It's a rare occasion that I dine out without a plan, especially on a Friday night. But it happens. I've been wanting to go to The Interview Show hosted by Marc Bazar at The Hideout for awhile. So when I found out chefs Mike and Pat Sheerin of Trencherman were going to be guests on the show, I responded JOIN on my Facebook status and emailed Prince Charming that we had big plans for Friday night…with no reservations afterwards. We were going to wing it. The show was great. Very underground, smart-funny, and I would imagine what Letterman was like when he first started out. Bazar includes an interesting mix of guests from around Chicago such as musicians, radio hosts, chefs, writers, comedians or other fascinating people. 

It just so happens that The Hideout is around the corner from Ada Street. I was aware, but somehow didn't plan ahead. Knowing full well that Prince Charming would be starving, I asked if he'd be willing to walk over, put our name on what was sure to be an hour-long wait list and have a drink before dinner. He knew there was really only one answer. We walked over and put our name on the hour-long waiting list. I have this sixth sense about restaurants that tells me within the first few minutes that I'm going to need to come back before I even sit down. I knew Ada Street was one of those places.  The waiting area is uncomfortably in the doorway. It's the breezeway to the hostess stand with a few stools up against the exposed brink wall. Charming if you're just walking to the hostess, but not if you're waiting for an hour. They took our name and offered us drinks. Like every other place, they have a great craft cocktail list. We ordered and sat right inside the doorway hoping it really wasn't an hour. 

After about 15 minutes, the hostess came over and asked if we wanted to be seated in the front room at the communal table rather than waiting for a table in the main dining room. At least we'd be seated right away and since they were still working on our drinks, we chose chose communal. Because Prince Charming was a prince for waiting in the first place, we would sit what felt sequestered from the rest of the restaurant. Not my first choice but this is how I compromise sometimes.

The menu is tightly written on the very back. I almost thought it was a bar menu. It appears to be small, as do the dishes themselves, until they arrive at the table and everything is packed with flavor. I was against ordering the confit chestnuts with nueske bacon and maple syrup for fear I was giving up a small plate for some lame little filler-snack. Au contraire! While it could definitely be considered on the snack side, the savory-sweet pairing of bacon and maple (always good) with the chestnuts sauted with a touch of brandy was a perfect December treat. 

Who doesn't love a plate of whole fried Brussels sprouts? Do I really need to say more than that? And Ada Street serves the biggest portion of salmon tartare for what's called a small plate. We also dipped into the cauliflower gratin, cavatelli duck confit, chicken liver mousse and crispy potatoes. Prince Charming never makes it out the door without tasting something sweet so we ordered the chocolate, tuscan olive oil, sea salt and toast. Oddly, that too was a huge portion of chocolate. The notion of shared plates seemed to vary at Ada Street, some were huge and some were tiny but everything we tasted we loved. Each dish was clean and circles back around to my definition of a tight menu. The ingredients listed were the stars on the plate. Simple. Fresh. Great flavors. No gimmicks. Except for the REO Speedwagon I had to rehash all night long. 

By the end of parade of plates, I excused myself to the ladies room and decided to take a peek at the main dining room. That's when I realized, we needed to come back. The energy of Ada Street is completely lost in the front room. Even though we were were able to eat quicker, it was like we dined in the "time-out" room. And while the food was great, we lost the rest of the experience of that fantastic space at Ada Street. I think the staff saw the look on my face because they too said, "You need to come back again right?" Uh yeah! 

Ada Street
1664 N. Ada Street
Chicago, IL 60642
773.697.7069

Executive Chef Zoë Schor

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