North Pond — Restaurant in Lake View Township

Had a wonderful anniversary meal one evening at North Pond. The walk to the restaurant through Lincoln Park was already setting the relaxed mood, and on arrival, service was authentically friendly and you could tell they really wanted you to enjoy their place. Extra attention to detail, like menu’s printed with our anniversary and names on, were extra special, and service was appropriately attentive all night. We were given a perfect table, by the window and fire which was warm, not too hot, and overlooking the North Pond, watching dog walkers pass by, it was lovely to watch the sunset change the city backdrop to twinkling lights from the comfort of our perfect table. Cocktails were master crafted by the friendly bar man, full of flavour, beautifully presented and strong. Freshly baked bread rolls had a delicate herb flavour, with a deep red, beetroot butter quenelle. We went for the 4-course tasting with a wine pairing too, with our server Gerald being extremely knowledgeable of the cuisine and the wine. Being in the restaurant trade, we asked lots of questions, which puts some servers on edge, but Gerald relished in sharing his equalled passion and extensive career in food and drink. I really like the fact that you’re allowed to pick your 4 courses from 3 different items per course, it shows real skill to juggle all this in the kitchen and is a real treat for the diner. My hat goes fully off to the chef’s ability to send dishes out as quickly and beautifully as if a set fixed tasting menu, but with an a la carte diners’ choice, that’s real skill at this standard of cuisine. The amuse bouche was a delicious caviar on a fried base with dried skin on the side which was beautifully light and puffed. I had Foie Gras Tangerine for first course, and this probably goes up there as one of the most memorable dishes of my life, it was perfectly crafted with a huge tangerine skin, halved, and then torched inside, gave a real added caramelised orange flavour to the dish, and it was just beautiful to look at and eat (see attached picture). At this point I was in heaven, they could have done nothing wrong (and they didn’t !). Rabbit for second course was some of the most delicate, soft meat I’ve ever eaten. Little remanence of game flavour, this was a delicious dish with the dill and salsa brava really lifting it up. Main was an even softer pinker Wagyu beef morsel with a delicious fried beignet on the side, again complimenting the meat. The coffee crumble was a flavour I didn’t know I needed so badly with meat and alongside the apple butter was a rich delicious dish of perfectly balanced fats and acids with a delicate sweetness and all the coffee and beef Unami-ness. Overall it was THE best meal we had in our 3 week USA holiday, it was just perfect thank you. If we’re ever in Chicago again...

What a fabulous tasting menu!!!! Beautiful place to sit outside if the weather is nice because the view of the skyline is lovely at night. But inside is cozy with low lights, and you can see all the jars of vegetables they are preserving and pickling up on the walls - so cool! They know what they’re doing haha!

They started us off with 2 pre tasting menu compliments of chef. One was a tasty beet butter with warm bread, which did not have a heavy beet taste but instead was light tasting and salty. Next was a fresh gazpacho with roe on top which made for an amazing salty and sweet pairing and was sooo refreshing.

My friend and I opted for the wine pairing which I canNOT recommend enough. I would take a bite of food, then sip the wine and it truly MATCHED in taste and then the wine took you further on the journey. None of the wine had a bitter after taste, all tasted light and was high quality. No headache or hangover the next day after 4 glasses!

I started off with the crab, corn, which was so creative! It was tasty shredded crab surrounded by a savory churro and in a bed of bright tasting sauce.

My friend tried the carrot, leek and wow…. This is one of the stars of the whole meal. I have never tried such a unique dish. It’s hard to describe but the highlight was how much the ingredients WORKED unexpectedly and the textures were so satisfying.

The scallop, green beans were my #1 dish of the night. Beautifully plated, scallops perfectly cooked, the sauce brought everything together. The green beans and pepitas were so delightful as a bite after a scallop.

The wagyu, huckleberry was also quite inventive as far as flavors and combining foods I wouldn’t think to put together. I ate it in the order it appears to be played starting with the wagyu itself which had a nice light salty crust on it, the seaweed, the cheesy custard with huckleberry, and finishing off with a shishito pepper! It gave me all those flavors and was super enjoyable to try.

Corn, raspberry as a dessert was definitely an easy crowd pleaser! Delicious sweet corn taste combined with bright raspberry with the wafer for crunch. Perfect end of the night.

With the check they bring you two tiny madeleines as a last bite which were flavored with rosemary. It was paced well, never felt too soon or too late for the next course, they cleared empty dishes and glasses promptly, never left the water unfilled, and it took about 2 hours total. We definitely didn’t leave hungry! And it was nice to walk around the park afterwards.

This place is perfect for foodies, for a very special occasion like anniversary or date, to bring your parents if they are...

Simply one of the best destination restaurants in Chicago, and one of the best I've ever been anywhere. However, how they pull it off is likely not to be to everybody's "taste", since a very important aspect of their method is being extremely deliberate, even narrow, about what dishes they serve and how they prepare them. This is a strictly "prix fixe" place, both for dinner and brunch. The menu varies with the season, and more importantly with the ingredients that they are able to get that live up to their very high expectations. This rapid flexibility makes describing and critiquing any particular dish a bit beside the point. But on the other hand, they listen and respond to any reasonable preference or request (an example: my daughter does not like celery, and when this was mentioned the dish in question was very politely altered to remove it). Which highlights a very important point: the service is simply top-notch. Every member of the staff was attentive, responsive, and intelligently considerate. It is rare that all aspects of a dining experience are so harmoniously delivered. It sort of goes without saying that the best food in the world does not present itself. And although I will cut a restaurant considerable slack if it seems to be myopically focused on just what goes in my mouth, no slack-cutting is required here. They do the "simple" stuff right, straight through, start to finish. Another aspect of "going out" (now that we are able to sort of do that again) that isn't exactly core is setting. There may be a more pleasant room in a lovelier location in another major urban area, but I've never been there. The Frank Lloyd Wright themed building and furnishings are beautiful, and once again I find myself wanting to use the term "harmonious". Sitting as it does in a quiet corner of a lakefront park just makes it all the more special. If you are lucky (as we were), while you are waiting for your table you can sometimes watch herons stalking frogs in the pond. And, at the time of this review anyway, there's even free street parking fairly close, which is practically unique in Chicago now. None of this comes cheap. For almost anybody, this is going to be a "special occasion" place. In this specific case, we were celebrating the birthday of an out-of-town friend. The "good" news is that you pretty much know what you are going to spend before you go (This is particularly true if you decide to go with the curated wine pairings, which we did for this dinner. Unsurprisingly I guess, given everything else they got right, the wines provided were excellent, even though occasionally unusual).

Simply put:...