We are at Perennial, a new restaurant in Lincoln Park. Perennial comes to us from Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm (Boka and Landmark). The executive chef is Giuseppe Tentori (he floats back and forth between this restaurant and Boka). The chef de cuisine is Ryan Poli (formerly of Butter restaurant).
There is a lot of talent in that lineup. Perhaps a bit too much talent. I fear the menu at Perennial was created by committee, which often leads to needless complexity on one hand and banality on the other. The menu at Perennial is chock full of dusts (prosciutto, cumin), foams (blue cheese), mousse (avocado) and broths, with a lot of confit thrown in for questionable measure.
There was some enjoyment to be had at Perennial, but not enough to make me sit up in my seat and go, Wow! Or enough to make me want to run back and try more dishes. An appetizer of smoked sturgeon wasn't flawed in any way, but the portion boasted two measly slices of fish and a mini-tower of potato salad (purple potatoes thinly sliced, dressed with a lemon creme fraiche), topped with a fluff of microgreens. Twelve bucks just seemed a bit much.
"Wings & Beer" was actually quite good -- up to a point. The "wings" part -- three plump lollipops of confit chicken legs -- were crispy on the outside, the tender meat falling off the bone, and quite flavorful. But the puffs of blue cheese foam on the plate were more for show (virtually no blue cheese flavor at all), though the silky-soft beer-braised onions and the cabbage slaw were terrific.
The entrees sampled were fine, which is my tempered way of saying there is merit but no magic. A rectangular platter held three sea scallops (plump, gently seared on the outside, not overcooked), wild mushrooms (hen of the woods), roasted spring onions and a "cannelloni" stuffed with the meat of braised short ribs. The cannelloni got draped with a film of tarragon sabayon. Good? Yes. Wonderful and amazing? No. And it cost $23.
The New York strip steak tabbed out at $32, which is not an excessive price in today's meat market/restaurant pricing. The steak got all gussied up (that darn committee) with a splash of "blue cheese fondue," and on top of that crispy shallot rings. Under the steak was a puree of spinach. Busy dish? Yeah. Too busy. Good steak? Yes. Great steak? No. At least it came to the table medium-rare as requested.
The roasted half chicken was excellent. Crispy (it got a bit of frying after the roasting) on the outside. Meaty and mighty flavorful right on through to the bone. It was served with top-notch sauteed baby spinach (with an essence of garlic) on one side of the chicken, with some dandy fingerling potatoes to handle the starch end of things. Perennial needs more simple, straightforward dishes like this chicken.
One of the side dishes sampled, "mac and cheese," couldn't have been better. The macaroni was perfectly al dente orecchiette. The pasta was glazed quite gently with the cheese (asiago? fontina?) and, in a touch of whimsy, nubs of edamame found their way into the hollows of those little ears of pasta. Crunchy good.
The dessert choices were fine, nothing spectacular, but at least they are nicely priced at $7. Bananas and rum was all about an oval-shaped cake (pleasing texture) laced with rum and served with caramelized bananas along with vanilla-rum ice cream.
Inventive, tasty and creamy-lush are the superlatives that came to mind about the raspberry custard cheese cake accompanied by delicious graham cracker ice cream.
Pat Bruno is a local free-lance critic and author. E-mail brunoeats@aol.com. Listen to Pat Bruno talk about food and wine Tuesdays at 6:23 p.m. and 10:23 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 7:53 p.m. on WBBM News Radio 780-AM.
