Cariño, a South American Rising Star

The who's who of Chicago food critics have all been checking out Cariño's tasting menus. They offer a couple: the chef's counter, a slightly abbreviated version of the same menu in the dining room, and late-night taco omakase. It's all South American flavours, making it a unique entry into our fine dining scene.

I had the opportunity to visit last week and do the chef's counter. Overall: it was pretty good! I'm interested in trying out the "taco omakase" menu at some point, and very interested to see how the menu evolves as the seasons change. I'd go back, if the opportunity presented itself!

Something that was really cool was the wine pairing was all South American wines. I don't know if I've been served a South American wine with a tasting menu to begin with¹. It makes a lot of sense with the food, but it's a region that maybe doesn't get enough love from our fancy tasting menu sommeliers?

Most of the menu was really creative, even if it's serving something you'd "typically" see. The michelada, for example: they made an oyster shooter with clamato pearls. I love clamato juice, I love oysters, I love savoury cocktails -- this bite was essentially tailour-made for me.

One thing they could improve upon -- and I don't think I mentioned -- was the dire near for a warm towel after the chicharrón. It was dusted in BBQ powder, and afterwards my fingers were kinda sticky. Still, the restroom wasn't far.

The salmon was presented quite theatrically: a plate of rocks pre-laced with some scents on the bottom, holding up a second dish with our food on top. To serve it, they put some dry ice on the rocks and poured some water in, causing huge amounts of fog to issue forth and roll over the table. It's not a super-secret technique by any means, but I appreciate fog rolling down the bar, because it's 🆒.

My favorite dish was probably the ravioli. It had a couple things going for it: corn silk, huitlacoche², truffle, and more corn. The ravioli themselves were almost an afterthought, because the presentation and sauce did so much of the work.

It had a ring of dried corn silk, which melted away in your mouth like cotton candy. And under the foam was a rich sauce featuring the huitlacoche. I'd never heard of this before -- it's a fungus that grows on corn. In the dish, it was sweet but earthy, with a creamy texture.

My dining partner and I could not agree if the dish was too sweet. For me, it was perfect: the gentle sweetness of corn, balanced out by the pasta and the huitlacoche/truffle. The first couple courses were salty and spicy, and I ended up finishing her portions of some because they were too spicy. Perhaps that could be why I thought the ravioli was perfect -- the lingering flavours? I dunno, it seems like a small detail, but it's something you might see happen with a tasting menu.

As you'd expect from anything covered in truffles, the quesadilla was good. What I thought was really fucking good isn't visible in the photo: just underneath the truffle is a layer of pumpernickle crumble. It has never occurred to me that pumpernickle crumble is a thing you can make, but oh fuck was it good.

They poured Nicolás Catena Zapata 2020 with the chocolate course. This was a spectacular, knock-out wine: it was like a milk chocolate bar when paired with the dessert. The tasting notes people have don't mention chocolate, so that might have been entirely from synergy with the dish?

It was so good that I plan to pick up a couple bottles next time I'm at Binny's. What an incredible bottle to serve with dessert!

The dessert it was paired with felt inspired by the imfamous Alinea make-a-mess-on-your-table dessert, but plated. However: the dulche de leche, the pepper (?) leaves, and that wine took it in a whole different direction.

The way they set the resturant up was nifty. The Chef's Counter is the bar, and the kitchen is open. Chef Norman Fenton and his team were right next to us for the duration, and they were happy to chat, answer questions, and give us reminders on what was in each dish.

I was a little disappointed their main somm, Richie Ribando, wasn't there. His bio says he was at Elizabeth (the precursor to Atelier) -- I've never met him, but it would have been nice to say "hello!" to somebody who was there at the beginning of our fave.