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Pacific Standard Time (PST) opened in Chicago in the spring of 2019, that innocent year when we all ran around hugging our friends, sitting in crowded theaters and restaurants, not wearing masks, and doing other things that, in 2020, are considered suicidal by some, if they are even possible. Fortunately, the restaurant is a large space with high ceilings, lots of windows, and some outdoor seating, so they have been able to re-open following current safety guidelines. It had been on my list of restaurants to visit for some time. The only negative comments were about the loud music, and that seems almost unavoidable these days.

PST features California cuisine with a menu largely built around two, large, wood burning ovens in the open kitchen. One oven is dedicated to bread and the other to everything else, so somebody put a lot of thought into this. The wine and cocktail lists, even in the current, shortened form, are quite nice, so we started there.

Valeria chose the 2018 Valentina Passalacqua “Rosa Terra” Nero di Troia Rosato from Puglia, Italy. Valentina Passalacqua, as you might guess from the name, is a female winemaker in the under-appreciated Puglia region in the heel of the Italian boot. She practices biodynamic winemaking using classic Italian grape varieties. Nero di Troia is and ancient, dark red grape that produces a big, fruity, red wine. In this case, the skins were removed from the juice to make a lighter colored rosé, which was nevertheless full of delightful fruit aromas and flavors. A perfect summer wine.

I went with a cocktail called Erling’s 50/50, which is something very close to what the original Martini was probably like. When first invented, a Martini was equal parts of gin and vermouth with a couple of dashes of orange bitters added. It became a Dry Martini when the ratio was changed to 2 part gin, 1 part vermouth, plus orange bitters. Today, a Dry Martini is 5 parts or more gin to vermouth and the orange bitters have largely disappeared except in very good cocktail bars. I have recently been experimenting with the original Dry Martini, with 2 parts gin and 1 part of a good-quality, fresh dry vermouth (e.g., Dolin, Noilly-Prat), and a couple dashes each of Fee Brothers and Regan’s Orange bitters. It is a delicious cocktail.

L. N. Mattei’s Cap Corse Blanc, like vermouth, is an aperitif wine that has been fortified and flavored with a variety of herbs and other botanicals including, in this case, quinine, which is the dominant taste in tonic water.

Junipero Gin is made in small batches in a distillery in San Francisco. As the name implies, juniper berries, which give gin its characteristic taste and aroma, is a big part of the dozen or more herbs, spices, and citrus peels that flavor this gin. It married beautifully with the  gin and the orange bitters added to the citrus aromas and complexity of the drink. A fine homage to one of the greatest classic cocktails ever invented.

As we often do, Valeria and I developed a strategy for a “roll your own” tasting menu, ordering dishes to share so we can taste as many dishes as possible. We started with an avocado salad with snap peas, quinoa, radish, spinach, tamari vinaigrette, and nori.

Avocado salads combining ancient grains and many vegetables can be found across the country these days, but it’s fair to say they first became popular in California. This was a great combination of flavors and textures pulled together with a light tamari (a darker version of soy sauce made without wheat) vinaigrette.

Tuna crudo sounded like a nice change from the hamachi crudo that appears on many menus, so we went for it.

Crudos sometimes get lost in their sauce, but this one was all about solid ingredients. The tuna was, as you would hope, impeccably fresh and firm. Strawberries were a nice surprise that added a little sweetness to counteract the heat from the slightly charred, thinly slices Fresno chiles. A little fresh dill added some herbal notes, while thinly sliced radishes added a light crunch. 

Next, a nod to Chinese cuisine, Pork and Shrimp Dumplings with trumpet mushroom, bok choy, chili oil, and sesame seeds.

This may have been our favorite dish of the night. The umami-rich broth was incredibly flavorful. The dumplings were perfectly cooked—firm, not at all gummy. The pork and shrimp filling was nicely seasoned. We could have eaten a couple more bowls but opted to continue exploring the menu.

If the dumplings were our favorite dish, the next one was our least favorite.

I am not quite sure why they decided to call this dish “Pappardelle,” which is why I put it in quotes. Pappardelle is a wide (about 1″ or 2.5cm) pasta noodle, which, as you can see, was not used here. I suppose they may simply have run out of pappardelle and substituted spaghetti. Not a big deal, but it should have been mentioned by the waiter if that was the case.

My problem with the dish was not a quibble about what pasta was used. I am a huge fan of beef short ribs. Properly braised or smoked, they are tender and delicious. The meat here was tender, but very dry. In fact, the whole dish was very dry and begged for some olive oil or a touch of broth to make it more pleasant to eat.

The next course was far more successful: Mt. Lassen Trout with zhoug, pepper jelly, cucumber, and pepitas. 

Mt. Lassen Trout Farms were founded in 1949. I am always very cautious about farmed fish, as many commercial fish farms are overcrowded, dirty, and the fish fed lots of hormones and antibiotics. There are, fortunately, fish farms that are operated in a clean, environmentally  and nutritionally responsible way. Mt Lassen is one such farm. They are able to make use of rapidly flowing spring water coming off of Mt. Lassen to raise rainbow trout in a clean environment, constantly monitoring the quality of the water entering the farm area, in the farm area, and leaving the farm. It is a rare chef today who is not concerned about using only the very best ingredients, and chefs across the country use this product.

The biggest challenge with serving a nice fish filet is to neither overcook nor undercook it. This was just right. The cucumbers had been tossed in a delicious zhoug sauce. This is a middle eastern condiment made with fresh cilantro, chiles, cardamom, other spices, and olive oil. That, along with the pepper jelly that added color and a touch of sweetness, made this a very bright dish in the eye and on the tongue.

Finally, we couldn’t resist trying a kicked up version of strawberry shortcake.

I later learned that Natalie Saben, who had been pastry chef at Grace, is now the pastry chef at PST. This dessert show why she is considered one of the best.

I grew up with fresh strawberries, macerated with a little sugar, lightly smashed and put over those little round store-bought sponge cakes with a dollop of whipped cream on top. To be honest, I still like it, perhaps more as a Mom Memory than as a Culinary Triumph.

Chef Saben’s version is most definitely a culinary triumph. Strawberries in two forms top the dessert: fresh and juicy and dehydrated and chewy. The sponge cake is replaced with several layers of honey cake held together with layers of a whipped sour cream frosting. Altogether, it was sweet, but not too sweet, with an amazing amount of flavor and texture.

I am sure our first trip to PST will not be our last. Hopefully it will soon be full instead of mostly empty (due to distance requirements, not a lack of popularity) and buzzing with energy. 

Pacific Standard Time 
Address: 141 West Erie Street, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: (312) 736-1778
Reservations: exploretock.com
Website: https://www.pstchicago.com
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Price Range: $31 to $50
Hours: Dinner: Sunday–Saturday 5:00 pm–8:45 pm (probably shorted during pandemic restrictions) 
Credit Cards: AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa

The author has no affiliation with any of the businesses or products described in this article.

All images were taken with a Sony a9 camera with a Zeiss Batis 40mm f/2.0 CF lens using ambient light. Post-processing in Adobe Lightroom^® and Adobe Photoshop^® with Nik Collection by DxO and Skylum^® Luminar^® plugins.