In September of 2009, I bought a Groupon for Bonsoiree. The deal was $35 for $75 worth of food and I’d been wanting to try out this fine dining restaurant in my neighborhood since we moved here. The Groupon expired at the end of December 2010 and I still hadn’t used it by November. Well, on the night of November 15, the Michelin Guide announced the Chicago restaurants they were giving stars to. Bonsoiree was on the list. I woke up the next morning and knew I had to try for reservations that day. If I didn’t get them, they weren’t going to be had before the Groupon expired, since the announcement would drive people to the restaurant in droves!
I looked into reservations and mostly the only times available were either 5:00 p.m. or 10 p.m… except one day. One Wednesday they had a 6:00 reservation, so I grabbed it. Turns out it was the day before Jess’s birthday so it was a nice early birthday celebration.
We drove over to the restaurant at Armitage and California and even though we both live in Logan Square, we had to look around a bit. The building is TINY and nondescript. I’m sure we’ve been by it many times and not even noticed. Plus, there’s no branding or signage on the outside. Inside was intimate and modern, warm and inviting.. but outside? Not so much.
We’d decided ahead of time to get the 4-course menu for $45 each. Bonsoiree is BYO so Jess picked up a bottle of wine for us to share. The restaurant chilled it (it was white) and poured it for us throughout the meal.
I’m just going through these photos now at the end of January and we went in December, so I’m having to try to research to remember what the menu was back then!
Course 1: Pumpkin Salad with Escargot, White Anchovy, Baby Frissee, and Pumpkin 5 ways. I liked the salad, but not the anchovy so much. The frozen fennel-Thai basil mousse was awesome, though! Sorry, the descriptions are not that great.
Course 2: Scallop Motoyaki. Motoyaki is a Japanese style of cooking where they bake food topped with a mayonnaise-based sauce and serve it in an oyster shell. Sold! This dish was so rich and scrumptious!
Course 3: Kabocha-Nasturtium Soup with Oberon Caramel Drizzle. Basically squash soup with all of the garnishes around the plate – Maitake Chips, Cognac Apple Melt, Sesame-Cajun Spiced Chive Bits. The swirl in the middle was a sweeter caramel drizzle made with Oberon beer. So pretty to look at, plus so delicious. Each bite was different as we dipped the different garnishes in the soup.
Course 4: Buffalo Smoked Pork Shoulder, Bourbon-Barrel sauce, Salt and Pepper Sugar Snap Peas, Hominy-Coriander Tostone, Soy Sauce Flakes. The pork was so smoky and tender. In the upper corner, that’s a venison sausage meatball. This was a really generous portion. I was sort of afraid that we’d be still hungry after 4 small courses, but all of these courses were very generous.
Course 5: Boston Cream Beignets. So full, but always room for chocolate doughnuts and ice cream!
You’ll notice we got 5 courses, even though we requested the 4-course menu. Part of the reason we were so stuffed! Overall, we loved Bonsoiree. The food was so delicous and the portions very good sized. As far as gastro-gourmet-whatever restaurants, I’d put it right between Schwa and Alinea. More refined than Schwa, not as crazy as Alinea. I don’t know why they’re in this random, off-beat, spot in barely Logan Square, but whatever works for them. I’d recommend you go try it out, but I wonder now, how long you have to wait for a reservation! We totally lucked out getting a great discount with the Groupon at this Michelin-starred restaurant!
Oh. P.S. Jess and I were talking about how almost every course at Bonsoiree had an Asian influence. I just read now that the chef/owner Shin Thompson was born in Honolulu and grew up between the U.S. and Japan. I think the restaurant is officially described as French-Japanese fusion. I also read that Bonsoiree started out as an illegal underground dining experience that was located in different people’s apartments around the city. Of course, now they’re all legit and everything!
