Ada St. One Year Later

Leaving Ada St. after dinner a year ago, chef Joanna Stachon could claim rock star status as far as I was concerned. Her food was equal parts delicious, beautiful and revelation.

Ada St. is not a fancy fancy place.  Good bones with a little brick and wood noir thrown in.   After being seated and checking out the vibe, I thought, “Is this a Match.com restaurant?”  Really casual, just shy of friendly, and a lot of “couples” tables.

If you grew up thinking you should never leave a restaurant hungry, you need not fear; at least last year anyway.  Even though they tout themselves as sorta small plate, the plates usually arrive sufficiently loaded to tame even a hyperactive appetite.  The takeaway from everything we ate sang clean inventiveness, impeccable execution and genuine care in the world of prep.

Special nights out mean that the restrictive diet thing gets chucked.  Which really worked out here because I might have missed the linguine and bacon lardon in a garlic cream sauce.  Only a pro can make something like that work so beautifully.  You expect a heavy battleship and get a sleek yacht.  The roasted Brussels sprouts draped in ribbons of red onion jam and blue cheese slayed.  If there was an expletive that escaped anyone’s lips midway through the meal, it was most assuredly a very positive one.

Dessert: panna cotta with a garam masala cookie.  Looks like flan, rich and light at the same time.  The garam masala cookie gets sprinkled like snowflakes over the top.  It’s the kind of thing you eat slowly just to make it last as long as possible.  And that’s from a person who has dessert issues.

So what happened this year?  Menu change!  Even the pros have to iron out kinks and this menu needed more than a little smoothing.  The chief culprit was plain ole salt.  When laid on too thick, the whole meal is inedible.  As in the case of the Forbidden Black Fried Rice.  Made up of quail, asparagus, English peas and radish kimchi; none of it was palatable to either myself or my very salt friendly dining partner.  The same was pretty much true of the artichoke appetizer.  After calling the waiter over and revealing the meal as presented could not be eaten, he of course apologized and confirmed the chef and cooking staff are indeed salt enthusiasts.  Noted for future.

The exchange did lead to another much more pleasant dialog with the Beverage Director on tequilas.  It salvaged the evening.  Knowing what Stachon can do, I’m far from done with Ada St.  I’ll just ask more questions before I make my next reservation and raise the salt flag.  Looking forward to seeing what happens.

Check out what going on now at http://www.adastreetchicago.com/dinner/ .