Vegetable Menu at Charlie Trotter’s

One of the stories of 2012 in the Chicago restaurant world is that Charlie Trotter’s will be closing this summer.  It’s a restaurant that was one of the pioneers of fine dining and tasting menus in America, which saw many great chefs cut their teeth in the Trotter’s kitchen and then go on to start their own multi-starred Michelin restaurants.  (This NYTimes article has an interesting perspective.)

I went to Charlie Trotter’s once when I first moved to Chicago, but hadn’t been since – too many other places to try, many of them run by his alumni.  So when I heard of the closing, I wanted to go one more time, and since my uncle was coming into town, it seemed the perfect opportunity.


This time, I decided that I would have the vegetable tasting menu – something that Charlie Trotter is known for (there’s a cookbook), which I was curious to try.  I do love vegetables, but at places like the French Laundry that have vegetable menus, I’ve never wanted to give up my favorites like oysters and pearls.

D and my uncle both had the regular tasting, and it was interesting to see how the courses lined up, theirs with a star protein, and mine without.  Yet I never felt that I was missing out – after all, in many cases, the non-protein components on the plate are where the true art and creativity lie.


The pumpkin gnocchi, for example, proved to be something completely unexpected and as far from a bowl of dumplings as I could imagine – a few gnocchi, yes, but as part of an intricate landscape across the plate, with brussels sprout leaves and more components than I could count – complex and delicious.


Perhaps my favorite savory course of the evening was the potato blini with truffle, a wonderfully flavored collection of petit blini with red wine-infused endive and celery, and a scattering of black truffle.

Pumpkin gnocchi

Potato blini

For our cheese course, we had one of the more unusual flavor combinations I can remember: nori and umeboshi, Japanese pickled plum.  The salty and puckery-sweet flavors matched surprisingly well with the cheese – it would never have crossed my mind to combine these Japanese flavors with a cheddar-like cheese.

Cheese with nori and umeboshi

Desserts were plated even more beautifully than the prior courses, beginning with the sorbet: a squash sorbet with lime and curry flavors, presented with a mix of textures and glistening basil seeds.  

Kuri squash sorbet

I couldn’t resist having a few bites of the desserts from the regular tasting menu.  The banana financier was particularly good, though I only had a few bites before returning to my dish, a sort of carrot cake with carrot granites that was beautifully, intensely orange-colored.


For the final dessert, I couldn’t resist a plate-switch, since the regular tasting featured a chocolate dessert with crème fraîche ice cream and strikingly ruby red pomegranate.  The vegetable tasting dessert was also excellent, much lighter and more refreshing – a cold tangerine mousse with a spiral of green curry, with a scattering of candied cashews and fresh citrus.  (Yes, I did end up switching the plates back so I could have both desserts!)

Dark chocolate

Tangerine and green curry mousse