Sweets and Savories

Posted by Edmund in Chicago, Featured Articles, Gastropub, Restaurants | 0 comments

Cuisine: Eclectic, with a heavy American and French influence
Location: 500 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60605-1532
Price: Entrees run about $20-$25. $17 for a Kobe Beef and Foie Gras Burger, $5 for Fries.

Ah, the mythical foie gras burger. It’s a legend that’s been attempted countless times before in the search for the perfect gourmet burger—one that can combine the intense flavor of a cheap burger with the intense flavor of only the most gourmet of all gourmet ingredients. Up till now, though, I’ve never run into a good variety. Not even my absolute favorite burger joint in the country, Ray’s Hell Burger, can produce a foie gras burger I consider worth the cost, and in all honesty if Ray’s can’t do it, I just don’t think anybody can.

Thus, when I kept on hearing about Chicago’s most gourmet burger, the Kobe Beef and Foie Gras burger at Sweets and Savories, I was more than a little skeptical. I love a good gourmet burger, but more often than not, foie gras is a mere gimmick to mark up prices beyond what any burger should realistically cost. Yet, Sweets and Savories keeps the price relatively low at a mere $17, which is cheaper than most foie gras burgers I’ve seen, especially when you factor in the Kobe Beef. It just sounded too good to be true, and I had to see for myself just why this burger was so popular.

Nevertheless, as I headed to Sweets and Savories, I began to have the feeling more and more that I was in for a disappointment. The restaurant is the middle of nowhere, reminiscent of a deserted wasteland. And once you enter, that feeling of isolation doesn’t improve, as you enter a very small, very cramped dining room, with tables that are practically touching each other at certain points. Nor does the rather loud music help to give you any more intimacy or privacy.

Still, it does have its charms. The intent is to create something on the more modern side, so the walls are a bland gray with various levels of lighting focused on different spots to create the illusion of different shades. There is almost no decoration, but I do appreciate the minimalist, clean style, and the music can be quite jazzy, hip, and/or racy, imparting some energy to you as you eat. For the price, Sweets and Savories has a lot of class, so you can come here in casual clothes or with a suit for a pre-theater meal, if you so wish.

The service is a mixed bag, too. It’s pretty prompt and good enough, but it lacks a tad of the formal professionalism that you might expect of a more distinguished place. Everyone seems overly reserved as well. Moreover, the restaurant placed me right next to the heater and then proceeded to blast the heat, so I was sweating for about 30 min. It wasn’t intentional, but expect people who don’t have all that much foresight or polish.

Just as inconsistent, though, is the food. I was really just here for the burger, but I honestly couldn’t resist when I saw the interesting variety of French and American dishes. Though the menu is rather small—just 8 entrees, 7 appetizers, and 1 side—you’ll be able to find everything from gnocchi to lobster to risotto to seafood stew. Thus, what it lacks in size it makes up for in sheer variety.

That all-over-the-board mentality, though, can backfire. Out of all my dishes, I only truly enjoyed one, the dessert, and the others failed in varying degrees. The gnocchi was soft and chewy but bland as can be. The gourmet burger, packed with foie gras pate and truffle mayo, was a jumble of flavors, as the meat was nearly burnt and the foie gras was so gratuitously stacked on that it overpowered everything else. Worst of all, the fries were burnt to death and accompanied with an atrociously cloying apricot chutney.

The trend here? Innovation for the sake of innovation, without much functional utility. For instance, is there a reason to serve fries with apricot chutney? I’m all for interesting sauces, but apricot chutney is taking it far too far, and it showed, as the fruitiness merely clashed with the fries. The same goes for the burger’s foie gras, which overshadowed the beef. If I can’t even taste the beef, what’s the point of eating a burger? Just because something is fancy doesn’t mean it’s any good, and Sweets and Savories is the perfect example of that.

Prices generally aren’t bad, but for the quality of the scene and food they still aren’t justified. The burger is the one absolute ripoff on the menu. While it comes with a near mountain of foie gras, it’s just not good enough to command $17 (w/o fries), one of the most expensive prices for a burger in the city. The restaurant does, however, have one of the cheapest prix fixe meals in town: any 3 courses on the menu for $29.

Finally, as an aside that might interest some of you alcohol-lovers out there, the night I was at the restaurant, it had no wine or even any alcohol at all to serve its customers. It’s completely BYOB, which is a positive or negative, depending on how you look at it. I do think it’s a bit ridiculous for a restaurant specializing in gourmet treats like a Kobe burger with foie gras not to have any alcohol whatsoever, but you can be the judge of that, since I wasn’t here to drink at all.

Regardless, Sweets and Savories was a disappointment in nearly every way. Hailed by some as the best gourmet burger maker in town, it not only failed to serve a good burger, but did so in a lackluster restaurant with average service and a rather mediocre cast of supporting dishes. I’d suggest avoiding it.

What I Tasted

1. Gnocchi with arugula, cremini mushrooms, and grana cheese: As soon as this dish was set down, I could just sniff the fresh, warm, cheesy aroma wafting up towards me. It was very powerful and very inviting, so I expected it to be pretty good, though I was only partially correct. I do have to say, though, that the gnocchi were not the star of the dish. Rather, it was the succulent, flavorful, herby arugula and mushroom combo, which really complimented the heavier, creamy, cheesy flavors. The gnocchi were soft and chewy, but firm enough not to become mushy at all, yet they were very bland, relying pretty much completely on the other ingredients to give them some flavor. So it felt like they were tacked on to the mushrooms, rather than that the mushrooms were used to introduce another nuance to them, and I’d probably have ranked the dish higher without the gnocchi altogether. It was, more or less, like eating mushrooms with plain white bread. 2.3/5.0
2. Kobe Beef Burger with Truffle Mayo and Foie Gras Pate: I really wanted to like this burger, because it looks like it’s just so masterfully done. The buns are great, even though they’re plain. They’re thick but crisped just right, so they really hold up under the weight of the burger. And the meat is very succulent. In fact, when I pressed the buns onto the patty, the meat just dripped a whole puddle of juice. The main problems, though, lie first in the meat and second in the foie. The meat itself is just too blackened/charred, so it tastes like it’s almost burnt, even though I ordered it medium. That char overpowers the natural meat flavor. Next, the foie gras makes the same transgression. It’s very gritty and thick, layered on in a generous heap. However, that foie, too, has an overwhelming bitterness and a very intense duck fat savoriness that covers up the beef, in addition to become cloying and a bit muddy in the mouth. The real savior here is the truffle mayo, which I needed to just slather on to prevent the foie gras and char combo from destroying the whole burger. That mayo was just right. In contrast to the heavy, gritty foie, it was light, creamy, and very zesty, and it infused the whole burger with a strong truffle freshness. 1.8/5.0
3. Beef Tallow Pommes Frittes (with Black Truffle Oil): There are so many things I love about these fries that it kind of pains me to criticize them so much, as I’m going to do. First, the presentation is fantastic, as the dish comes with a GIGANTIC mountain of literally GOLDEN fries, glistening with oil. Moreover, the idea of apricot chutney on the side is a welcome, unique addition to the traditional fry ideal. Yet, this dish is very poor in execution. Most importantly, the fries are all just burnt, plain and simple. I understand that the restaurant wanted to make the fries crispy, but sacrificing taste for crispness is never a good trade-off. These are shoestring fries, meaning they need to be cooked very little at high temperatures to achieve a crisp exterior. These were cooked far too long. Second, the one possible saving component, the apricot chutney, is just a completely random and nonsensical addition. While it is an interesting concept, it’s just way too sweet and fruity (rather cloyingly so). You’re shafted either way: Either you taste the burnt flavor or get a sugar overload. Not a great ultimatum. 0.5/5.0
4. Strawberry Rhubard Pie, Soft Cream: I hate to say it, but the restaurant finally did something right! This pie is delicious. The cream is the only weak link. It’s light and airy, but it has almost no flavor. I prefer the strong strawberry and rhubard with nothing so bland to interfere with their flavor. The strawberry and rhubard are very pronounced, too, leaving your mouth puckering a minute after you eat a piece. Each bite has a great fruity, jam-like texture with a strong sweetness. The dough, too, is good, since it’s soft, buttery, and sweet, with a very satisfying crumbly crunch. I think it has a bit of salt, too, which the palate gradually picks up as you savor the pie, helping to balance out the sugar. Still too sweet, but great nonetheless. 3.7/5.0

Scores

Ambience: 1.4/5.0
Service: 1.9/5.0
Taste: 2.0/5.0. Very hit or miss.
Value: 1.4/5.0.
Score for the Burger: 1.6/5.0
Overall Score for the Restaurant: 1.7/5.0