When I last wrote about Portsmith back in June, 2018, it was located in the Dana Hotel. The restaurant hasn’t moved, but the hotel was sold in May to a Spanish billionaire’s real estate investment group. Now the hotel is called Eurostars Magnificent Mile Hotel. Since we really liked our previous meal at Portsmith, we wondered if the change in ownership would mean big changes in the restaurant. So far, at least, the answer is no. Let me show you.
I enjoyed some excellent specialty cocktails last time. They were well-crafted, balanced, and showed that a master mixologist was at work. What I didn’t know at the time was that Portsmith is part of The Fifty/50 Restaurant Group, which includes another Chicago restaurant, Steadfast, where I have also enjoyed good food and excellent cocktails. Benjamin Schiller is Beverage Director for the group, and he is known as a master mixologist. He is the creator of the Old Money cocktail I enjoyed on my last visit to Portsmith.
The cocktail list had changed, but it was clear that the same hand was still guiding it.
I ordered The Perfect Storm.
This was clever. The “perfect storm”—those tendrils of dark clouds reaching down through the drink—are formed when the crème de violette is poured on the top of the cocktail and slowly drops down through the glass.
Clever is nice, but doen’t matter if the cocktail isn’t good. In the end, this was a kicked up Margarita, with tequila and lime juice sweetened with Green Chartreuse instead of the traditional Triple Sec and the crème de violette added for show. This could easily have become too sweet, but the proportions were perfect and it was a refreshing, complex, balanced drink.
Green Chartreuse is a French digestif that is also a frequent ingredient in cocktails. Like many, similar, liqueurs, its origins go back centuries in monasteries. By coincidence, I had another cocktail at another restaurant that included Green Chartreuse just a few days ago. Here is what I wrote about it.
Green Chartreuse is the only liqueur that has a completely natural green color. It is made with over 130 herbs and flowers based on a formula that was found in what was probably an alchemist’s notebook in 1605. The monks who owned the manuscript started experimenting with what they could interpret at once, although it took until 1764 to fully decipher the formula and figure out how to make the “Elixir of Life”—the original Chartreuse. Chartreuse was a potent drink (69% alcohol, or 138 proof) that was supposed to used medicinally, but people (including the monks who made it) liked the flavor (and the effects), is it was also enjoyed, shall we say, recreationally.
In 1840, Green Chartreuse was made as a milder (55% alcohol, 110 proof) alternative that was easier to drink. This greatly increased the liqueur’s popularity. A sweeter version, Yellow Chartreuse (40% alcohol, 80 proof), was also developed that year. All 3 versions are still made by monks, and only 2 of them know the formulas at any one time. Chartreuse in its various forms is popular today as a digestif, an ingredient in many cocktails, and sometimes as an aperitif.
I don’t know if The Perfect Storm was a perfect cocktail, but it was damn good.
As on our previous visit, the chef sent out an amuse bouche.
The Executive Chef at Portsmith is Nate Henssler. Chef Henssler grew up in New Hampshire and his style of cooking reflects the seafood traditions of his home town. Once again, he overperformed on the amuse (as he would on the rest of the meal to follow). An amuse is normally one bite, but two came out. Compressed melon is a popular ingredient these days, as the flavor and texture is improved by the compression process. Sake added its subtle flavor to the melon.
Focaccia is a wonderful Italian bread that is a canvas for whatever flavors the chef wants to paint on it. In this case, Old Bay Seasoning, which is an herb and spice mix normally used on seafood, ties the bread to the seafood theme of the restaurant. Cheddar cheese, of course, is always good on bread.
Many of the menu items were unchanged since our last visit. Valeria ordered the same Tuna Tartare that she enjoyed very much last time.
If there were any significant changes to the dish, we didn’t pick them up.
I ordered a starter that was new to the menu, which might be called a really kicked up bruschetta.
This was incredibly complex and delicious, and could easily be a meal in itself. The sourdough bread was perfectly toasted and had great flavor and texture. It was naturally fermented in-house and takes three days to make.
Bruschetta are often topped with some kind of sliced or chopped tomatoes, but I have never had tomatoes prepared quite like this before. They were marinated and compressed in olive oil that had been flavored with lemon. This flavored the tomatoes in a distinct, but subtle, way that actually enhanced the flavor of the tomato at the same time.
Ramps are a popular ingredient with chefs these days. They have a relatively short growing season in the spring and are kind of a wild country cousin to leeks, garlic, shallots, and scallions. They have a little stronger onion flavor than a leek and are a little more garlicky than a shallot, but not as much as garlic itself. The fresh ramp pesto was made in the spring, then vacuum sealed and frozen. Some of the ramps were also pickled in the spring presented here.
Finally, it was all topped with burrata, that delicious variation on Mozzarella that is filled with cream. This is an amazing dish.
Another new item was a King Crab Bun.
This is a riff on the famous lobster rolls that are all the rage these days. The trick with either lobster or crab is not to overwhelm it with other textures and flavors. The best lobster rolls, to my taste, are made with nothing more than fresh lobster flavored with brown butter and served on a toasted bun. This one comes close to that ideal, with lots of crab, brown butter, a light touch of mayonnaise but, for me at least, a little too much herb (your taste may vary). Substituting a Bao bun for the traditional bun was interesting, though I think I prefer the traditional buttered and toasted bun. Still, this was a very good roll compared to many I have had and I would certainly order to again.
The Perfect Storm had passed, so it was time for another cocktail. I wanted something a bit bigger and heavier to go with my entrée and chose The Cambridge.
Like the Old Money cocktail that I enjoyed on our last visit (and wrote about here), this cocktail is a riff on a classic Manhattan, which is made with bourbon (or rye), sweet vermouth, and bitters. I’m guessing it was also developed by Benjamin Schiller, but I couldn’t find any documentation of that. It is common these days for mixologists to swap out the vermouth and bitters for other ingredients that bring similar sweetness and complex aromas and flavors to the drink (both vermouth and bitters are made with many herbs and botanicals to provide these aromas and flavors in the traditional recipe).
First, the bourbon: Buffalo Trace is a very good, classic bourbon that can be enjoyed neat or used as a base for a cocktail. Good choice.
China-China is an amer, the French version of the Italian amaro, which is a class of digestifs that emphasize bitter components along with sweetness. China-China has a flavor profile that shows a lot of orange as well as warm spices such as cloves. It blended beautifully with the Buffalo Trace, as bourbon and orange really play nice together and bourbon often has subtle aromas of warm spices. I just got a little hint of the distinct nuttiness that the sherry added, which also echos the natural hint of nuttiness that is often found in a good bourbon.
Once again, I am more than impressed by the ability of both the Chef and the mixologist to take classic recipes and modify them, enhancing them without destroying the essential character of the original. This is not an easy thing to do.
I decided to go non-seafood with my entrée and ordered some good old Fried Chicken.
The chicken was perfectly fried, moist, and not greasy. The crust was crunchy and stayed attached to the meat quite well.
White barbecue sauce is a regional specialty that was invented by Robert “Big Bob” Gibson in the back woods near Decatur, Alabama, around 1925. It’s most commonly used on roasted, smoked, or grilled chicken, but it works well on just about any meat or seafood. It has a tangy, peppery, sweet, and spicy flavor that perks up anything it is spread on.
The red pepper sauce offered a contrast in color, texture, and flavor. Thinner than the white sauce, I think it was made with roasted red sweet peppers. Very tasty.
My heritage on my father’s side is from Alabama, and this chicken would feel right at home “down home” where my family comes from.
As she did with the starter, Valeria chose to order the same entrée she had last time.
If you read the caption on the image, you may notice that it was taken on that last visit. I forgot to take a picture this time, but the dish looked the same, allowing for the fact that each fish is going to be a little different size and shape and the garnishes will be placed a little differently. Here’s what I wrote then:
Yellowtail snapper is related to the red snapper, but is more abundant. Both are found in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. It’s a mildly flavored, firm-fleshed fish. In this dish, it is paired with some powerful flavor enhancers: XO sauce, Thai basil, and baby shiitake mushrooms.
XO sauce is a relatively modern addition to the culinary world. It was invented in Hong Kong as a flavorful condiment in the 1980s. Expensive Cognac was enjoying wild popularity at the time and, as you may know, an XO (eXtra Old) Cognac is produced in limited amounts and is very expensive. Some clever chef decided to call this condiment “XO Sauce” to associate it with the high-end liquor. It worked. Soon it was a staple everywhere.
There is no one recipe for XO sauce. It always starts with dried shrimp and dried scallops and almost always includes dried ham (like a country ham in the US). After that, the sky is pretty much the limit, although shallots, garlic, chili, and oil are very common ingredients. It is an umami (there’s that word again) bomb and here is a typical recipe:
It is a bit addictive, so proceed with caution!
Thai basil has a slightly more intense flavor than the more common sweet basil we usually see in the US. It also has a slight licorice flavor. Clearly the chef was not going for subtle flavors on this dish.
The result here was a rich, savory course that, for a fish dish, was relatively big and heavy, but in a good way.
That’s all still accurate.
Last time we somehow ended up with three desserts. Since we normally don’t order any dessert at all, that was astonishing. We were foolish enough to look at the dessert menu again this time.
We exercised a little more restraint this time and only ordered two. First, a Plum Crisp.
A good fruit crisp consists of little more than some fresh fruit, some sugar, and a topping made with oats, a little flour, some butter and brown sugar. Most people consider it a sin not to top a good crisp with some ice cream, as was done here. The bourbon-caramel sauce took it over the top. Great flavors and textures and not overly sweet, despite the caramel sauce.
Second: Blueberry Brûlée.
A good crème brûlée, which is the French version of a classic custard dessert made in many countries, is certainly a fine dessert all by itself. This one was elevated far above average. Blueberries go great with custard, and they appeared both as fresh fruit and in a white chocolate crisp. The ribbons of white chocolate-basil ganache were unlike anything I remember having before. A creative and delicious dish. The pastry chef certainly has the same ability as the Chef and the mixologist to take classic recipes and upgrade them significantly.
Like last time, the meal ended with a few mignardises presented on imitation coral.
I don’t know what future changes may occur in the hotel or the restaurant, but Portsmith, today at least, is still turning out delicious, creative food and drink. I hope they stay on that course!
Portsmith (in the Eurostars Magnificent Mile Hotel, formerly the Dana Hotel)
Address: 660 N State St Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: (312) 202-6050
Reservations: opentable.com
Website: https://www.portsmithchicago.com
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Price Range: $31–50
Hours: Breakfast: Monday–Friday, 7:00am–11:00am
Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30am–2:00pm
Dinner: Monday–Saturday, 5:00pm–10:00pm
Sunday 5:00pm–9:00pm
Brunch: Saturday & Sunday, 9:00am–2:00pm
Credit Cards: AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
Chicago, IL 60654
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.
