Maple & Ash - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Maple & Ash


photo by Derek Richmond

Foie Gras

Back on her home turf after a stint in NYC, Belinda Chang is clearly having fun at Maple & Ash, a swanky new steakhouse on Chicago’s Gold Coast. Alongside the expected powerhouse cabernets and Bordeaux blends, she offers alternatives like “Racy Whites” (riesling, grüner and pinot gris) or “Girls, Girls, Girls” (wines made by females). Chef Danny Grant adds his own bits of whimsy to the steakhouse fare, with a tower of wood-roasted seafood and a retro wedge salad. If you aren’t looking for a full-on feast, head to the bar downstairs, where cocktails come with upscale bar snacks like salmon tartare and herb-flecked burrata on toast. Check out the “neighborhood list” for bottles under $50, with buys like von Buhl 2012 Riesling Sekt and Raventós i Blanc 2013 Silencis.

8 W. Maple St., Chicago, Illinois

Seafood, Steakhouse

312-944-8888

Caitlin Griffith knew her future career would entail food and drink when, at the age of six, she munched an anchovy from her father’s Caesar salad thinking it as a small strip of bacon—and was more than pleasantly surprised. While enrolled in New York University’s Food Studies program, she learned the secrets of affinage in the caves of Murray’s Cheese.


This story appears in the print issue of April 2016.
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