spiegelau champagne saucer Archives

Sublime:

tending to inspire awe

usually because of elevated quality

or transcendent excellence

Our favorite beginning…

Billecart-Salmon Rosé

Spiegelau Champagne Saucer

Spiegelau, my new favorite stemware.

Elegant. Brilliant. Gorgeous.

Attention to detail.

Butter dish. It glows?

Bread & Butter

All made in-house.

Smoked Salmon, Earl Grey, Ginger Noodle

Shimaaji, Red Miso, Radish, Soy Salt

Shimaaji is one of the chef’s favorite fish. It is a young yellowtail with a high fat content and a mild sweet flavor.

In addition to falling in love with the stemware, we were also smitten with the dinnerware. German artisan Stefanie Hering founded Hering Berlin “The Language of Porcelain” in 1992. She works with the purest form of porcelain called bisque. Hering Berlin is porcelain of extreme volume, some of the pieces have a stacked look (see photo above), some with rims of great width and at the same time very thin. Laurent Gras chose Hering Berlin pattern “Puls” for the gorgeous way it frames the food.

The Raw fish courses are genius, but if that is not your cup of tea, not to worry, you can begin with this lovely salad. The menu is divided into three groups, Raw, Warm, and Main. There is also a tasting menu.

So, the occasion was my birthday, and my brother and sister-in-law treated me to this over-the-top dinner at Laurent Gras’ fabulous L2O restaurant located in the Belden Stratford Hotel in Chicago. The room was stunning, the service impeccable, and the food was everything you’ve heard, and more. I read an article in Food & Wine a while ago, they joked that the French-born chef’s name translates to “Fat Larry” and that he was an avid cyclist who says, “Cooking is also and endurance sport…”

Chablis Premier Cru Monts Mains 2002 from the domaine of Francois Raveneau epitomizes Chablis’ steely magnificence. One of the few producers to neither fine nor filter the wines, this wine is an elegant reflection of the terrior. We were fortunate to enjoy this extraordinarily complex, sophisticated wine with our first courses. A special thanks to sommelier Chantelle Pabros.