Joses Garces, the chef scheduled to open Mercat a la planxa tapas in the Blackstone hotel experiences delays with his third restaurant

Of course, if the website for Mercat is any indication of the organizational prowess we can expect from the Garces team, we’ll be surprised if they open on time in Chicago. Nothing but Helen Keller Flash on Acid design and unintuitive links here. There’s more calls to “touch me” on the site than a Madonna album.

I said this before regarding the possibility of Ducasse and Robuchon coming to Chicago, but I think it holds true for Garces as well:

“I don’t begrudge Ducasse and Robuchon’s desire to make money. They’ve earned that right, but the reality is that the pool of dollars is limited. I’d rather spend mine savoring a local hungry chef who’s clawing his way to the top night after night, infusing his soul into the food at the pass of his own restaurant.”