It was my job to plan the December outing for my son's Cub Scout troop.
So, with the dual theme of both "Art" and "Our Healthy Bodies", we are being treated to a kitchen tour here:
www.vierestaurant.com

It's one of the best restaurants in the Chicago area and right in the town where I live. Should be fun. I know that Cary is excited.

Looks pretty good. Very similar to most of the new gourmet resturants out there. This sounds good.

green acres red kuri squash raviolis, kale, local apples,
brown butter and sage cream, roasted hazelnuts,
sweet grass dairy aged goat cheese

He is VERY big on seasonal and local produce, it's what his entire menu is based around.
Sadly, I don't think we're gonna be eating.

yeah, that's were alot of resturants are going these days, which is a good thing for the most part.

He had me at brown butter.

looks good pepe.....

i wish kzoo had some good places like that.....

pan-seared tasmanian king salmon,

roasted and puree of sunchokes and marcona almonds, royal trumpet mushrooms, preserved lemon and grilled shallot vinaigrette

good lord that sounds nice.

You should call them and talk to the chef about your project. I bet you get at least some free samples.

mmmm free samples...yes yes

The chef/owner is the one i talked to.
I don't know; we might get a little something, but I'm not expecting it. It's just nice that he's opening his kitchen up to a bumch of 1st graders.

So this was last night.
Unfortunately, Cary was sick and counldn't go.
But, as the parent who planned the outing, I was required to.

It was not all for naught, as he let us all taste a little food.
•Biscotti (made by the pastry chef, of course -- the best I've ever had)
•Chestnut/Lavender soup... A creamy, nutty AMAZING concotion. The lavender was strictly for aromatics and worked surprisingly well with the chestnut.

The chef did a wonderful job with the kids, too explaining about seasonality of produce and how pickling and preserving the fruits and veggies allows him to use certain things year-round (in a different way).

A helluva talented man and it made me have a whole new respect for that talent.
The current menu looks great, too.

I wish I had $200 to spend on a dinner so we could go.

Professional food critic has to be good work if you can find it.

But you'd probably end up morbidly obese. So I guess everything has his drawbacks.

A good friend's father is a pretty well-respected Chicago restaurant critic. And he is actually not looking too bad for a man of 65 or so. Not overweight or anything.

I cornered him once and called him on the awesomness of his gig.
He tried to protest, citing the hard work and thought that goes into his reviews. But he finally admitted:
"Okay, it is pretty cool."

They used to bring kids in for stuff like this when I flipped pizzas.

Nothing like the old "head in the oven" trick to wake the little bastards up.

Well hell yeah. I had (some of) their banana smore pancakes on sunday. Good stuff, but I couldn't finish it if my life depended on it.

Their eggs florentine is amazing. As are their summer menu's neapolitan pancakes.

I'm so hungry.

um, yes please.

mmm... bongo room. the blueberry flapjacks on the summer menu are divine, as is almost everything else on that menu.

"Well, Billy, would you rather get the oven or fight Dr. Cluckenstein?"

"I HATE Field Trips!!"