EL Ideas - Good Taste is the Worst Vice

You might not have heard of EL Ideas. I hadn’t, until about a month ago, when a mention of it caught my eye online.

What EL Ideas is:

New – open since July
Exclusive – 10 guests a night, Weds-Sat
Ambitious – serving a 14+ course tasting menu nightly

What EL Ideas is not:

An underground restaurant – they don’t like this moniker at all; instead, try “micro restaurant”

Mirai Corn

The more I read about EL, the more I knew I had to go. The reservations process is relatively painless – sign up online, then wait to hear from the charming reservationist to book your dinner – but since the restaurant is both small and popular, it fills up quite quickly.

Unfortunately (for him), D had to go out of town for training and there was no availability to switch dates, so I headed to EL with my friend M. It’s a bit of a drive from downtown – the nearest major intersection is Western and Roosevelt – so we were the last to arrive for the single 7pm seating. We had a warm welcome from Bill, the exceptional lone front-of-house representative, and settled into our table while he opened the bottle of champagne we’d brought.

Dinner begins with a brief explanation of the concept, and the instruction that diners should feel free to ask questions of the chefs – who are working in the large open kitchen just beyond the small dining area – or even to go into the kitchen to help with plating or serving.

Soon, our first course arrived. Each is quickly and informally explained to the group by the chef who conceptualized the dish. We started with a combination of scallops, caviar, and finger lime cells, garnished with thin beet half-moons and a zucchini blossom stuffed with scallop mousse. The texture of the finger lime cells mirrored that of the caviar, a lovely combination of tart and salt, which offset the smooth sweetness of the scallop. I tasted something faintly recognizable in the dish – white pepper? Chef Foss came to answer my question over the half wall that separated us from the kitchen: pink peppercorn.

Course 2: langoustine, with flavors of shrimp cocktail – namely ketchup, lemon, and horseradish. It was just a couple of small, delicious bites.

Course 3: vitello tonnato. This was a more substantial and richly flavored course, with tuna-wrapped veal atop a delicate panna cotta, surrounded by tiny cauliflower florets and fried caperberries.

Vitello Tonnato

Course 4: mirai corn, another beautifully plated dish with many permutations of corn: creamy kernels, raw kernels, fried corn silk, “black” popcorn, a corn fritter, corn shoots, and even some sliced tamales from a neighborhood tamale vendor. Along with the corn, there was avocado puree and diced mango and jicama. I love corn, and I loved every bite of this.

Course 5: lobster. More accurately, this was a rich, luscious foie gras mousse topped with Sauternes gelée and diced peaches, with lobster on top.

Lobster (foie gras)

Course 6: spanner crab. Here, M and I decided that we’d go and check out the kitchen – where I volunteered to help plate. To my delight, I was handed my very first pair of offset kitchen tweezers and instructed to garnish each portion of crab-topped squid ink capellini with quartered cherry tomatoes and paper-thin scallion slices. I garnished as fast as I could but still couldn’t keep up – it’s amazing how quickly the chefs put each plate together. The result was delicious, with the brininess of the pasta and crab surprisingly accented with the nutty crunch of poppy seeds.

Spanner Crab

Course 7: almond milk, a palate cleanser served in the kitchen. Always good to get up and move around during a long meal!

Course 8: chicken liver. A clever take on fried chicken – here, a fried chicken liver – but I must confess that this was the only course I didn’t find exceptional. It was just a bit too heavy for me, though I did love the crispy edges mixed in with the flavorful garnishes of apple, mustard, and thyme.

Chicken Liver

Course 9: ozette potatoes, cooked in butter and then topped with a big pile of shaved black truffles – Australian winter truffles strike again! Very simple, yet luxurious.

Ozette (black truffle)

Course 10: mushrooms, or more accurately, an unusual combination of mushrooms, sea beans, watermelon cubes, shaved baby radish, and quail egg yolks. I’m not totally convinced that watermelon and mushroom are a natural pairing, but I certainly respect the creativity behind the idea, and the colors on the plate were lovely.

Mushrooms

Course 11: squab three ways, with figs and cured ham. This was another nicely composed dish, with dainty bites of squab breast, leg, and squab liver-stuffed onion. The green fig and dried black fig added sweetness.

Squab

Course 12: wagyu with dumplings, served in dashi broth. If I imagined my ideal piece of beef, this would be it – tender and flavorful, not at all fatty. The tasty little dumplings were made of beef heart, flavored with sriracha that provided a subtle backdrop of heat.

Wagyu

Course 13: the cheese course, a rectangle of buttery toasted brioche topped with shaved manchego, gooseberry preserves, and tiny mushrooms.

Course 14: a “surprise” dessert in more ways than one – not on the menu, and served with a theatrical flourish. First, we were presented with bowls containing rose petals and some twigs. Then, we were instructed to pour the contents of small pitchers into the bowls, activating the dry ice secreted beneath the petals and producing dramatic, billowing clouds seemingly out of nowhere. A bowl of jellied cherries was placed on top – a sort of old-fashioned and altogether lovely dish.

Before the surprise was revealed…

…and after

Course 15: huckleberries, served with olive oil ice cream and a panna cotta, along with dots of basil and honey “chips” – light and summery.

Huckleberries

Finally, mignardises: “chocolate salty balls” served on sword-shaped skewers, which despite their rather juvenile, South Park-inspired name, are quite good and a fittingly unorthodox way to end the meal.

One of the great things about EL Ideas is that the menu changes almost entirely from week to week, so I know that when I head back, I’ll have a completely new experience. Within a day of my dinner, I already put in my request to be considered for the next round of reservations, and I’m waiting (not-too-patiently) to return.

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