Dinner at Everest, Chicago

Even though we were very full already from our daytime food "tasting" (you can read about it in my previous post), we couldn't wait to have dinner at Everest. Because it was Saturday, the traffic was heavy and we were not familiar with the small roads (driving from north Chicago to downtown). We figured out that we'd be about 10-15 minutes late for our 5 pm reservation, so we called to let them know. It was good that we called them, otherwise we wouldn't know where to park our car (the reservation was booked through Opentable.com and we thought we would figure out the parking when we got there). The person from Everest mentioned to go to the private parking on the building and to give our name.

We followed the directions given, arrived on the garage door and gave our name over the microphone. After a few seconds of silence, the garage door opened, so we drove in towards the next door. There was a sign next to the door mentioning to get our car in front of the 'eye'. We couldn't see any 'eye', but as the car inched closer forward, the door suddenly opened. I guessed since Everest is located at Chicago Stock Exchange, the security is tight. We drove towards the valet area, and after leaving our car with the attendant, we went to enter the building. We took the elevator to the lobby, got out to the other side of the lobby, took another elevator that transferred us to the 39th floor. From there we moved again to another elevator that transferred us to the 40th floor where Everest is. We were just waiting for the retina scanner, which thankfully wasn't needed. What a long journey just to have dinner :-)

When we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by a host who then led us to our table. After we sat, he asked if we were on a time constraint. We said yes since we had to attend the mass at 7:30 pm, which meant we had to leave at the latest by 7 pm. Then the waiter came and gave us the menu. He said if we wanted to have the 7-course we had to order it now and it would be in hurry considering we only had less than 2 hours. We thought of having the 7-course for the full experience, but we were still full, so we decided to have 4-course dinner instead. Since we'd picked different choices, we would try a total of 6 entrees and 2 desserts, wow that's a lot!

At this time the restaurant was not that full. While waiting for the food to come, we noticed that there was an empty table near the window with a nice view of the city. So we asked if we could move to that table, unfortunately that table was already reserved.

Then came the bread, I asked for the milk bread and my husband asked for the mini french baguette. Both bread was good, however the butter was still very cold, not at room temperature like the one at Charlie Trotter's.

Milk bread and Mini french baguette

After that the amuse bouche arrived, which were spring onion and garlic mousse, pork belly, asparagus soup, broccoli mousse with parmesan cheese. Everything was good -- the spring onion and garlic mousse was smooth, the pork belly was tender, the asparagus soup was creamy, the broccoli mousse was perfect with the crunchy bits of parmesan cheese.

Amuse bouche: spring onion and garlic mousse, pork belly, asparagus soup, broccoli mousse with parmesan cheese

Our first starters came, mine was frog leg soup and my husband's was seared scallop. Both were good, the soup was creamy with enough amount of frog leg meat, the scallop was tender and not overcooked. Would definitely recommend these.

Left: Boneless frog leg soup, watercress and tapioca
Right: Casco bay sea scallop, marinated turnips alsace style and pinot gris

The second starters were roasted lobster (mine) and soft shell crab (my husband's). The lobster was cooked perfectly, the meat was sweet and went well with the wine-butter sauce. The soft shell crab was good, wrapped in phyllo and fried to golden brown, wonderful with the beet sauce. The only complain we had was that the soft shell crab was a little chewy (instead of crunchy) so it was a bit of a struggle to eat.

Left: Roasted maine lobster in alsace gewurztraminer, butter and ginger
Right: Crispy maryland soft shell crab, red beet coulis and melfor

The starters were pretty easy picks, but we needed recommendation for the main course. The waiter asked whether we wanted fish or meat. Since we both preferred fish, he said that we should go with the slow baked yellowtail and dover sole. Luckily we ordered those, they were very good. I liked the yellowtail more -- it was firm and the sauce was very tasty with smoky flavor from the bacon in it. The sole was good, it was buttery sweet and delicate -- my husband liked this more, perfect :-)

Left: Slow baked filet of yellowtail backaofa, alsace style
Right: Filet of dover sole, petite grenobloise, lemon and caper

At this time we saw Chef Jean Joho walking to the dining room, so we asked our waiter if we could talk to him. Within 5 minutes he arrived at our table, and he was very nice and friendly. We complimented the food and the ambiance. He asked if this was our first time, we said yes and that we came from New Jersey. I told him that I would attend Chef Pierre Hermé class -- he knew about the class since he would provide one of the lunches during that event. Then he said that Pierre Hermé just walked in. What?! I looked at the direction he pointed and I saw PH sitting on the table that was empty and we requested to move to, remember I mentioned about it in the beginning of this post? He was with 2 other gentlemen (who turned out to be Chef Mickaël Marsollier -- PH's assistant and Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer from French Pastry School) and a lady. I was so nervous and happy at the same time to see him, my hands were shaking. I had to calm myself down and kept my attention to Chef Joho. My husband asked if it's okay to have picture with him. He told us to enjoy our dinner first and he would be glad to have the picture with us before we leave. Then he left to go to greet PH and his company.

Finally our desserts arrived, I picked fantasy of chocolate that had 5 different items and my husband picked terrine of chocolate crèpe and banana brulée. Both were amazing! The terrine was very creamy and not too sweet. Everything in the fantasy of chocolate was good, but I liked the macadamia chocolate cake the most. Don't take me wrong, I liked the other four too -- marjolaine chocolate cake, chocolate sponge cake, chocolate drop center liquid and chocolate ice cream. Honestly I could not pay full attention to the desserts since I was still too excited.

Left: Fantasy of chocolate
Right: Terrine of chocolate crèpe and banana brulée

Then came the petit fours, we asked to only have one of each and would share them since we were very full already. They were good -- earl grey truffle, licorice cookie, coconut chocolate, pistachio financier, mint chocolate, apricot gelee, rocher.

Assorted petit fours tray - earl grey truffle, licorice, coconut chocolate, pistachio financier, mint chocolate, apricot gelee, rocher

When we finished, it was 7:10 pm already, so we asked for our check. After paying, we were walking out when we saw Chef Joho noticed us and gave a sign to wait a minute. By the way, he was still at PH's table. After we had our picture taken with Chef Joho and said our good bye to him, we left in hurry to go to church. We were very satisfied with both the food and the service. We highly recommend you to go to Everest if you are in Chicago.

Chef Pierre Hermé at Everest

From church, we went to Tru for more dessert since that night was the only time available on our schedule. Read about it on the next post.

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Everest
440 S. LaSalle St., 40th Floor
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 663-8920
http://www.everestrestaurant.com/