Food Porn? No. Food Love: Spilled Milk #107

A diary (with lots of photos!) of an incredible meal at Smyth.

Another week and so much has happened, so let’s get to it.

The restaurant you must eat at

If you are anywhere in the lower 48, run, don’t walk to see what John Shields and his team are cooking up at Smyth in Chicago. The flavors are inspiring and delicious without being pretentious. The textures are relentlessly engaging and for me—that’s something that most chefs forget about, especially with progressive, multi-course meals.

Texture needs to be contrasting within a dish itself, and it should vary from course to course. That’s true of a 22-course degustation menu or when I sit down at my local tavern for a burger with fries. The service is flawless without being overattentive or cloying. The room is FUN with a killer playlist. There is energy and laughter coming from every table, and while I don’t drink anymore, the wine flights and the master list was so engaging I was reading it like a book. This restaurant, along with Alinea, Ever, Oriole and a slew of one-star Chicago eateries including the newly minted Beard Award designee Kasama, have proved out how truly great a food town the Windy City is, but after my meal at Smyth I would go so far as to say that for a meal and an experience, a thought-provoking take and a superb evening of fun with your companions, there aren’t many places in the country operating at the level that Smyth is right now.

The kitchen plays around with two main elements in this menu: seaweed and caramel. The seaweed is treated in so many ways and variations and in so many forms or elements it left me giddy. And the nature of caramelization is explored in half the dishes by my count, providing textural and aromatic balance as well as bolstering sweet and smoky vibes, tethering a beautiful light bitterness when needed as well. Young chefs who want to learn how to execute BOLDLY but with intense restraint have to make the pilgrimage here.

The menu (any descriptive mistakes are mine):