If you have known us for any length of time, you probably know that we love good food. We eat out often (probably WAY more than we should) and we love trying new foods and regional cuisine as we travel. We spend a lot of time watching food shows in our spare time, too. For years, we have dreamed of eating at a Michelin Star restaurant- the very best restaurants in the world.
For those that don’t know, here’s a little history and information about what a Michelin Star Restaurant is. According to http://www.escoffier.edu, “the invention of the Michelin Star rating coincides with the invention of the automobile. Michelin Tire founders and French industrialist brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin compiled the first Michelin Guide in 1900 with the aim of creating a demand for automobiles—and therefore, a need for more Michelin tires.” The guides were meant to encourage drivers to get out and explore in their cars! The guides originally included “restaurants, hotels, mechanics, and gas stations along popular routes in France.”
The guides then spread to other countries and eventually made the leap across the Atlantic to North America although it didn’t really catch on in the US until 2005. According to this history, “The guide began awarding Michelin Star ratings in 1926. The restaurants, all of which were in France, were awarded a single star if they were deemed a “fine dining establishment.” In 1931, the rating system expanded to the three-star rating that continues today. Unlike most star rating systems, one star is not considered a demerit. Any number of Michelin Stars granted to a restaurant signals a huge honor and a rare accomplishment.”
An anonymous panel of experts will dine at a prospective restaurant and then meet to discuss and make their decision, sometimes dining solo, in pairs, or even occasionally in a group. There is no limit to the number of stars awarded in a year but they are very difficult to earn and to keep. New restaurants must apply when they feel that they are able to meet the strict criteria and once a restaurant has been awarded a star, they are evaluated annually and must continue to impress the panel in order to retain their elite status.
There are three levels (One, Two, and Three Stars) that can be awarded. According to the Michelin Guide website, “One MICHELIN Star is awarded to restaurants using top quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavours are prepared to a consistently high standard. Two MICHELIN Stars are awarded when the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired. Three MICHELIN Stars is our highest award, given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics” according to the Michelin Guide website.
For our first experience, we chose a One Star restaurant called Sepia located in Chicago. We decided to make this an early celebration for our upcoming anniversary since this was such a special occasion. The restaurant serves a Four Course menu and we also opted to add on the Caviar and the Cheese Course.
We arrived at the restaurant about 15 minutes early but we were greeted immediately and shown to our table. Each and every staff member that we encountered were friendly and made sure that we were having a great experience. Our glasses were never empty and the courses were well paced all throughout the evening.
We began by making our menu selections. There was a personalized menu on the table when we arrived wishing us a Happy Anniversary and displaying the options for each of the four courses being served that night. We made our selections and also ordered a few cocktails to get us started. I ended up drinking two “Out of the Woods” during the course of the evening while John started with a “Hanna-Barbera Presents” which was served in a vintage Transformers thermos and then ended with a “Rods & Cones”.
I feel like here I should address something that a friend of mine brought up when I posted about this on Facebook. She said something along the lines of how she wouldn’t enjoy this kind of restaurant because she didn’t have any idea what was what on the menu. Honestly, neither did we. And we are fairly adventurous eaters who have tried a HUGE variety of dishes. I mean, we obviously understand words like “chicken wing”, “duck breast”, “short rib”, and “cheese” but mostly we just picked dishes that had elements that we recognized as something we liked or things that sounded interesting from their description. Or we just randomly picked something. What better way to try new things?
We were soon served two slices of home-made bread with a delicious seaweed infused butter and an amuse bouche (a brioche crouton topped with balsamic olive oil and Calabrian chili jam and prosciutto)- compliments of the chef. The bread was really soft on the inside but I personally didn’t care for the crust. The amuse bouche was one of our favorite things all night. We had also opted to add on the Caviar Course as neither of us had ever tried caviar before. This consisted of golden kaluga caviar atop a pillow of smoked sablefish and spinach and topped with house-made potato chips. The waiter set the dish in front of us then poured on a sauce that was a swirl of green and white. Neither of us really expected to like the caviar but it was incredible. (It was a struggle for me not to lick the bowl before the server took it away).
For the first course, I had chosen the smoked heirloom tomato toast and John had the smoked beef carpaccio. The photo doesn’t do it justice but the tomatoes on the toast were a vibrant yellow and had such a beautiful flavor and texture. The toast was perfectly crisp on the outside and so light and fluffy inside. The consommé on the carpaccio (poured over the dish tableside) was a little overpowering and made the brioche dissolve a little quickly but it was still absolutely delicious.
For the second course, I ordered the chicken wing zampone and John had the crispy cream cheese gnudi. Sadly, I didn’t care for either dish in this course but John liked them both. The chicken wing itself was cooked beautifully but the bone had been removed and the cavity was stuffed with a sausage of some kind and I just didn’t love the flavor. The sweet corn mousse was absolutely heavenly though- if that had been the only thing on the plate I would have been in heaven. The gnudi had a beautiful leaf tuille on top that really made the dish gorgeous but the cheese flavor was a little too strong for me. John doesn’t believe cheese can ever be too strong so he was quite pleased. The texture was really nice on it, though. It was firm on the outside but had a cloud-like interior. Even though I didn’t appreciate the flavors, both dishes were absolutely beautiful and very nicely prepared.
For the third course, we had selected the grilled short rib and the rohan duck breast. I really liked the short rib even though John didn’t love it. There was something crispy on top that really added to the texture. The white sauce that was served on the side with it was a bit strong – a little went a long way but it was still a really nice combination. The duck was nice on it’s own but I made the mistake of trying the apple butterscotch sauce and it made me want to spit everything out. I DID really enjoy the fois gras corn dog though and wish there had been more of that. It was like a deconstructed corn dog with a bit of meat on top of a fluffy cloud. It was delightful and my favorite part of this course.
Next, it was time for the cheese course. I was so confused when they brought it out because it looked like a white carnation bloom on the plate! They didn’t tell me not to eat it so I assumed it was edible and risked it by cutting a small slice with my fork and hesitantly putting it into my mouth. It immediately melted on my tongue like butter. Everything on the plate was amazing – I really enjoyed this course. And it turns out that you can buy the cheese at Whole Foods (and possibly Aldi but I haven’t verified that one yet). We bought some the other night and I haven’t eaten any yet (why haven’t I gotten into this yet? What is wrong with me?! We will remedy this tonight!) but it looks pretty promising. It’s even shaped like a flower- not as pretty as the one in the restaurant but still pretty neat for a fraction of the price. Check it out if you are curious.
At this point, we were stuffed but we still had dessert coming our way! John ordered the smoked vanilla bean pavlova and I had the toasted hay semifreddo. The pavlova had a beautiful texture but I did not like it because it had a weird flavor – it doesn’t say on the menu but it tasted like maybe matcha to me? Whatever it was, I didn’t enjoy it. Up until this point, John and I had been sharing everything but I didn’t want any more if his dessert. Thankfully, he didn’t like mine either so we didn’t have to share (aside from one small bite each) so I got my dessert (which I LOVED) mostly to myself. The base consistency of my dish made me think of a Klondike bar – a firm shell that melted on my tongue with a creamy center. The little bits of fruit on top gave it a nice pop of flavor and made it look gorgeous. (We do so much eating with our eyes – if it looks pretty on the plate it automatically makes me excited to eat it).
Because we were also celebrating our anniversary, we received a piece of vanilla cake that we saved for last and I’m glad we did. Compared to our other dishes over the course of the evening, it was really plain and anticlimactic. The flavor, though, was beautiful. It was such a subtle vanilla flavor and had such a silky texture – it was the absolute perfect thing to end the evening on.
Finally, with the arrival of the check, we also received two chocolate truffles and two almond bark bites. I was 100% stuffed but managed a bite of the almond bark. I don’t love nuts so I let John have the other half of mine in addition to his. But the salted caramel truffle…that was another story. When I bit into that and the satin-smooth caramel hit my taste buds…mmmmm. I moaned out loud and John says I went cross-eyed a little bit. I joked that the truffle made the bill go down easier but honestly, we knew what to expect and it was not a surprise in any way. John did a lot of research on choosing the restaurant as there were several in the Chicago area and we chose this one based on location, menu selection, ratings, and price. This one was actually on the cheaper end of the restaurants that we were considering. We also would have gotten off a lot cheaper if we hadn’t added on the caviar and cheese and had two cocktails each but we decided that if we were going to eat at a Michelin Star restaurant- a dream come true for us- that we were going all in. We had been planning and saving for a while so we were prepared. If you want to try a restaurant like this, I definitely recommend doing your research so that you aren’t surprised by the menu or the pricing when you arrive.
I guess the other thing I want to point out is that I was honest about our reviews here. I really didn’t like a few dishes or some components of some dishes but I want it to be perfectly clear that I don’t think that is a reflection on the restaurant. John and I both liked different things and that reflects our individual taste. Nothing was “bad”. There were some things that I didn’t enjoy but that’s just because I don’t like certain flavors or textures and not because the dishes weren’t prepared well. Even on the things I hated, I could still tell that the ingredients were top-notch and that so much thought and care went into each item so definitely keep that in mind, too. I had never been exposed to some of the things that we tried that night but I was willing to try new things and that is all part of the adventure and experience.
