Elske — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I am but a mere visitor when it comes to the Chicago dining scene so I can't say how Elske fits into the overall culinary landscape of the city. What I can say is that, regardless of city/region, Elske is doing absolutely everything right. The food is inventive and delicious, the ambiance is top notch and everyone who works there is delightful. As a group of six, we had people with varying levels of adventurousness when it came to dining, and we were all impressed and delighted. Not an easy feat!

We came here at around 8pm on a Friday night. Elske has one of my favorite setups -- one that has become quite popular in the COVID era -- which is an easy indoor-outdoor flow. There are designated indoor and outdoor tables, but the restaurant space is partially open air. So us indoor folks got to enjoy a nice evening breeze. And while the food is fairly upscale and expensive, the vibe is laid back. No one was particularly dressed up and the energy was warm and low key. I had taken a very early flight into Chicago that morning, so this was a welcome first meal in the city.

The cocktails here aren't extravagant but they are surprisingly complex in their simplicity. I got the Martini (vodka, saler, cucumber-dill vermouth) as well as the Spritz (lillet rose, red aperitivo, batavia arrack, cava, tonic), and I tried a friend's Swizzle (aquavit, amaro nonino, peach, basil). The martini was easily the winner to me, herbal, vegetal, clean and actually kind of refreshing. The cucumber and dill were what made it for me. My friend had never tried aquavit before but she loved the Swizzle (as did I). It's not necessarily easy to make aquavit approachable but they managed to do it here.

The food at Elske really impressed me. It is creative yet effortlessly so. The menu features some unusual ingredients, unlikely combinations and curious preparations yet all of it is executed flawlessly. As I said, some of us were more adventurous eaters than others, but we all left happy. Eats, below:

Belgian endive with creamed sherry dressing, pickled raisins, and walnuts: A Endives are in seasonal and I'm loving every minute of it. Some of the food was a bit heavy so these provided some balance. Some nice sweetness from the dressing and raisins and of course a healthy crunch from both the endive and walnuts.

Fried soft shell crab with green asparagus, hazelnuts, and sea beans: A Things are starting to get funky here. The crab was great (I had to explain to some that yet, you can eat the whole thing when it's soft shell), and I found the asparagus and sea beans combo to be a nice touch, albeit unusual.

Rhubarb-glazed smoked eel with snap peas, buckwheat, and nasturtium: A+ How often do you get to order eel outside of a sushi restaurant? We had to go for this. Probably the most creative/fun dish of the night for me, and downright excellent. The presentation was gorgeous too. All components worked beautifully together, creating a really interesting play of flavors and textures.

Charred leeks vinaigrette with clothbound cheddar, toasted oats, and black olive: A Quite the savory dish, with a big ole hunk of cheddar caressing every curve of each leek. The flavors were fantastic and the dish overall had great depth. The only reason it doesn't have an A+ is because the cheddar was too heavy-handed for me.

Confit maitake with cornbread polenta, lovage, and pecorino: A++ This was my favorite dish of the night. I'm not a polenta person but that polenta alone could've been my last meal on earth. So rich and earthy, decadent, savory, all the good things. And I just love a well done...

What to say about Elske...this is a hard review to write. I think my summary would be to order a la carte, get the meat- based dishes, and choose your own wine. One Michelin star? No, I don't think so.

The restaurant itself is lovely inside. Warm wood and very modern. They ended up being able to accommodate us inside, which was very nice. The patio looks nice and inviting, but I always prefer inside.

We opted for the tasting menu, but you can also order a la carte. We ordered two cocktails to start. My husband ordered the Collins, which contained mezcal, carrot juice, miso ginger, lemon, and soda. Very nice and balanced. I ordered the spritz..billed as cava, lemon, lillet, and rhubarb. Unfortunately, the cava was flat.. probably opened yesterday. Not good. I mentioned it, but then had to remind them that they were going to bring a replacement. The actual drink was fine, but one should not be served flat cava. This is an expensive restaurant with a Michelin star. So, not good. They deleted it from the bill, which was nice, but it doesn't really make up for lapses such as these. My husband was getting the wine pairing, and we had hardly begun our cocktails when they were bringing him his first wine. We asked for them to give us a bit of time to drink our cocktails, which they did, but again, should we have had to ask?

Now the food:

The first course was wax beans with sorrel butter, whitefish branade on fried potato with trout roe, and also cured egg yolk on ragbrod. Nice with the cocktails. Very mild tastes, very Scandinavian, and good, however it was paired with an unfiltered very sour wine. It was not good.

The next course was cured kampachi with kohlrabe, spring legumes, and lardo. It was a beautiful presentation. The fish was fresh, but the thinly sliced raw kohlrabi was hard, and so I pulled it off with somewhat bitter greens, and ate them separately from the delicate fish. Let's just say it was not a good meld of flavors. And what wine could possibly go? This is not wine-friendly food.

Next up was a lovely roasted sablefish- perfectly cooked, topped with mandoline sliced raw cauliflower stalks lightly pickled. Again the sourness was jarring against the lovely fish. And the wine pairing... Equally odd.

The duck liver tart was coated in dried ramp and toasted buckwheat. It is served cold and was smooth, savory, and delicious. However, for some reason it was served with the final savory course. That was the highlight of the meal, grilled lamb loin and lamb sausage with dried fruit and fennel. Scrumptious.

Dessert was a square of frozen anise seed and mint flavored gelatin, followed by a poppy seed mousse with a rhubarb foam. Refreshing.

Our server was nice, and the food was beautifully presented on each plate. But the lapses in service and the sourness of pickled raw vegetables and delicate fish was not a good thing. The wine pairing was just odd.

This restaurant is located in the West Loop. You can find street parking, but it...

I don't think a restraunt has disappointed me so much. I'll start saying I was excited to dine here and experience the tasting menu for a while, so already I had this idea that the dining experience would be exquisite. I had the tasting menu with the wine pairing. I had a reservation so I was seated immediately. After about 15 minutes I had a server come by to take my order. And put in for the tasting with pairing. The pairing came out, which was wonderful. The tea was nice and the whitefish on the hasbrown was great. The Wax beans on rugbrød was about as exciting as it sounds, no flavor, bad mouth feel, and it just left food stuck to my teeth come the next course. After 10 minutes after finisbing the next pairing came out, they introduced the Rose. After came the Cured kampachi with legumes. The dish was a massive disappointment, it was tough to cut making the plate turn to a mess quickly making portions all over the place. A plate devoid of taste. The only texture coming from the stems of foliage. 10 minutes after finishing I get a french mixed white. I realize looking at the menu the server mixed up the wine from last course with the one from this, based on the menu. I was cool with it, the wine was good. Trout came out 5 minutes later. I was excited for this as it really seemed to be something unique. Instead it was just fine. It cut well. It felt good. And there was some taste, but very little. 10 minutes after finishing I was just debating leaving, letting the staff know about the disappointing evening. But decided against it since I was excited for the duck and lamb most of all. The duck liver tart came out. It was fantastic, absolutely perfect. It was emaculate in all regards. It was crisp, but not crunchy. Soft while dense. The flavor was powerful, not overly. The dish make me extremely happy to have stuck around. The lamb and sausage was amazing as well, it just melted and went perfectly with the rest of the plate. The sides were presented as seperate plates and I happily cleared everything clean. About halfway through the dish I was given the pairing, which took me by surprise. Not only the was the pairing late, but It was presented mid bite. Just left me stupefied. After finishing, the next course came out 10 minutes later. A surprising little black-green cube. The anise jelly with mint. It was lovely and refreshing. Didn't stick, tasted nice. Soon to follow was the final plate and pairing, the poppy mousse with rhubarb. The flavors where not very complimentary, but the different textures all round make up for it, making it a fine dish. After about 10 more minutes I was finally given a check and left. On my walk back, I grabbed pizza. It was some of the best pizza I've had around chicago and most certainly made my night. Overall a disappointing experience outside of the duck, lamb, and pizza.

If I come here again, I'm staying...