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Fruits of the Vine

At Tru, wine is more than just a complement

When wine is enjoyed at meals, the selection usually follows from the food. Take tasting menus, for example. Chefs at fine-dining restaurants create them, and sommeliers do their best to complement them. It’s kitchen first, cellar second in the standard restaurant hierarchy.

Now one Chicago restaurant is toying with turnabout. Among many multicourse offerings and à la carte food options, the “sommelier collection” menu at Tru (676 N. St. Clair St., 312.202.0001; trurestaurant.com) lists 10 wines that are not otherwise available by the glass, with an appropriate food pairing for each. But it’s clear where the focus is. “I often forget we serve food here,” jokes wine director Chad Ellegood, 30. Sitting in Tru’s dining room, which resembles an art gallery, he explains that each of the 10 selections is matched with dishes created by Chef de Cuisine Tim Graham particularly for that wine.

The wine-begets-food idea first arose when Ellegood tried to get more red wine on Tru’s tasting menus. From a chef’s perspective, there is only so much red-friendly food — usually meat — one can include in a dinner. More versatile whites tend to win. Chef Graham challenged Ellegood to come up with a dream list of wines, and the concept grew from there.

“It’s nice to brainstorm with parameters,” says 31-year-old Graham, popping out of the kitchen between courses. Rather than choosing from a late-summer market brimming with harvest produce that could be combined thousands of ways, Graham is able to narrow the flavor profiles to match the pomegranate notes in a Cru Beaujolais, for example. “Chad gives me starting points,” he adds.

Dining in this style is akin to seeing a movie before reading the reviews. Patrons have a chance to form their own opinion on why a wine-food pairing works, and even how it works. Ellegood and his staff add a little razzle-dazzle to the presentation and identify courses that illustrate the ways in which wine can pair with food. The duo offers a complementary approach, a contrast approach, and a more subtle “bridge” approach, which underscores a secondary flavor (apple in both a dry white Meursault wine and braised pork belly with roasted corn pudding, for example).

For a closer, Ellegood takes a stab at deconstruction, complementing a Brillat-Savarin cheese course with two tastings of Paul Bara Brut 1999 champagne: one decanted, warmed, and stilled to expose the base pinot noir wine, and the other fizzy and chilled, eliciting candied nut flavors and dry pear.

So far this maverick approach has played well. The restaurant served 300 sommelier collections in the first three months after introducing the concept earlier this year, a respectable number given the $310 price tag.

“People seem to like the element of surprise,” Graham says.

Getting There: Continental offers daily nonstop service to Chicago from its hubs in Houston, New York/Newark, and Cleveland.

Five to Try

1

Alinea. 1723 N. Halsted St., 312.867.0110. With his daring cooking, Chef Grant Achatz often gets grouped with molecular gastronomists, but the food here is much more soulful than Achatz’s use of technology suggests. Dishes may arrive on a lavender-scented pillow, with a smoking elm leaf, or even speared on a spindle. Gourmet magazine has called Alinea the best restaurant in the United States.

2

Blackbird. 619 W. Randolph St., 312.715.0708. This minimalist spot in Chicago’s West Loop trains your focus on the food of chef Mike Sheerin, who makes his own charcuterie, does wonders with pork belly, and serves seasonal dishes.

3

Custom House. 500 S. Dearborn St., 312.523.0200. Chicago is renowned for steakhouses, and Custom House Chef Shawn McClain modernizes the format, offering unusual meats (like veal cheek) and plenty of fish, as well as steaks and chops.

4

Sepia. 123 N. Jefferson St., 312.441.1920. Chef Kendal Duque serves savory, wine-friendly food at this former print shop in the West Loop. Try the pear-bacon-blue cheese flatbread or the roast cod with wild boar sausage.

5

Takashi. 1952 N. Damen Ave., 773.772.6170. After cooking at Wynn Las Vegas, Chef Takashi Yagihashi downshifted to a 55-seat shop in Buckhead, where his refined and unique dishes include kampachi (yellow tuna) topped with garlic chips, pink radish, and endive salad. — E.G.

Pleasant Surprises

The idea of putting yourself in the chef’s hands has a long tradition in Japan as omakase. Now the concept is growing stateside in “blind” tastings. Dine decision-free at these three innovators:

Alberta Street Oyster Bar & Grille, Portland, Ore. 2926 NE Alberta St., 503.284.9600. Eric Bechard’s “chef’s whim” dinner ($55) turns out five surprise courses not on the menu and entirely up to Bechard’s inclinations (hint: he loves seafood). All subject to any allergies or prejudices, of course. Another $25 gets you wine to match.

Craigie Street Bistrot, Cambridge, Mass. 5 Craigie Circle, 617.497.5511. On Wednesday and Sunday evenings after 9 p.m., chef Tony Maws lets loose at this Harvard Square hideaway just outside Boston, serving up the “chef’s whim” in four ($40) or six ($55) courses. There’s no telling what you’ll have at the spontaneous meal, but expect French bistro cooking.

Sixteen, Chicago. 401 N. Wabash St., 312.588.8000. Don’t let the menu at Sixteen distract you from the panoramic view from the 16th floor of the new Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago. Instead, order Chef Frank Brunacci’s 10-course “blind” tasting menu ($110, $180 with wine), which draws on global ingredients and techniques. — E.G.