I love seasonal menus. Seasonal = fresh = local = just plain good for everyone. One of the newest seasonal menus is at mado, a laid-back, rustically appointed restaurant in Bucktown (1647 N. Milwaukee Ave.). They’re BYOB—a plus!—and although I failed to B my own B, the experience hardly suffered from my omission. (Okay, so maybe some prosecco would have been nice.)
Mado is open all day, offering commuters (and the oh-so-lucky summer vacationers) fresh cups of organic, fair-trade Metropolis coffee in the mornings, small plates for lunch, and then a similar menu for dinner, but with the addition of several entrees. The restaurant’s owners, husband and wife team Robert and Allison Levitt, change the menu daily, depending on what’s available and looking good at the market that morning.
The servers are friendly and knowledgeable, and the food—we’ll call it contemporary Mediterranean—is outstanding. One of the benefits to the Levitts’ local shopping is that they butcher much of the meat they buy in-house, which in turn means that there are more unusual parts of the animal to showcase. The guanciale crostini, for example, is a small croute topped with thinly sliced pig jowl. Like the ethereal ribbon of prociutto it appeared to be, it deliciously melted on my tongue before I could even close my mouth.
Other recommended delights: scallop crudo with grapefruit and esplette pepper, hanger steak with gorgonzola polenta, and rainbow trout with walnuts, coriander and marjoram.
Oh, and for dessert, if it’s still around, you have to try the Buffalo Ricotta with organic farmer’s honey. Just trust me on that one. I was about to lick the plate when my sense of decorum (shaky though it is) stopped me, and the server said knowingly, “Go ahead, we don’t judge here.”
Make your way to mado: 1647 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL.
Check out other reviews here:
NewCity (a great article by food writer Michael Nagrant, my hero)
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