photo: courtesy of Turquoise Cafe
Grain may reign throughout the Midwest, but Chicagoans are particularly selective about their dough. Just watch the crowd jostling through the dingy storefront of
D'Amato's Bakery, or try tracking down a bag of poppyseed hot dog buns during summer holidays. Thus, nothing kills our dining experience quicker than a pitiful bread basket filled with white rolls of polystyrene-consistency. While well-mannered diners merely fold up the napkin on a sorry selection, we're throwin' it down out of respect for hometown foodies and penny pinchers alike. Here's our list of the finest gratis goods from restaurants that agree; only the perfect slice will suffice.
Turquoise Cafe
Turkey is known for its pide, hollow unleavened bread, and this Turkish-owned restaurant offers patrons a pre-meal surplus of warm and buttery karadeniz pidesi, a traditional variant. Chef and owner Mustafa Gulab bakes the sesame-sprinkled bread in the morning and then again before dinner. The creamy dips are half the rage; from hummus to a zucchini-flavored sauce, the options differ depending on the day. We had the patlican salatasi, a pureed salad made from the salvaged juice of cabbage marinated in vinegar, sugar, salt and black pepper, and mixed into olive oil and garlic. Be careful not to fill up on the first course: Entrees, like the gnocchi in a creamy vodka sauce, prove a worthy successor.
Viand
Contemporary American restaurant Viand's unassuming location, attached to the Courtyard Marriot, belies the gourmet-quality cuisine (think sole fillet wrapped around a shrimp soufflé with artichoke ragout) within; but, we're just checked-in to the bread basket, anyway. Between the homemade jalapeno honey cornbread, Parker House rolls (Viand calls them "puff rolls"), with lemon, olive oil and rosemary; chive scones, pretzel bread, served with mustard butter; and crudités of carrots and broccoli, you've got the makings of an intimate picnic. Under Chef Steve Chiapetti's watch, Viand bakes twice a day for lunch and dinner.
sola
A good bread basket diffuses the burn of slow service, deflects from lackluster entrees and can even hook in the tips. Fortunately for Lakeview's sola, with its laid back staff and fresh, Pacific-Asian influenced dishes like miso black cod, overcompensation isn't necessary. Nonetheless, the bread basket here is sweet, simple and delicious. As soon as you've taken a seat and placed your order, a tide of crisp rosemary bread, pretzels and sourdough rolls will arrive. Try them alone or with sola's butter, warmed and sprinkled with Himalayan salt.
Cafe des Architectes
In the early '20s, every French man, woman and child reputedly consumed more than one-and-a-half pounds of bread per day. Perhaps that's why the tres chic Cafe des Architectes throws a few croissants in the mix. The indulgent bread basket selection here, chock full of freshly baked in-house baguettes and chocolate-filled pastries, is no secret among discerning diners. Budget-conscious beware: Though the basket is a boon for tight-wallet living, the seasonal plates, like halibut with Thai seasonings, are too tempting to pass up. The customer service here carries over, too; if you'd like the remainder of your bread basket taken to go, you'll only need to say s'il vous plait.
Russian Tea Time
Lucky for adventurous bread fiends, the traditional Russian way to eat a slice involves imbibing several shots of straight vodka. It's the other way around, you say? Nonsense. Modeled after the famous Russian Tea Room in New York, this Loop teahouse serves warm, rich, molasses-flavored pumpernickel bread, which is complimentary (and constantly replenished), along with an additional bonus of free pickles, when you order a three-shot flight of "water." If you're going to play the part, smell the pumpernickel before and after the shot, eat your gratis spear and then say "khorosho poshla," which translates to "it went down well." Move on to traditional entrees of the Former Soviet Republics, like the guriev blini (Russian pancakes) with salmon caviar; served with melted butter, raspberry sauce and sour cream, it's a dish truly fit for a czar.
Subscribe in your favorite reader using the links below. To learn more about feeds and RSS, click here.
