Unfortunately, Jacob and I didn't take any pictures of our dinner at Gilt Bar on New Year's Eve. I'll just tell you what we ate: gnocchi with pancetta and butternut squash, brussels sprouts with pork belly and maple syrup, and kielbasa sausage with sauerkraut and potatoes. For dessert we had an indulgent mocha coconut cream pie. A very rich and porky meal. If you study their drink menu you'll see $2 PBRs and $4 Table Wine options hidden in the filigree. They're not just there for decoration; when I asked the server about the wine she told me they have a chardonnay and a cabernet, both from California. I ordered the red and it tasted reeeeeaaaaally good. Maybe it tasted better knowing it was $4, but that's not usually how wine works. Ya know.
I didn't know this, but gilt is what farmers call a female pig that hasn't had babies. That's probably why our meal was so porky.
Since he only had a week to spoil me, Jacob took me out to Longman & Eagle later in the week. L&E is a a whiskey bar/inn/tavern in Logan Square. The food was elegant but, to me, under-seasoned. We shared everything which left me kinda hungry at the end of the meal. We had porchetta stuffed ravioli with a spiced applesauce (top), venison sausage with a pierogi (not pictured), "steak and eggs" (above), and for dessert, a bourbon and spiced pecan cake, steamed in a mason jar (below).
I was especially impressed with the sausage and the "steak," which was really boneless beef short-rib, magically grilled into a juicy tender steak-like cut. The ravioli was stuffed with an egg yolk and creamed spinach.
All in all, not worth the money in my opinion (go to Gilt Bar instead!), but at least we got to see a beautiful sunset on the drive down. A perk for L&E, if you need somewhere nice and affordable to stay in the city, you can get a room upstairs for as little as $75 a night. Chump change for a Chicago hotel.
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