Sprout

We dined at Sprout on a recent Saturday night.  Sprout is the new restaurant whose chef is Dale Levitski, runner-up from Top Chef Season 3. 

The restaurant is small and intimate with a teeny bar.  We were able to grab two seats there and get drinks while they worked out our reservation snafu.  At the bar I had a champagne cocktail made with Pacific Rim sparking riesling, blood orange bitters, pure can sugar, and a lemon twist.  It was delicious.  Not too sweet, not too strong, not too bitter.

Dinner is a $60 3 course prix fixe menu with 2 additional small courses.

The bread was very good.  Instead of butter it came with a white bean spread.

I started with the scallop with corn, parsnip, sage, and peanut as an appetizer.  There were also a few popcorn kernels on there.  Originally I thought that was weird since popcorn isn't a texture that goes with much but it worked with the dish.

Nick started with the foie gras, with parsnip, currant, cashew, quince, and pedro ximenez.  It was very sweet so it may be overwhelming for some as an appetizer.  The bread was also sweet and could have been better with a different flavor.

They brought out an intermezzo course of sparkling riesling and passionfruit that had been frozen and then shaved.  This was delicious and on a hot summer day I'd love a whole bowl of this it was so refreshing.

For dinner I decided to try the rabbit.  I've never had rabbit before so I'm not sure what sparked this act of bravery.  The waiter described the dish as a traditional, Lithuanian, family recipe for rabbit pierogis.  There was some candied hazelnut in there, some thyme, and a great sauce that I don't know what it was made out of.  The dish did not overwhelm me.  I think the thyme flavor was slightly too strong.  And the pierogi dough was no better than Nick's grandma makes.  For free.  Solid, but nothing outstanding.

Nick had the short rib with truffle, mushrooms, chicory, and manchego.  The truffle gnocchi things were excellent.  I thought the short rib sauce was slightly too sweet.  Nick thought it might have been a little rich.  Overall I enjoyed the short rib better than the rabbit.  

The next course was a cheese course and was mini grilled cheese accompanied by a small glass of a delicious sauvignon blanc.  That was a good grilled cheese.  I wish I could have a whole one for lunch every day.  We might have eaten it too quickly to take a picture.

The final course was dessert.  I had the lemon which had sour cherry, goat cheese, cilantro, and pink peppercorn.  I'm not a huge dessert or sweets person in general but I wasn't a big fan of this.  There was just too much lemon.  There was a lemon custard type thing, and it was in a lemon flavored sauce, and even the whipped cream on top was lemon flavored.  Too much.  It needed just a hint of sweetness to save it.

Nick had the pineapple selection.  It had pineapple, chocolate mousse, and a sprinkling of goat cheese on the top.  He thought the dessert as a whole was so-so but the chocolate mousse was excellent.

Overall we thought the service of both our waiter and the manager/hostess were amazing.  They did a great job with being friendly and welcoming.  The bartender was extremely knowledgeable and friendly as well.  The food didn't quite live up to our expectations though.  It was good but we likely wouldn't return.  There's too many other places to try in Chicago to return to all but the best.