Strawberries and Rhubarb Tag-team Chicago Menus

Strawberries and rhubarb are the Bert and Ernie of spring produce. The seasonal culinary keystones are inseparable friends, oftentimes combined not just for rosy luster, but for the fact that rhubarb’s innate tartness counters the sweetness inherent in the berries. Together, they make for a powerful one-two punch, and a potent foray into warm-weather dining and drinking. From desserts to cocktails, here’s your strawberry-rhubarb bible for the season in Chicago.

Strawberry-rhubarb cobbler is as quintessential as it gets when it comes to spring dessert menus. This homey American repast gets an update at DryHop Brewers, where strawberry-rhubarb cobbler is made with luscious macerated fruit, sweet crumble, and airy whipped cream. Sometimes you just can’t beat a classic.

At Headquarters in River North, one drink finds rhubarb bitters splashed with Caña Brava Rum, beet-ginger syrup, and lime, and another features a spicy alternative to strawberry sipping with a strawberry- and jalapeño-infused tequila, fresh lime, and housemade citrus salt. Everyone’s a winner here when the arcade games are free and the drinks flow.

If video games aren’t your thing, yet you still thirst for rhubarb, head to THE dec to partake in their elegant new cocktail, the Mileena. It’s made with Plantation white rum, rhubarb, lime, and Prosecco, and it has “summer” written all over it.

At Le Pain Quotidien, they’re upping the ante on fruit crumbles. Not one to merely stick with two fruits, they’re going full-berry by augmenting their strawberry and rhubarb crumble with fresh raspberries. It’s all topped with crunchy oat streusel and fresh whipped cream.

The red spring fruits are holding down the seasonal dessert menu at Allium. Try the raspberry-mascarpone sphere, made with lemon sponge and rhubarb tea; or try the decadent strawberry sundae outfitted with white chocolate cream and almond streusel.

South Water Kitchen is the rare restaurant where you can eat your spring fruits in both a savory dish and a sweet one, while sipping them in a drink at the same time. The strawberry flatbread pizza comes with duck confit, ricotta, and balsamic glaze, which makes an apt entree before moving on to strawberry pot de creme with candied rhubarb and almond water. Meanwhile, you might try the Bring Us A Shrubbery cocktail, made with Tanqueray 10 gin, rhubarb-celery-watermelon shrub, 1 Tonic, and lime juice.

In case you’re still thirsty, head to Tanta for their La Guapa cocktail, which also combines gin with rhubarb. In this case, though, it’s locally made CH Lavender gin, complete with lemon and Cremant de Bourgogne.

Go beyond crumble and cobbler at Revolution Brewing Company with their new raspberry-rhubarb hand pies, which come with pistachio almond milk ice cream.

Last but certainly not least, sister spots Spiaggia and Terzo Piano are paying homage to strawberries and rhubarb in very big ways themselves. At Spiaggia, the Strawberry Fizz cocktail features vodka, strawberry, mint, lemon, and Prosecco, a flavor profile that carries over onto the dessert menu in the form of strawberry-Prosecco sorbetti. The sorbet serves as an accent for a ricotta crema with vanilla bean, lychee, and candied orchids. Over at Terzo Piano, challah French toast comes with sweetened ricotta and rhubarb jam at brunch, while the dessert list features a Santiago cake with strawberries, orange, Marcona almonds, and Chantilly cream; and lemon-poppy seed panna cotta gets a splash of rhubarb-Prosecco gelee, some rhubarb compote, and ginger crumble.

DryHop Brewers
3155 N. Broadway, Chicago
(773) 857-3155
Website

Headquarters
213 W. Institute Place, Chicago
(312) 291-8735
Website

THE dec ROOFTOP LOUNGE + BAR
160 E. Pearson Street, Chicago
(312) 266-1000
Website

Le Pain Quotidien
135 N. Clinton Street, Chicago (plus other locations)
(312) 234-0900
Website

Allium
120 E. Delaware Place, Chicago
(312) 799-4900
Website

South Water Kitchen
225 N. Wabash Avenue, Chicago
(312) 236-9300
Website

Tanta
118 W. Grand Avenue, Chicago
(312) 222-9700
Website

Revolution Brewing Company
2323 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago
(773) 227-2739
Website

Spiaggia
980 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago
(312) 280-2750
Website

Terzo Piano
159 E. Monroe Street, Chicago
(312) 443-8650
Website