Butter Sizzles

Made our way to Butter in the Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. Formerly of Le Francais, Mango’s, La Broche in Madrid, and the French Laundry in Napa Valley, the chef, Ryan Poli was expected to have some chops.

This meal was really a celebration of spring.

They started out with upscale bar food, a pre amuse if you will of Truffled Popcorn with the freshest early spring chives, hand cut fresh potato chips with herbs and sea salt, and Oyster crackers in a sprinkling of salt and dill. The popcorn was a hit, totally redolent with truffle, and the sweet freshness of spring chives.

We accompanied these courses with a Moet and Chandon Brut Imperial Rose. Very sweet…they definitely kicked in a bit of dosage with the red wine grapes. It was not a demi sec, but had a very overt sweetness.

The amuse was chilled pear/parsnip soup with a dollop of olive oil. While I didn’t taste any pear, it had a nice milky sweetness with a hint of pepper. Very clean, but not particulary memorable. More »