Results tagged “laurentgras”

New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni reviews L2O in today's edition of the Paper of Record. The true meat of the review lies not in Bruni's take on the food — he says Laurent Gras has "deftly filtered many worthy influences" — but in forecasting its long-term health. L2O has not been packing them in of late, and Bruni notes that gras' partner Rich melman of Lettuce Entertain You holds "plenty of moderately priced, unglamorous restaurants to support such divas as Tru and Everest." And L2O.

Travel & Leisure magazine announced their list of 50 Best New American Restaurants. Stop us if these four local entries to the list sound familiar; L2O, the Publican, Perennial and Urban Belly. L2O and the Publican also made the "Hot Tables" list at Conde Nast Traveler.

• Hot on the heels of L2O's Beard nomination, Laurent Gras offers recommendations for cookware, appliances, spices and other kitchen essentials for the home cook over. The $279 brick toaster oven with convection from Cuisinart pictured above is among those listed. Also oin the list, a Pasquini Livia 90 semi-auto espresso machine ($1975 at Amazon.com). [men.style.com]
• Sun-Times food editor Janet Rausa Fuller also has some gadget recommendations, but at a more reasonable price range. [Sun-Times]
• Last week it was Pat Bruno, this week Helen Rosner casts a critical glare at Steve Dolinsky. [WBEZ, MP Chicago]

One person who probably loves beer more than us is Bob Skilnik. If you haven't read his musings on beer, you're missing a real treat and may actually learn something. Skilnik delves deep into the history of beer, with a particular emphasis on Chicago's history with the suds. Example: did you know that the recipe for Miller Lite was purchased by Miller from Meister Brau?

Last week, we took an in-depth look into L2O, with an opportunity to get Stolpman into the kitchen to photograph some of Laurent Gras' menu dishes and the preparation of them, while Jacy explained some of the design aesthetics of the restaurant (located in the space formerly occupied by Ambria).

      

We continue our look at Chef Laurent Gras' L20 this week with a look at the aesthetics of its dining room. Like the food, Chef Gras was consumed with putting careful thought into every element of the space, from the walls to the water glasses to the guéridons. Elegant, warm, and clean, Chef Gras worked closely with Chicago-based Dirk Denison Architects to create a simple, inviting space using natural materials and warm hues. (Note, there are additional, beautiful photos of L20 on the Dirk Denison Architects website.)

                     

As we noted in yesterday's entry, Chef Laurent Gras allowed us into L2O's kitchen to take pictures of his beautiful creations. Apologies that all do not have descriptions; food flies out of the kitchen more quickly than I can snap it. Also, see some of the other pictures from the shoot. Enjoy.

                    

Chef Laurent Gras graciously allowed us into L2O's immaculate kitchen on Friday night. We compiled our favorite pictures of food prep for your enjoyment. There is something very rewarding about watching the diligence and precise care that went into each dish that left the kitchen. We hope you enjoy these. Tomorrow, we will bring you pictures of dishes.

I'll be the first to admit that we give a lot of server space here to Laurent Gras and L2O. His Lincoln Park restaurant has — in less than a year — earned a reputation as one of the best in the city, become one of the crown jewels of the Lettuce Entertain You empire, and his blog detailing the creation process behind his menu items has long been one of the first we check on our RSS feeds If you haven't been L2O and have the means to eat there, it's worth the price.

Laurent Gras keeps impressing us (and not just with this creation above, called "cloned strawberry") Yesterday L2O launched a six-course degustation menu called "Tête à Tête,"according to Gras, will explore "two single ingredients that when combined together have the potential to create a unique and powerful flavor that is unlike either of its individual parts." The six tasting portion-sized courses offered will progress from raw to cooked to dessert, and will be rotated out depending on seasonality.

Via Menupages Chicago, L2O is being named as the best new restaurant in America by Esquire when their November issue hits news stands next week. With dishes such as the pictured Suzuki, it's easy to see why folks on the East Coast are paying attention to what Laurent Gras and company are doing over on Lincoln Park West.

Laurent Gras' L2O (in the former Ambria space at 2300 Lincoln Park West) is hands down the most critically acclaimed new restaurant to open this year; trust us when we say it is better than advertised. Chef Gras' blog has also been a must-read. The blog has chronicled everything from designing and building out the restaurant to previewing menu items and being a consistent source of amazing food pr0n.

We know that Chicago is a restaurant hot spot. While out-of-town writers particularly tend to maintain the clichés (earned, mind you) of Chicago being a steak and potatoes, deep dish pizza town, out-of-town chefs know the real score.

If you haven't been keeping up with Chef Laurent Gras' blog charting the progress of his build out of the old Ambria space, you should. It's a fascinating read that gives readers an intimate perspective of both Gras and the ongoing construction.