splurge dinner (Spiaggia)

It's not for lack of time that I haven't posted about last week's dinner. I'll be honest: I've felt a little ambivalent about the whole meal.

I'll state this now: it was a fine meal in a gorgeous restaurant. Per person, it was also one of the most expensive meals I've ever had (I think only the ten courses with wine pairing at Michael Richard Citronelle beats it). And, sadly, the sticker shock has kind of held me back for the past week. A good meal, and yet I've been curiously embarrassed to have eaten it.

I'll forge onward, though. Conrad and I had a rare date night this month (he has A LOT of travel in March), and that is the important thing. Our friend Bob had given us a couple of gift cards for Spiaggia, and though we'd dined at the more casual Cafe Spiaggia, we'd not yet tried Spiaggia. What made it all the more special was that Bob, who knows so many people in the restaurants around the city, had contacted the host and let him know we were coming. The result? Essentially the best table in the restaurant with a fine view and extra food and wine brought our way.

Enough of this, let's keep this fun.

First off, we got to dress up. Conrad looks so very handsome in his newest suit, shirt, and tie. I think I clean up well enough, too. A cab ride down to the Magnificent Mile on a fine evening - no coats needed. We were shown to a table in the middle of the window looking out toward the lake,
and soon decided on a cocktail each. I think Spiaggia has convinced us that Manhattans are good. Their negroni was quite fine, too. Starting off with cocktails was perhaps an unwise choice given the wine that followed, but in the moment, it was the right thing to do.

An amuse to start with. Of course. Zucchini somehow, I was still a little dazzled at this point. It was fine. I rather liked the bread service.

Neither of us opted for the special tasting menu featuring black truffles. There were some good sounding items on it, truly, but there was plenty on the a la carte menu to entrance us. At the recommendation of our excellent server we enjoyed a bottle of Sfursat (slowly - this was not a wine to guzzle) and the following dishes (forgive the all-caps - I'm copying and pasting the names of the dishes from the restaurant Web site):

Conrad's PROSCIUTTO IBERICO DE BELLOTAS CON RICOTTA FATTO IN CASA (Hand cut acorn finished Iberico ham with housemade ricotta and Soave poached pears).

My UOVO FRITTO CON VERDURE AL FORNO, POLENTA CROCANTE E FONDUTA (Wood roasted winter vegetables and trumpet royale mushrooms with fried Yuppie Hill Farm egg, crispy Spin Rosso polenta and Bagoss de Malga fonduta). This was my favourite of my three courses.

We each had the same second course, a pasta dish not listed on their site but consisting of spaghetti with crab and coconut. I thought the sweetness of the crab and the coconut were amazingly harmonious, and I was really delighted with this dish.

Conrad's TAGLIATA DI MANZO CON CODA DI BUE E CAVOLO (Wood grilled prime strip loin with savoy cabbage wrapped oxtail, creamy buckwheat polenta, winter squash mostarda, fontina and Amarone). Conrad's favourite dish, though he thought the oxtail was guilding the lily some.

My TROTA AL FORNO CON LUMACHE E FUNGHI (Wood roasted Quinault River steelhead trout with abalone mushrooms, basil fed snails, creamy white polenta, fresh herbs and bottarga). This was fine, but oddly unmemorable compared to the previous two courses.

As is our habit, we ordered a dessert to share and a small cheese selection. The dessert came first. Along with more dessert. And wine to pair with it. Conrad and I kind of gave each other an "Uh oh, this could be dangerous" look and dug in. We'd ordered the ricotta mousse with blood orange sorbet (another item that is not on the Web site, sorry, though a similar dessert is up there). The use of blood orange was quite tasty, the mousse made for a blank pallet behind it. We also received a selection of sorbetti and gelatti: mango, lemon-lime, raspberry, chocolate, salted caramel. All were excellent, the citrus one intensely so. Oh, and a dessert amuse, if you will: a date filled with (I think) mascarpone.

And we still had cheese to go. Happily, we'd only ordered three. I can't recall the names of all of them, but there was the La Tur and I believe the Erborinato di Pecora among them. If I have that latter one right, it was our favourite, tasting something like a blue, that tanginess that we appreciated.

We still had a few sips of wine left, though it wasn't as good after the cheese (alas). I gave mine to Conrad in the end and switched to some decaf. Some time about 2.5 or so hours after we arrived, we wandered out to Michigan Avenue and caught a cab home. Full from the dinner, happy with our date.

And yet the price. The price. Ah well. It's done and paid for and that's that. A splurge. A big splurge. One I hope to repeat because it all was so good. One I'm not sure I want to repeat again.