t’s Saturday night in Chicago and your wife is in the mood for sushi, but you’re craving a savory pot au feu. Do you insist on a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide on the restaurant, or do you let her have her way as always? The answer is neither. You go to the Park Hyatt on North Michigan Avenue, where on the seventh floor, NoMI (North Michigan) and Chef Christophe David have given sushi and contemporary French cuisine a home under the same roof.
When Chef David arrived just
over a year ago from travels that
include Lyon, the French island of
Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin, Tuscany,
Buenos Aires, and Paris, he opened
NoMI’s doors to flavors from around
the world. The doors themselves
encompass five different dining
areas—the main dining room for fine
dining; private, enclosed rooms for
reservation (also featuring the main
dinner menu); NoMI Garden; NoMI
Lounge; and the secluded Cellar on
the Seventh for elegant casual fare.
The new menu in the main dining room boasts dishes
of “sophisticated simplicity” that are based in classic
cooking but interwoven with “contemporary French cuisine
and a global flare.” These include the Creamy
Polenta (soft poached egg, black trumpet mushrooms,
Parmigiano-Reggiano, and truffles); Artichoke Soup (toasted
hazelnut, bacon foam, and truffle brioche); and
Organic Vegetable Couscous (smoked eggplant and
tomato-sirracha jam) from the appetizer selection. The
main course section of the menu features Pot au Feu of
Prime Beef Shortrib (autumn vegetables, braised oxtail,
consommé, and horseradish cream), Maine Lobster
Risotto Milanese (fennel, apple, and lobster foam), and
Four Story Hill Farm Pheasant (caramelized turnips and
pheasant leg pastille).
“Sushi was part of the original concept of contemporary
cuisine when NoMI opened in 2000, and since it is
so popular with our clientele, we kept it on the menu andfurther extended our offerings to include an assortment
of sushi or sashimi, sushi rolls, and sushi platters,” says
Chef David. Examples include an Ume platter (tuna,
salmon, and eel sushi with yellow tail sashimi) and Hinoki
(tuna, prawn, and eel sushi with yellow tail sashimi and
salmon and avocado roll).
The Garden, Lounge, and Cellar offer an extensive selection
for those who want a small bite with drinks, as well as a
few mainstays for those choosing to linger for dinner. Small
plates include the Catalan Flatbread (salt-cured anchovies,
Vidalia onion jam, and Manchego); Calamari a la Plancha
(Brioche breadcrumbs, Espelette, and fresh lime juice); Duo
of Grilled Sausages (Spanish Morcilla, fresh Chorizo, and garlic
confit); and Croquettes of Bacalao (salt cod with house
made tartar sauce). For heartier appetites, the menu includes
Risotto-Style Penne (beef short rib ragout with Parmigiano-
Reggiano); Park Club Sandwich with Confit of Amish
Chicken; and Prime Tenderloin of Black Angus Beef.
Though Chef David has completed a total makeover
of the menu and restaurant (including contemporary silverware,
linens,
and colorful
china to replace
the white), the
wheels are turning
for a new
menu. “The
goal is to present different textures
on the same plate,” he explains,
describing dishes that are being
developed, like the pigeon salad and
fried quail eggs on a bed of herbs.
Other “draft” appetizers include a
winter chestnut bisque with guinea
hen broth and chorizo; warm oysters
with a red beet coulis and
Camembert emulsion; crispy jumbo
prawns with traditional kassoundi,
natural glace, and aged balsamic; and
a Maine lobster salad with banyuls
vinaigrette and crispy beurreck.
Chef also describes future dishes like sea bass with
smoked beurre blanc and spinach. “This,” he vows, “will
be slow cooked at 56° C [approximately 133° F] for 20
minutes. It is important that the fish keeps its flavor,
color, and tenderness, and the spinach complements it
well.” Other entrées in the works include sweetbread
risotto with fricassee of wild mushrooms, aged parmesan,
and muscat de beaume de venise jus; and black truffle
blanquettes of Brookshire pigs’ cheeks.
The work that has been done to increase the depth
and breadth of NoMI’s gastronomic and aesthetic offerings
has paid off—guests have been dining in droves,
especially during the winter holiday season, and perhaps
due in part to rave reviews like the one titled “NoMI is
Oh-My Dining” in the Chicago Tribune. When pressed
about the reviews, Chef David modestly admits to having
seen them, and allows that others must have too: “Oui,
this is a crazy time.”—Ashley Brown Allen
