Restaurant Review: Mercat a la Planxa
Native Chicago Chef Jose Garces Brings Barcelona to the Windy City
After launching two successful and highly regarded tapas restaurants in Philadelphia - Amada (2005) and Tinto (2007) - windy city native and rising chef, Jose Garces, brings it all back home, delivering a dose of Catalan soul to Chicago's swanky South Loop neighborhood with his newest restaurant, Mercat a la Planxa.
Occupying prime real estate in the newly renovated Blackstone Hotel, Mercat a la Planxa boasts 190 seats, a split-level dining room accessed by a spiral staircase and three full bars. On one side, huge arched windows overlook Grant Park, and on the other a raised, stage-like open kitchen serves as the focal point of the room where a packed kitchen staff cranks out a massive menu loaded with traditional tapas, artisanal cheeses, imported charcuterie, and grilled-to-order ("a la planxa") fresh seafood, steaks and chops.
It's a gigantic space, but doesn't seem cavernous at all. The packed to-the-gills restaurant buzzed with energy. According to the press release, the controlled chaos is designed to transport diners to a rocking Barcelona neighborhood. As I sipped my Caliente - a chili-infused, cosmopolitan of sorts, looking out at Lake Michigan, I couldn't have felt further from Las Ramblas. Nevertheless, the mosaic tiles and iconic hexagonal patterns (an intended nod to Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi) provided an intriguing backdrop for the vibrant colors adorning the walls, furniture and staircase, ensuring ample eye candy.
Our feast began with an amuse-bouche of finely diced tomatoes, tossed in a delectably rich and fruity Arbequina olive oil atop toasted, crunchy bread strips - a Spanish bruschetta, if you will. The cut-to-order charcuterie and cheeses followed. Paper-thin Jamon de Campo, or country ham, adorned with grain mustard creme fraiche on one side and cornichons and pickled guindilla peppers on the other further served notice to our palates, and paved the way for the Babe Ruth of hams - the Jamon Iberico. At $23 per order, it's definitely an eyebrow-raiser, but the Iberico ham stands as the most flavorful of them all due to the pigs' higher fat content which allows farmers to cure the Iberico much longer than other hams. The payoff is a more intense and complex flavor that trails off leaving a hint of sweetness that is sublime. Iberico ham has only recently been available stateside, and can be hard to find, so consider it required eating.
The raw goats milk Montcabrer paired with black olive and caramel elevated the recent trend of salting caramel, and displayed Garces' penchant for surprise. But my companion and I both felt that the sweet and nutty Pau was best enjoyed without its chocolate hazelnut puree which was a bit thick and overpowered the natural flavor of the cheese, while the crunch of the hazelnuts didn't mesh for either of us. The Cadi Urgelia, served alongside truffled apple and lavender jam delighted with its creamy texture, distinctive aroma and robust flavor.
The artichoke and wild mushroom flatbread, topped with black truffle flecks and manchego exploded with flavor that belied its tiny size. The perfectly thin, sinfully oily crust nested the thinly sliced fresh artichoke hearts and wild mushrooms beautifully, while the black truffles - as expected - added unforgettable earthiness and depth. The rich manchego up top was a great touch and unexpectedly rounded out all the flavors rather than convoluting them.
Regrettably, our sole foray (for the moment) into the "a la planxa" portion of the menu was the head-on prawns. It proved a great choice. Simple and authentic, the sweet flavor of the prawns quick-seared on the flat-top grill reaffirmed the notion that less can indeed be more. This perfectly simple dish screams authenticity and shows that Chef Garces has the uncommon restraint to leave well enough alone when called for.
The Paella arrived next and I was geeked because restaurant paella almost always misses. Garces' use of Bomba Rice - a premium short grain rice grown in Calasparra, Spain - would markedly increase the odds for excellence. Unlike regular rice typically found in restaurant paella, Bomba expands in width like an accordion rather than longitudinally, allowing it to absorb 3 times its volume in liquid, or 50% more broth or stock. Translation: flavor country. Loaded with ultra fresh and beautifully cooked shellfish, which rarely occurs outside of Spain, Garces' paella blew me away and was the main reason I couldn't even consider the dessert menu. The fact that it arrived in its own individual cast-iron pan added a thoughtful touch.
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