For my birthday, Jean arranged babysitting and took me up to Chicago for a night out. Dinner was a Tru, a restaurant that we'd been interested in visiting for at least 5 years. We both chose to get the Spring Collection, a 6-course tasting menu. As usual with such menus, the question becomes how to pair wine with it. The sommelier told us that he'd choose 5 of their very limited wines by the glass (total of maybe
20 red + white + sparkling), but we opted to choose 2 half bottles of white winefrom their very extensive (61 pp.) wine list and finish with a glass of red wine.
With amuse bouches (gougeres, ahi tuna sashimi over heirloom radish and sour cherry atop foie gras):
2001 Iron Horse Brut (glass) slightly toasty and leesy with fairly pronounced apple flavors, decent mousse
NV Lanson Black Label Brut (glass) much toastier (too toasty for my taste), less fruity, decent but no better
With our first two courses (1. Oestra caviar and cured King salmon on potato blini atop a mixture of creme fraiche, egg and chives; 2. Roasted langoustine on a sunchoke/heart of palm compote):
2004 Loimer Grüner Veltliner Langenloiser crisp, minerality, strong citrus flavor of grapefruit, slightly peppery, very clean
We skipped wine with the potato/leek/arugula soup, then had with the next two courses (4. Sliced foie gras torchon with a strawberry-rhubarb-basil "marmalade" and toast; 5. Roasted red snapper on a leek and carrot matignon)
2001 Cuilleron "La Petite Cote" Condrieu buttery, white peaches, floral and full bodied; no apparent oakiness to be found, but the buttery character became overpowering if the wine warmed
The final course was roasted squab in a wine reduction sauce with a fava bean/heirloom radish salad. With this we had:
2000 Roumier Chambolle-Musigny a powerful nose of beef blood and tomatoes, very little fruit in evidence; when paired with the squab, the Pinot Noir fruit came out of hiding. Jean asked the sommelier how long the wine had been open, but he said it had been opened that evening
To finish, they brought out the finest cheese cart we've seen since our last trip to France. Overall, the meal was quite fine. The first two dishes were outstanding, with the sweetness of the langoustine being memorable. The GV was a bit too much for the first dish, but complemented the langoustine well. The squab was fantastic and paired well with the Burgundy. The soup was lovely, but the foie gras and red snapper courses didn't impress us: the combination of flavors in the foie gras dish we found bizarre and the red snapper was tough and tasteless. The Condrieu did surprisingly well with both, though.
This restaurant is in a class with Charlie Trotter's and other first class dining establishments in Chicago. In that company, the meal was good but not revelatory. It's always hard to judge an operation based on one meal, but I'd have to say that this meal didn't impress to the extent that meals at Charlie Trotter's, Manresa and Gary Danko have. The wine list was extensive with some reasonably priced choices, but a bit regular. Still, the meal was very satisfying and we were happy with the wines, too.
Mark Lipton