Fine Dining at the Seasons Restaurant in the Windy City

After sitting on the runway, 100 feet from our gate, for 30 minutes, we arrived to Chicago International Airport. Thankfully we didn’t check bags and were able to breeze through the terminal into a taxi cab. Once we were checked in and in our room we had 15 minutes to shower, iron, and get ready for our first meal in Chi-town. We ate at the Seasons Restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel. We were seated by the window with views of Michigan Street bustling below us. The menu was limited but there were many intriguing options. Unfortunately I can not remember the exact names of our dishes so I will do my best to describe them and show you photos. After ordering, we were greeted with a tasting plate of frisee salad, with sliced peaches, smoked trout and topped with orange caviar. The ingredients may sound random, but these flavors really came together. The crunch of the salad, with the sweetness of the peaches was balanced with the smokiness of the trout and the saltiness of the caviar. As we waited for our appetizers a man with a bread basket walked around with pretzel bread, baguettes, cheese flatbread, and multigrain rolls. If you have not tried pretzel bread, I highly recommend it. It’s like eating a soft pretzel. For an appetizer, we decided to split Maryland Crab Cannelloni. We forgot that fine dining restaurants do not serve you Cheesecake Factory portions and we were given 2 tiny cannelloni. Although they were small, they packed a big flavor. It was a cool bit of fresh crab.

For our main dishes, Jimmy ordered a tasting of Pork that had pork prepared in three ways: Pork Belly, Pulled Pork Ravioli over wilted greens, and a Pork Chop with a cranberry corn bread. The cranberry corn bread was served in its own miniature cast iron skillet. He was pleased with every bite and wished that there was more of it.

I had the snapper on a bed of edamame and green beans with polenta and chorizo. The snapper was cooked to perfection; the skin was crisp and the fish was flaky. I usually do not eat chorizo but found it very complimenting to the other flavors on the dish. Jimmy was able to try polenta for the first time. For those of you unfamiliar with this food, it is the Italian version of grits. Prepared correctly it is creamy and tastes like gritty corn. We refrained from ordering dessert; shocking I know, but we knew that we had a big day of eating waiting for us.