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Friends and regular readers know that, when I go out for dinner, I tend to frequent pretty high-end places – one or more Michelin stars or some other very strong recommendation. This is not because I am a food snob. I love a good hot dog, burger or hot pretzel as well as the next guy. And don’t get me started on potato chips. But because I love to cook and can make most things at least as good at home as I can get in a restaurant, I usually make meals myself. Still, there are times I am just not in the mood to cook. As much as I love the Michelin-starred temples of gastronomy, they are pretty hard on both the budget and the waistline and often impossible to get into on short notice. So, I have a few go-to places for more casual meals where the food is reliably good to outstanding and the ambience and service appeal to me. Allium in the Four Seasons hotel is one of these places.

A few years ago, the Fours Seasons Chicago had a fine dining restaurant called simply Seasons. If memory serves, it earned a couple Michelin Stars under Executive Chef Kevin Hickey. Like many hotels, The Four Seasons decided to convert their main restaurant into a more casual one, so Allium was born. The name is a subtle homage to Chicago. Hardcore foodies will know that allium is the latin name for the genus of plants that includes garlic, onions, chives, shallots and leeks. Trivia buffs may also know that the name Chicago is thought to have come from the indian word Shikaakwa which means wild onion or garlic. So, Allium – Onion – Chicago!

After the remodeling, Chef Hickey remained with the restaurant and created a terrific new menu with an emphasis on local ingredients used in creative appetizers, small plates, full-size entrées and desserts. Chef Hickey and his staff created a number of up-scale versions of All-American classics. The deviled eggs were almost as good as my mom’s. There is a Chicago style hot dog where everything on the plate is made in house (more on that later). Desserts included childhood favorites such as ice cream sandwiches, donuts and s’mores. Of course there were steaks, burgers, fish and pasta. It was not a huge menu, but offered a great variety of choices from whimsical to sophisticated.

Chef Hinkey left in the fall of 2013 to open Bottlefork. The Four Seasons tapped Chef Stephen Wambach to take over all of their food and beverage operations as Executive Chef. Since arriving in April, Chef Wambach has kept much of the structure and some of the dishes from Chef Hinkey’s menu, but has started adding his own touches. I suspect the menu will continue to evolve, but I hope a few of the unique dishes will survive or at least make an appearance on occasion. On the other hand, I am anxious to see what new creations Chef Wambach comes up with. Prior to coming to the Fours Seasons, he served as Executive Chef at Epic in Chicago when it was named one of the 10 best new restaurants in America by Esquire in 2010. (I loved the food at Epic, but didn’t care for the ambience.) Prior to that, he had served as Chef de Cuisine at Michelin-starred Restaurant Marc Forgione in New York, among other places.

The menu starts with a couple of always interesting bread choices. The one that will catch your eye on tables around the room is a cracker-like Lavosh (also spelled Lavash) bread, generally flavored with herbs and cheese. It is baked with a hole in it and arrives warm at the table hanging from a hook for $5. It can be easily shared by 4 people who create a communal mess by breaking off pieces by hand, sending crumbs flying. These are theoretically caught by the plate placed under the bread, but, in my experience, crumbs end up everywhere. Fastidious diners may object, but everyone I have shared it with loved the experience. I can’t believe I have never taken a picture of this, but we didn’t order it on this day and I can’t find an image from any earlier visit to share. I did find one online at Foodspoting.

For a less messy carb option, try the alternative bread option that is featured when you visit. I can’t tell you exactly what it will be, but it will (usually) be baked in an enameled cast-iron crock scored to separate into four pieces. It may be Parkerhouse Rolls, Bacon Brioche, Pumpkin Bread or Roasted Potato Bread with Caramelized Shallot Butter. Often featuring some seasonal twist, it is always delicious for around $6.

This visit to Allium occurred on the 4th of July, so we wanted something All-American to celebrate the day. We expected the menu to work well for that theme and we were not disappointed.

To start, why not an All-American cocktail, a Manhattan. There are several stories about when and where the Manhattan was first created, but they center around (surprise!) Manhattan in the late 1800s. If the Martini (gin, dry vermouth and, when first created, a dash of orange bitters, garnished with olives or a lemon twist) is the queen of the white liquor cocktails, the the Manhattan (Whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters. garnished with a Maraschino cherry) is the king brown liquor cocktails. While today’s tastes run to very dry Martinis (i.e., adding only a few drops – or less – of vermouth), the original recipe was closer to 1:1 gin:vermouth. The amount of vermouth has declined steadily over the years to the point where some aficionados leave it out altogether.

The recipe for a Manhattan has stayed pretty constant at around 2 parts whiskey, 1 part sweet vermouth and a dash or two of Angostura (or similar) biters. A splash of the juice from the Maraschino cherries is sometimes added (a variation favored by my late Uncle Frank and a favorite of mine). The actual whiskey used, however, can vary quite a bit. It was originally made with American whiskey – probably rye. During Prohibition, Canadian whiskey was more readily available and, to my taste, makes a very good Manhattan. Today, Tennessee whiskey or a small batch Bourbon or Rye are often used. If Scotch whisky is used, the cocktail is called a Rob Roy. The ingredients are generally shaken with ice and strained into a chilled cocktail glass, although it is not uncommon to serve it on the rocks.

Bars and restaurants with a serious cocktail program use the Manhattan to show off their skills, mixing it with high-end, small-batch whiskey, perhaps some housemade bitters and variations on the classic Martini and Rossi sweet vermouth. Allium offers a Barrel-Aged Manhattan made with George Dickel Rye Whiskey, Carpano Antica (a premium sweet vermouth), bitters and some orange essence. Rye is actually my preferred whiskey (most of the time) for a Manhattan, so this worked beautifully for me.

For her first course, Valeria ordered a Watermelon Salad made with red and yellow watermelon, sheep’s milk ricotta, mâche (a delicate French green) and a Mojito vinaigrette.

Is anything more All-American than watermelon on the 4th of July? I remember summer vacations in Tennessee and Alabama when all of my cousins and I would be sent outside with huge chunks of watermelon so the juice would drip all over us and the ground instead of us and the carpet. This salad was certainly a far more sophisticated way to eat watermelon, and the additional ingredients all contributed flavor and texture, but, at its heart, it was still watermelon on the 4th of July.

I chose Deviled Eggs as my starter. I love deviled eggs and my Mom, of course, makes the best in the world (my sister, who has made them for years using Mom’s recipe and under her guidance, comes really close). The deviled eggs at Allium are really good.

I believe the recipe has changed a bit under Chef Wambach [no surprise since every Mom (or Chef) has his or own variation – or several]. These were loaded with sour cream, chives and bacon. What could be more All-American than that? Oh, yeah, the watermelon.

We shared a serving of Buffalo Rock Shrimp. This was simply rock shrimp fried in a light, Tempura-like batter, tossed with Frank’s Hot Sauce (allegedly the sauce used to make the first Buffalo wings) and served with celery shavings. Simple, perfectly fried and with a nice kick from the hot sauce, another All-American dish.

Valeria chose roasted Alaskan halibut with roasted eggplant, Tabbouleh and herb salad as her entrée. OK, eggplant and tabbouleh may not scream “4th of July,” but what is more All-American that Alaskan halibut?

The halibut was perfectly roasted and the puréed eggplant made a nice sauce. Tabbouleh is a middle-eastern dish traditionally made with diced tomatoes, diced onions and maybe some diced cucumbers, finely chopped herbs (usually parsley and mint), bulgur (or couscous) and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. It’s a great summer dish and played very nicely with the halibut.

My entrée was the Chicago-style hot dog with housemade everything. A Chicago-style hot dog starts with an all-beef hot dog (Vienna Beef is most common) on a poppy-seed bun that is then “dragged through the garden,” that is, topped with a variety of vegetables: tomatoes, pickled sport peppers, pickle relish, a dill pickle spear and a little celery salt. The hot dog is usually boiled or steamed. Mustard is the ONLY acceptable condiment for a Chicago-style hot dog. Capital punishment was outlawed in Illinois a few years back, but I am pretty sure there is an exception for people who put ketchup on a Chicago-style dog.

The twist here is that everything on the plate is made in-house: the hot dog, the bun, the mustard, the pickles, the pickle relish, the pickled sport peppers, the ketchup (for the fries, NOT the dog!). Even the fries are cut in-house from fresh potatoes and tossed with Parmesan, truffle oil and herbs. This is a $14 hot dog and it is worth it. What could be more All-American on the 4th of July than a hot dog?

Our desserts were as traditional as the rest of the meal. Valeria had Chocolate Sorbet.

And for me, Ice Cream Sandwiches.

What can you say about these classics? The sorbet was intensely chocolatey and not too sweet. Only licking it from a cone would have made it more quintessentially July 4th. Ice cream sandwiches are definitely a great childhood memory for me. Making them with chocolate-chocolate chip cookies and homemade vanilla ice cream is a major upgrade from the ones I used to get off the Good Humor® truck in the summer.

Our mission was to have an All-American meal to celebrate the 4th of July. Our choice of Allium was a great success. You may not be on a mission more complex than having lunch or having dinner, but Allium is definitely a place to try.

Allium
Address: 120 E. Delaware Street, 7th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 799-4900
Reservations: opentable.com
Website: Allium
Dress Code: Business Casual
Price Range: $30 and under
Breakfast: 6:30am to 11:00am
Lunch: 11:00am to 3:00pm
Dinner: Sun. – Thurs, 5:00pm to 9:30pm
Fri. & Sat, 5:00pm – to 10:30pm
Sunday Brunch: 11:00am to 2:30 pm
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