First Taste : Bellemore

A cocktail and a meal can tell you a lot about a place.  On one extreme, they can let you know never step foot in there again; or they might induce lingering fantasies.  Bellemore, pronounced as if it were two words, dwells in the latter world.

Curiosity goes on high boil when you enter and soak in the look of this stage created for dining. Open, lustrous, restrained opulence.  Sprawling.  The first impulse is to explore rather than wait for a table.  Open only a few weeks, there’s still an air of freshness and anticipation in the staff.  Kelly, our table side host, was an integral part of the meal as she guided, explained and joked with us all through the experience.  Her knowledge proved essential.

Forces guiding the restaurant, a vehicle to showcase the work of chef Jimmy Papadopoulus, want the food at Bellemore to be “bright, bold, beautiful American cuisine”.  Papadopoulus, whose stint at BoHo (Bohemian House) catapulted him to star status, accommodates mastefully. A fair amount of ink as already flowed extolling the wonder of something humbly called the grilled vegetable soup.  Braised beans, black kale, root vegetables and parmesan come together in familiar and perfect harmony.  A rich broth that binds the flavors while adding its own palette luster is poured over the vegetables as the dish is served in a sturdy wooden bowl.  On that cold winter night, the soup was American fare at its most elemental and it was delectable.

For anyone who hasn’t roamed the city’s dining playground recently, you might be surprised at how far restaurant bars have come.  Finding a solid cocktail in one now is almost a given. Bellemore’s big sister, the renowned Boka, is acclaimed for the quality of its forward thinking drinks.  Bellemore’s Cure What Ails You could easily rank with any of them.  Whiskey, apple brandy, cynar and fenugreek blend to take the notion of a Manhattan to new peaks and tastes like exquisite music.

The trend of appreciating every component of your meal has been with us for some time now and is embraced by leagues of top chefs.  Matching and contrasting flavors to bring  maximum appreciation of each component of the dish is nearly a requirement. Papadopoulus creations may not be truly bold, but they are assertive and unexpected as well as beautiful.

Shakerag Blue managed to round out a steady evening of triumphs.  Figs, lavash, seeded granola and whiskey honey joined cow’s milk cheese to playfully transform a homely staple into a silk purse. Wonderfully imaginative and so simple.  Cheese and crackers for kings.

Bellemore

564 W. Randolph

312-667-0104

https://www.bellemorechicago.com/