The tables were well-spaced apart so you could carry on a conversation. Rent venues like Ema in Chicago, IL for your events and parties. The waiter was friendly and helpful decoding the menu.
Nice wine list with selections from places like Israel, Croatia, Sicily and Greece besides the usual suspects. The waiter recommended 2-3 dishes per person for dinner.
Ema river north plus#
There are a couple seafood and fish dishes and a couple meat dishes, plus rotisserie chicken but a vegetarian could be very happy here. There are spreads with hot flatbread (highly recommended) dishes of roasted and charred vegetables and grains with intriguing dressings that may include some combo of yogurt, lemon and honey, plus seasoning. The menu offers small plates called "mezzes", some cold, some hot.
It's light and airy with white walls, big windows, distressed wood, bright lighting and an "arbor" of fake foliage across part of the ceiling. You walk into a fairly large restaurant in the Hyatt Place Hotel in River North (separate entrance on the corner of Illinois and Clark Sts). Maybe it was some of their ingredients that summoned up Tel Aviv. Priced at 9.49/lb menu items subject to change based on availability. Reporters visit restaurants unannounced, and meals are paid for by RedEye.So maybe it's the restaurant's name, Ema (pronounced EEE-ma), which means "mother" in Hebrew, that got me thinking about some of the recipes in the "Jerusalem" cookbook that was popular a few years ago. View the menu at Rotisserie Ema Options include greens, grains, spreads, rotisserie and chef-prepared salads. If they up their game, this restaurant could eventually become a classic.
However-and this is surprising as they rarely falter-the Lettuce crew is not proving an equal partner in service at Ema.
Ema river north tv#
I yearned for a jar of honey to make the whole thing more edible.īottom line: You rarely see Jacobson's name without mention of his appearance on "Top Chef." It's a bit of a disservice because he's way more than a TV chef. Filo shards mixed with pistachio nut stuffing and dried fruit were dry. Deconstructed baklava ($6.95) looked like regular baklava that had been smashed with a sledgehammer. Both were silkier and superior to what I had at Honey's. Gutierrez's take ($9.95) offers two plays on the dessert: one made with chia seeds and another infused with chocolate and chili that's served with candied pistachios. You may remember that I was gaga over the version served at Honey's a few weeks ago. I never thought I'd write this, but it seems halva is having a moment. What I didn't appreciate was that our server assumed my friend wanted the same wine and brought out a second unbidden glass.ĭessert from pastry chef Yasmin Gutierrez was a mixed bag. I settled on the 2014 Domaine Spiropoulos Mantinia Moschofilero ($11) with notes of honey, grapefruit and mineral flavor. I did appreciate that when I couldn't decide between two wines, our server brought out samples of each for me to try. The service staff also tried to remove plates I was still working on several times throughout the meal. A saucer of lettuce vinaigrette-pureed butter lettuce, tarragon, basil, parsley and preserved lemon-lightened the load.Īs much as I enjoyed Jacobson's food, our meal was interrupted twice by food runners trying to drop off plates meant for other tables. Though more of a cold-weather dish, I couldn't resist ordering the braised lamb shoulder ($24.95) topped with Super Ball-sized cherries and caramel-like dates. I shot my dining companion a dirty look when I realized she'd eaten more than her fair share of the tender tentacles and there were none left. Grilled octopus ($14.95), which was flanked by fried sheets of kale and rippling crispy-skinned fingerling potatoes dripping with a velvety lemon vinaigrette, was as addictive as a perfect batch of French fries.
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