When a friend from college told me she was coming to Chicago, pregnant, and wanted to eat a delicious dessert, I knew Hot Chocolate would be the place to go. Chef/owner Mindy Segal has been known to create a kick-ass dessert or two thanks to her extensive background as a pastry chef (past work has included stints at Ambria, Trotters and mk), and I’ve been curious to see if her savory dishes could stand up to the desserts. We started with the opening photo, the pate, which was a housemade chicken liver mousse, with cornichons, pickled red onions, fresh cranberry preserve, dijon mustard, brioche toast and a bit of smoked sea salt ($12 USD).
Now, I’m a big fan of chicken liver pate, but this dish was STELLAR. It was amazing. It was out of this world. It was every trite comment on a food dish you have ever heard and then some. The pate was beautifully smooth, and paired perfectly with the cornichons, mustard and brioche. Ugh. I sort of wish I would have just ordered another for my main! We also tried the Schlenkerla-smoked, beer-poached soft pretzels with lamb neck rillettes, and housemade beer mustard ($11 USD).
I think by the time the pretzels had arrived, we had forgotten exactly what was in that tiny pot of goodness at the end of the platter (lamb neck rilletes), but we ate it with pleasure. This was a great dish, a perfect appetizer with enough creative elements (who makes mustard from scratch anymore?!)that it made the dish that much more appreciated. Also? The pretzels tasted great with the leftover chicken pate! For mains, I was hankering for some red meat, so I went with the burger, which had house ground Heartland beef, organic bacon and Carr Valley 6-year aged cheddar with Mark’s dill pickles on a garlic toasted bun ($13 USD).
This was pretty good, but not great. I appreciated the fact that they ground their own grass-fed beef, but I found that there were a few chunks of meat in my burger that were not quite ground fully, and it made it a little tough to eat. The coleslaw that came with the burger, however, was awesome. Garlic-y and fresh tasting, this was a pleasant surprise on the plate and a nice change from those super sweet coleslaws that permeate the U.S. Midwest. Adam went with the pork, which was a brined Berkshire pork loin with Plapp Farm Grits, mustard cream(ed) mustard greens, pickled okra,& Carolina “BBQ sauce” ($27 USD). He liked it, but was thrown for a loop because he thought it would have more BBQ sauce on it. It was good, especially those pickled okra, but just not what he expected. My friend went with the short rib, which came with blue cheese spatzel, red wine roasted Cipollini onions, spiced carrot puree, crispy shallot salad and braising jus ($25 USD).
This was delicious, terribly tender, and just a great winter dish. And then my friend, we had some desserts. Adam was the least fun of us all, ordering a duet of sorbets (pink grapefruit and lemon grass) ($4 USD).
He really loved the lemongrass and found it refreshing, but as he is not a grapefruit fan, the other sorbet didn’t really do it for him. My friend went with a seasonal dessert, the apple, which had a warm local apple, maple and brown butter pie with brown sugar streusel, sour cream ice creamSeedling Farm cider/maple caramel & “pecan candy” ($11 USD).
Do I even need to say how great this was? Perfect fall flavors, and a great contrast of textures. But technically speaking, it kicked-ass. I went with the Ode to a Whatchamacalit Bar, which had milk chocolate peanut butter mousse, malted caramel, milk chocolate cocoa crispies, and a shot of peanut butter milkshake ($11 USD).
Whoa. Now this is a serious dessert that is NOT messing around. It really was an ode to my favorite candy bar! So much chocolate and peanut butter, how could I NOT be happy? Oh, but note to future diners–maybe you don’t want to shove the little chocolate cup with peanut butter milkshake in it into your mouth all at one time. They were not kidding–it is a milkshake, and will drown you if you chose to eat it whole. Great dessert. I am so happy to have friends that love to eat as much as I do. I had a great time with my friend, and although the mains weren’t right up my alley, the appetizers and desserts totally made it worth the trip. ~LTG! ************************************ Hot Chocolate 1747 N. Damen Avenue Chicago, IL 60647 773-489-1747 Email:info@hotchocolatechicago.com Website: http://www.hotchocolatechicago.com
