We were tempted to not write about Elizabeth, this incredibly popular foodie prodigy in Chicago’s Lincoln Square that requires a ticket to land one of its 24-seats. More about sustainability than pretense, the tickets allow the restaurant to source the right amount of ingredients for its dining room that has had various incarnations as an underground dining room. But now its one of the hottest tickets in Chicago, and for us the hottest, within a simple one-room space of designer imperfection from the textured walls to the mismatched chairs. The fashionable crowd doesn't mind, here to discover the culinary genius of Iliana Regan and her bountiful exploits of the Midwest’s finest farms, regional markets and food purveyors.
The Food
A celebration of “land, woodlands and sea,” chef Iliana Regan delights with a delicate by lengthy 20-course menu that begins with a selection of farm-sourced dishes like “terrarium of what deer eat”, chicken liver and vegetable tartare. The meal continues with wild crispy rice with bear, oyster and borscht caviar and Elizabeth’s signature shrimp noodles. Each dish is like a vignette of a larger poem as presentations of root leathers with cured deer or rib eye with winter vegetables have you fully in love by the last bite.
Last Word
Local chef highlights locally sourced Midwest cuisine at pedigree dining room in Lincoln Square.
