Class Act Finds a Permanent Home in Bucktown | Eater Chicago
"Conceived by chef Nicolai Mlodinow from his early college-era apartment dinners—where students even paid via Venmo—the restaurant grew from intimate 10-person tasting nights into itinerant pop-ups in River North and the West Loop before settling on a Bucktown location set to open this summer. The kitchen offers globally inspired, interactive and playful multi-course tasting menus (he plans a 13-course dinner with about 16 guests seated at one communal table) featuring comforting and inventive items such as an egg drop matzah ball soup and a zucchini blossom plated with nine different microgreens and parmesan mousse. Dinner will be priced around $200 per person, and the team intends to keep the exact dining-room address secret until reservations are made while operating a speakeasy-style bar—located publicly—along Damen Avenue. Trained at Temporis under Troy Jorge and influenced by chefs like Charlie Trotter, Mlodinow emphasizes food’s power to foster belonging and wants the service to encourage mingling among strangers, acknowledging some diners may balk at the price but welcoming fair critique as a challenge." - Ashok Selvam
