The Sous Rises
Jake Bickelhaupt is a man on a mission – a mission to find his own voice as a chef and express his own style of cooking in a medium befitting said style. With Sous Rising, an underground restaurant he founded with his wife Alexa, Bickelhaupt found that voice. Now after a myriad of dinners hosted in their home, the duo are prepared to rise even further with a brick-and-mortar restaurant of their own.
An alum of such dining institutions as Alinea, Charlie Trotter’s, and Schwa, it’s no surprise Bickelhaupt grew a little burnt out from the kitchen scene. He initially left the culinary field for a change of pace before developing the idea to transform his living room into a micro “underground” restaurant. Sous Rising was an apt double entendre, considering this was Bickelhaupt’s rise out of the kitchen shadows and into his own spotlight, as well as the rise of the underground dining concept. Stifled by the lack of places where he could feel like himself as a chef, Sous Rising was the perfect personal outlet. “It allows me to find my voice and myself as a chef,” says Bickelhaupt of the opportunity to do his own thing.
The couple operated Sous Rising out of their apartment for more than a year, focusing on one table per meal so as to provide ample attention and hospitality for each guest. Bickelhaupt’s mantra is to keep his cuisine very simple, concentrating on just a few ingredients per plate and curating a menu progression that comes together as a composed, focused meal. The chef explains that everything on the plates has a purpose, and every plate tells a story; every ingredient, flavor, and texture has a purpose. “There’s nothing to hide in pure and simple food,” he says, consistently executing food with a palpable personal touch. His multi-course tasting menus include invigorating, novel preparations such as tamarind taffy dusted with eucalyptus, a tom yum-inspired bite made with coconut water, and “crispy snacks” comprised of Vidalia onion glass, flax crisps, and crystalized Maine kelp and pineapple. Independent film producer Jack C. Newell filmed a three-hour 18-course meal and condensed it into four minutes to show what the concept is really all about, depicting the anatomy of a Sous Rising meal from creation to edible destruction. Check it out here.
Now it’s time for Sous Rising to really soar. The burgeoning restaurateurs have set their sights on a brick-and-mortar restaurant of their own, a location in Uptown where they’ll feature the same personalized, simple, neoteric cooking that they’ve honed at Sous Rising. November 1 and 2 are the last nights to dine at Sous Rising, at which point they’ll hit the pause button while working on buildout for the new space.
Sous Rising
Undisclosed location, Chicago
Website
