After a long hiatus from fancy meals, I completely lost self-control when I saw the $99 deal for 10 courses at iNG on Travelzoo, even though I wasn't all that interested in this restaurant. iNG, which stands for "Imagining new gastronomy", is the cheaper sister restaurant of Moto, owned by chef Homaro Cantu. Just as the famous Grant Achatz, Cantu is part of the molecular gastronomy camp, so I knew there would be lots of gadgets and liquid nitrogen involved. My lack of interest in the restaurant stems from the most recent season of Top Chef, where two of the contestants were chefs from Moto. They didn't perform very well throughout, the most common critique from the judges being that they focus too much on looks and not so much on flavor. Naturally, they were eliminated quite early in the season. So I had pretty low expectations for this meal.
iNG is located in the block with the famous Next and Aviary, right by Restaurant row. Parking was a breeze (and free!). Upon entering, I was brought to the seat closest to the bar and the big window up front. That's one thing I love about many Chicago restaurants: the light & mood changes as you progress through dinner. Unfortunately, that also makes it challenging to get consistent lighting for photography, so please bear with me.
The cube on the table turned out to be our menu. It seemed deceptively easy as we watched our waitress open it up and fold it back to a cube. I got lucky the first time, but had to ask her for assistance in my second attempt. The playful menu hinted at the fun to come, and served as a gentle reminder to diners to experience it with a sense of humor.
The deal included pre-dinner drinks, and since we are girls, we had to go for the sweet drink. Forgot what it was called, but it had grapefruit and elderflower liquor. Unfortunately it was quite strong, so I ended up feeling tipsy for pretty much the entire meal all the way 'til dessert, making me quite nervous about the drive home. Next time, I'll call a taxi.
With the drink came our amuse bouche: mini mojito. Two beautiful spheres of cucumber, with some reduced molasses at the bottom and a micro-mint leaf on top. I loved the freshness of the cucumber, though I couldn't really say whether it tasted like mojito, since I've never tried one.
Our first course is the ceviche, with white cubes of cobia, cucumber and fried tortilla ribbons. There were also some powdered jalapeno, and mango curry sauce underneath. Interestingly, it was served with another plate consisting of two spoons, each with a scoop of white powder and lemon slices. The powder turned out to be miracle berry extract. I first found out about this on Top Chef, where chef Chris Jones served it on one of his dishes. The miracle berry reacts with tastebuds and turns anything sour into sweet, and anything sweet becomes cloying. We were instructed to try some of the ceviche as is, then dissolve the miracle powder, suck on the lemons and try the ceviche again.
Although the lemon did taste curiously sweet after the powder, I didn't feel it changed the ceviche too much (which was a good thing...I don't think I want my raw fish to taste sweet). I couldn't taste any jalapeno-ness in the powdered jalapeno, but I certainly loved the mango curry sauce: it starts with sweetness of the mango and ends with a hint of curry warmth at the tip of the tongue. So good I wanted to lick the plate. The fish was excellent too, firm yet with plenty of fat that played well with the lemon juice of the ceviche.
The next course was a sushi salad, except the sushi was actually bacon-wrapped rice with a piece of compressed watermelon that looks a lot like raw tuna. I went gaga for the smoky bacon, and would have gladly devoured an entire plate of it. Compression intensifies flavor, and I sure tasted the watermelon. The salad was mache with watermelon turnip, dressed with a slightly spicy tomato vinaigrette. Not a huge fan of the taste of mache, and though the turnip was pretty to look at, I did not like the gritty texture.
The third dish was pork belly, which seemed to be on every menu lately. These were braised until they melt in your mouth, and paired with crispy rice, marinated seeweed, crispy maitake mushroom and kombu broth. I liked how the crispy rice absorbs the broth and changes texture as I worked through the dish.
Next was the catfish corn dog with homemade relish, an interesting twist on a carnival classic. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of catfish because I could smell the fishiness as the waitress was carrying this dish to our table, although it did have a much more delicate texture than run-of-the-mill hotdogs. My favorite part of the dish was actually the kale chips, salty and crunchy, and surely a lot healthier than potato chips. mmm~ On the plate there were some more white powder, which was supposed to be garlic aioli, but all I could taste was a faint hint of garlic. I think I'll go ape-crazy and flip the table over if I see more powder on my plate...
It seemed the first few dishes were more in the appetizer category, as the next dishes were starting to look like entrees. This next one is swordfish with corn puree, shredded carrots, roasted cauliflower and flowering kale. This dish was beautifully plated, but sadly over-salted. Perhaps the chef was trying to balance the sweetness of the corn?
The next entree was Texas BBQ. The short rib was pressure-cooked for 4 hours and fell apart at the slightest hint of pressure (now I want a pressure cooker!). There were some spicy BBQ sauce on the short rib, which was seated on top of poblano corn bread puree. The yellowish looking pieces scattered on the plate were ancho-chili corn bread that had been flash frozen with liquid nitrogen. There were also some candied jalapeno, which went very well with the short rib, which was again over-seasoned. I was expecting the ancho-chili corn bread to be crunchy (which would have been a better texture contrast, in my opinion), but instead they were very soft, almost like unbaked cookie dough. Very weird.
At this point, it was time to refresh the palate. The miraculin extract showed up again. This time accompanied by club soda, and slices of lime and lemon. After dissolving the powder in our mouths, the club soda/citrus juice mixture became a refreshing, not-too-sweet seven-up! Love it much more than the real thing! Now, where can I get my hands on miraculin?
To ensure full awakening of our palate, here comes a caprese ice cream trio: basil ice cream with balsamic reduction, tomato sorbet and basil seeds. Interestingly, the tomato sorbet was salty. But the icy temperature and intense flavor was quite refreshing after the two aggressively seasoned entrees. The basil seeds were rather tasteless, and I suspected they were added more for their crunchy texture or visual impact.
Having awakened our palates, now it's time for dessert. The first dessert was popcorn, but these were sprinkled with togarashi (Japanese chili powder) and miraculin, so the more you eat, the sweeter they taste. There were also some lemon honey peanuts, and a scoop of soy sauce ice cream (though I may have misunderstood our waitress since this was about 3.5 hours into the meal and the pre-dinner drink was working its magic). To me the ice cream tasted just like vanilla, and the soy sauce flavor was really in the sauce beneath the popcorn. Nevertheless, I loved this presentation! The shiny black plate contrasted beautifully with the mostly white components of the dish.
Finally, we come to our last course 4 hours after we sat down. This last dessert was french toast, with a huge slab of butter, which we were told must be finished before we can leave...ok I was kidding. It was actually silky lemon mousse made to look like butter, and intended to be treated as such. The seemingly innocent orange was actually carbonated, which we were supposed to squeeze its juice on the french toast. But I was so in love with the fizziness I ate it by itself. Ever since I moved back to Chicago last year, I've been amazed at the balance and creativity I've experienced in desserts at various restaurants. I can no longer look down upon American desserts as sweet bombs that lack the finesse of their Asian counterparts. Bravo, dessert chefs of America!
I have to admit: I didn't like every dish in this meal. However, the term "flavor tripping" could not be more apt. Yes, there were a few missteps, but it was certainly a tantalizing adventure for my taste buds. I was also quite happy with the portion size. Very often at the end of such tasting menus, I'd be so full I thought I might be sick. But I felt just about full at the end of this one. I also thought the flavors were reasonably balanced so my palate wasn't dead after the 5th dish. So I guess I could say this first encounter with molecular gastronomy was a success. Maybe now I'm ready to fully appreciate Alinea?
951 W Fulton Market
Chicago, IL 60607
(855)-834-6464
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