Comments
El Ideas really hasn’t changed much conceptually in quite a while and in many ways, I do really enjoy that. I’ve know Foss for quite a long time – I used to work in the Chicago food scene back in the day when he’d just opened the meatball food truck and he was one of the people I thought was really keeping food fun at the time. Fast forward to now and he’s been running El Ideas for quite a while now – sticking to a simple, stripped down approach to fine dining that leans heavy on the fun
Don’t let the atmosphere fool you though, Foss and the team are still very technically refined and many dishes are quite accomplished for how thin the team can be in some years. Molecular and deconstructive food have had their day in the sun and I think the world has largely moved on but it’s still fun to have a restaurant like this around – an approachable hallmark of what once was that’s still pretty close to what it was doing in its heyday
Unlike some of the places I used to work, I don’t think the bar has really slipped here as much – there’s little pretentiousness in the food being put out here and I think it’s helped Foss keep his eye on how dishes taste over superfluous details. It’s still dated, many of the dishes are repeats with minor tweaks from quite a while ago but I don’t know, it’s kinda nostalgic that way. Here’s hoping it sticks around for a long time
I kind of like that retro plating style. I wouldn’t pay for it but I still appreciate it. Like watching luxury turn rustic.