North Pond

To celebrate our wedding anniversary we decided to go to North Pond in Lincoln Park.  It was definitely a step up from the normal fare we are used to at restaurants, but we wanted to go all out.  We had heard about North Pond because for the past few years it has been nominated for a James Beard Award.  North Pond is located at 2610 N Cannon Drive in Chicago, just north of the Lincoln Park Zoo.  It is in a wonderful setting - all by itself right by a beautiful pond.  It is set away from the taller buildings of Lincoln Park. Throughout dinner we also had a view of the pond and the downtown Chicago skyline.

The service was amazing.  In making the reservation I mentioned that we would be celebrating our anniversary.  When the restaurant called a couple of days in advance to confirm the reservation they asked for our names.  They used our names to create a personalized menu for the night that said "Happy Anniversary Natalie & Nick".  At the end of the meal they gave us the menus to take home.

Here are all the courses we had:

amuse bouche - spoonful of miso soup, nice way to start the meal

course 1, celeriac chevre soup / pan roasted scallop with quince. The soup was well presented - it came out with a strip of toasted flat beards with garnishes of meat and cheese.  It was creamy and smooth with a complex flavor. Scallops are one of Natalie's favorites and this did not disappoint. It was paired with quince, a fruit from Southwest Asia which is related to apples and pears.

Scallop & Quince

Celeriac Soup

course 2, lettuce and crab salad /  beet and pear salad.  The lettuce and crab salad came with avocado, yogurt panna cotta and lime vinaigrette which tied the whole dish together.  The beet salad was a mixture of red and gold beets and was paired with blue cheese, a poached pair, walnuts and a sable cookie.  How bazaar - who knew that a cookie would go well with a salad, but it was amazing!


SORRY NO PICTURES THEY LOOK TOO GOOD SO WE ATE THEM QUICKLY

Snapper

course 3, snapper with pumpkin seed mole /  pork with apple pudding and puree. The only critique we would have for the whole evening would be to have more pumpkin seed mole with the fish.  The snapper was cooked to perfection and the flavors were not overwhelming.  It came with squash and kale which cleansed the palate. The pork was also amazing! Both pork tenderloin and pork belly came with apple pudding, brussel sprouts and a butterscotch apple puree.  What great flavor combinations.  You could taste the essence of fall in the dish. The pork dish was probably our favorite of the night.

Pork entree

course 4, chocolate-hazelnut cake with huckleberry sorbet / white chocolate semifreddo with cranberry sorbet.  Nick being the chocolate fiend he is had to order the chocolate cake. It was rich but the huckleberry sorbet balanced it so that it wasn't too sweet. The white chocolate cranberry dish was an interesting combination of semifreddo, cranberries and cranberry sorbet, walnuts meringue and Parmesan.   Natalie was hesitant to order it because it had Parmesan in a dessert, but went with the unusual pairing as the rest of the pairings had been wonderful. It may not have been the best tasting dessert ever but it was a different combination of flavors that we enjoyed.

Semifreddo (on the right of plate)

Chocolate-Hazelnut cake

course 5 was an additional special occasion touch to the evening.  A few petit fours and ginger gummy candy were arranged on personalized plate drizzled in chocolate.  It was a perfect ending to our special night.

Final thoughts on North Pond:
Food - some of the best food in the Midwest.  We forgot to mention specifically, but as you can see from the pictures, all of the dishes are artistically presented which adds to the ambiance.
Service - great service, lots of special touches and attentive to the details
Atmostphere - romantic location, architecture of the building is in a Frank Lloyd Wright style so it is warm and natural woods, business casual attire (no shorts or jeans)