It takes effort to find Parachute, with its unassuming façade, but once inside, the challenge is forgiven as fragrant smells emanate from the open kitchen. This is Matty Colston’s first solo list, and his excitement is palpable in the selection—he’s stocked it with plenty of bubbles, and divided the wines into price tiers of $35, $45 and $55. (Yes, those are the correct prices. There’s also a “…more wine” list, a collection of one-off bottles, available for the curious.) The food invites experimentation with wine; a recent salad of boudin noir, fresh sprouts, crunchy kohlrabi and popped corn found a soul mate in a pét-nat from Andrea Calek, the Czech-born French-based vintner. For dessert, chefs Beverly Kim and John Clark turn out combinations like vanilla panna cotta topped with grapefruit, jasmine, rambutan and Thai white mushrooms, which Colston likes to pair with Laubade Floc de Gascogne, a mistelle of ugni blanc and colombard. Surprising? Yes, and delicious.
3500 N. Elston Ave, Chicago, Illinois
Korean
773-654-1460
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 June 2015.
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