The Other Critics

Ruby Compares and Contrasts Goosefoot, Les Nomades; Vettel Loves Next El Bulli

A leg at Goosefoot.
A leg at Goosefoot. Photo: Mel Hill Photography

Other reviewers have seemed to take it as a given that the natural pairing of the moment is the north side’s improbably-posh-in-a-gritty neighborhood Goosefoot vs. the south side’s improbably-posh-in-a-gritty neighborhood Acadia. But other than opening within a month or so of each other, we don’t see that much similarity; Jeff Ruby in Chicago Magazine hits on a far more revealing comparison, that of former Les Nomades chef Chris Nugent’s Goosefoot with former Les Nomades chef Roland Liccioni’s new restaurant… which is Les Nomades. He sets it up, almost too neatly, in his opening sentence: “If you want to see where upscale dining has been, go to Les Nomades. Want to know where it’s going? Goosefoot… Nugent’s satisfying flavors haven’t changed much from his Les Nomades days, but his approach is leaner and cleaner. A good example is the crisp roasted quail with fiery beluga lentils, ginger gelées, vinegar-soaked “compressed apple,” and dots of parsnip purée and whole-grain mustard vinaigrette—an exquisite L2O-ish tableau that has been composed to within an inch of its life.” While at the actual Les Nomades, “The French-Asian mind-meld that once felt so progressive now seems almost quaint, as in a lovely Arctic char with a maitake mushroom topped with an olive tapenade and resting on forbidden rice and a sauce of yellow tomato and lemongrass… If all this feels straight out of 2000, that’s fine with me—2000 was a pretty good year.” [Chicago Magazine]

“Part museum exhibit, part history retrospective, Next’s latest menu, El Bulli, is a culinary retrospective focused on its namesake… Considering that Next made its debut in 2011 by re-creating the work of circa-1906 Escoffier, perhaps taking on Escoffier’s modern equivalent, Ferran Adria, is a logical step.” Unsurprisingly, the hugely ambitious and epic Next El Bulli menu is another four-star wonder for the Tribune’s Phil Vettel. Yet his review seems so dazzled by the courses, which are ticked off lovingly (by our count he namechecks exactly half of the 28 dishes), that it never really comes to any sort of analytical conclusion, any big picture view of why this meal matters as a retrospective to one restaurant or a tribute by another. It simply ends, with “one final surprise on a menu with an endless supply of them.” [Tribune]

Goosefoot and Les Nomades are both husband and wife-run spots (exes in the latter case, but clearly friendly), and Lisa Shames pays tribute to another, Vera, in Chicago Social: “What really makes me swoon has nothing to do with its Spanish-inspired food, eclectic wine list or cozy ambience… [but] the image of husband-and-wife owners, chef Mark Mendez and sommelier Elizabeth, catching a quick embrace one busy weeknight off to the side of the open kitchen.” That aside, she’s plenty happy with the unpretentiously artful food: “Really you can’t go wrong with anything in the seafood section, including a crudo—hamachi when I tried it—that was both sweet and spicy with a Valencia orange purée and chile oil; grilled octopus flavored with Spanish smoked paprika (pimenton); and turbot topped with olivada, a zippy chopped olive spread. Best-case scenario: Bring a few friends so you can order all of them.” Who knows, in this atmosphere you might wind up marrying one of them. [CS]

Ruby Compares and Contrasts Goosefoot, Les Nomades; Vettel Loves Next El Bulli