Table Side Pomp and Circumstance
Table side cookery and service has long been resigned to bananas Foster and flaming cheese antics in Greektown, but a slew of restaurants throughout Chicago are changing that notion with a bit of table side razzle-dazzle. From guinea fowl to risotto, here are some unique destinations for table side cookery in Chicago.
When we talk about table side service in Chicago, we must start with Sun Wah BBQ. One of the preeminent Chinese restaurants in town, located in a Vietnamese enclave in Uptown, is renowned for its Beijing duck preparations. The crown jewel of the menu here, this group-friendly showcase begins with the kitchen wheeling a golden roast duck to your table before carving it and making it into a trifecta of dishes. First, the fresh shavings are served with steamed bao, pickled daikon, radish, and hoisin for DIY bao-wiches. Next, duck is chopped and mixed with a heaping bowl of fried rice. Then it’s used to enrich soup. This multi-course, off-menu staple serves as the template for fine table side service in Chicago, laying the framework for a bevy of other unique options such as these:
Ruxbin offers its own interoperation of table side poultry in the form of whole guinea fowl. Executive chef Edward Kim serves the bird for two, carving it table side and following up the show with two courses and a takeaway box outfitted with roasted carcass, ingredients, and instructions for making stock at home. The fowl display is available through January at Ruxbin.
Things get even burlier at FIG & OLIVE, where 36 ounces of Painted Hills Farm bone-in rib-eye gets the table side treatment, carved a la carte and served with marble heirloom potatoes, short rib jus béarnaise, and a drizzle of Arbequina olive oil. Fish gets in on the party too at Joe Fish, with their whole Mediterranean branzino filleted table side and adjoined by broccolini, fresh herbs, and lemon.
Another special table side prep can be experienced at Travelle, which brings the pomp and circumstance by cooking risotto in a hollowed out round of Parmesan table side.
For dessert, it doesn’t get any more classic than baked Alaska, that venerable chestnut of meringue-coated ice cream lit aflame with booze table side. RPM Steak takes that classic and updates it with a palpable sense of modernity for their dessert menu. A fitting finale for a meal of glam steak, the table side dessert features enflamed meringue filled with salted caramel, vanilla, and warm chocolate sauce.
Sun Wah BBQ
5039 N. Broadway, Chicago
(773) 769-1254
Website
Ruxbin
851 N. Ashland Avenue, Chicago
(312) 624-8509
Website
FIG & OLIVE
104 E. Oak Street, Chicago
(312) 445-0060
Website
Joe Fish
445 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago
(312) 832-7700
Website
Travelle
330 N. Wabash Avenue, Chicago
(312) 923-7705
Website
RPM Steak
66 W. Kinzie Street, Chicago
(312) 284-4990
Website
