Once again my friend Ruben absolutely nails it with his third restaurant, Emilia. Check out this quick video of some of the dishes we tried:
I can’t wait to go back and try more stuff. He is still in the process of perfecting the burger (he’s working on the bun), so I’ll definitely try that again.
Favorite items so far: artichoke with soy cured egg and crispy sunchokes, red snapper, and monkfish liver mousse.
EMILIA BY NAI
174 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10009
This high end tapas restaurant serves some of the best Spanish food I’ve had outside of Spain. Jose Andres really deserves all the praise he gets.
We started with some nice cocktails, which, in hindsight, I wish we had at the bar downstairs (Bar Mar), instead of at our table.
In any case, great cocktails!
For the smaller bites we tried, the stars were Jose’s Tacos (jamon with nori taco shell and caviar), and the tartare in a fried shiso leaf.
The Philly cheesesteak bites were nice too.
For medium sized courses, we had the Spanish octopus and fideua (paella made with pasta instead of rice). That squid ink sauce was outstanding, and it might have been the best dish of the entire trip to Chicago.
For our main, we had the 32oz aged domestic wagyu “chuleton” rib eye. It was slightly overcooked on the edges, and for being something like 100+ days dry aged, I didn’t get much of that flavor. It was really tender and tasty though. 8/10.
This came with a side of delicious whipped potatoes. So smooth.
For dessert, we had their delicious honey cake with grapefruit sorbet. They even stenciled the words “Happy Birthday” onto the plate for us.
A very pricey meal, but delicious!
BAZAAR MEAT
20 N Upper Wacker Dr
Chicago, IL 60606
My wife and I finally tried this spot. It’s been getting very popular lately in the food scene, mainly because of the crispy shrimp heads seen here:
They paired nicely with the house hot sauce.
They’re delicious! But so are the other items they offer, like the mussels escabeche:
The fried skate wing:
And the piri piri chicken with french fries:
Fries were perfect, chicken was juicy! Great cocktails as well.
We’ll definitely be back to try the Manila clams and a few other items that looked tasty.
UPDATE! Clams were pretty good, but I probably wouldn’t order them again in terms of portion size.
These Louisiana white prawns were excellent. I would definitely order them again. There were five on the plate.
CERVOS
43 Canal St
New York, NY 10002
