Amaros

Amaros are Italian digestifs that are an herbal combination of bitter and sweet. They are made by adding herbs and sugar to grappa, a rather nasty spirit distilled from the dregs of Italian wine-making. I first encountered them at The Stained Glass in Evanston, and have since had them in a few other restaurants, including a flight at Marea in New York. They are flavored with different herbs, including cardamom and rhubarb. Each producer has their own unique recipe.

In the picture above, they are arranged , more or less, from bitterest to sweetest, with the one on the right more like a liqueur. My favorite is still the first one I ever tasted, Amaro Nonino.

The one on the extreme left is too bitter for me to drink, but the rest are all interesting and good. Since they are simultaneously bitter and sweet, most work either before or after a meal.

The Table

The Table is a unique restaurant in the Dellagio complex on Sandlake Road. The Table offers up to 18 guests seating at a single table, similar to a dinner party. The experience begins at 7:00 p.m. with wine and passed hors d’oeuvres. That’s followed by a five course dinner with wine pairings. The cost is $100 per person, including tax and gratuity.

The table is owned and operated by Loren and Tyler Brassil, chefs who are also culinary instructors. You eat whatever they decide to serve. They claim to never prepare the same dish twice, and they use almost exclusively local foods. In fact, they almost never order food. Instead, local providers deliver organic produce and proteins and they work with what is available. For example, a local farm delivers a box of greens, a local dairy provides heavy cream with twice the fat content of normal heavy cream, and so on.

The Table is normally only open Friday and Saturday nights, but Martin and I attended a special event on Tuesday, hosted by Foxen Winery, a top-end producer from Santa Maria Valley, one of my favorite wine areas.

The meal was quite spectacular. You can read the menu in the picture of dessert.

The food perfectly matched an impressive array of wines, presented by Winery owner Jenny Dore. The top end Foxen wines are in such short supply that the leftover bottles were sold at the end of the meal (Martin and I bought the rest of the Bien Nacido Pinot Noir), and I asked to be put on the waiting list for Foxen’s Anchor Club.