Imagine sitting down at a world-renowned restaurant, anticipating a meal that transcends mere sustenance and becomes a true experience. You expect exquisite flavors, impeccable service, and presentations that verge on art. Yet, the sheer scale of precision, creativity, and tireless effort happening behind the scenes to deliver such an evening often remains a mystery. The culinary journey at a place like Michelin-starred Esmé is a testament to this unseen dedication, where every dish is a meticulously crafted narrative.
The video above offers a rare glimpse into the complex operations and ingenious techniques that bring Esmé’s wildly creative menu to life. Here, we delve deeper into the artistry, science, and unwavering commitment required to execute such an ambitious gastronomic vision, highlighting specific dishes and the philosophies that guide their creation at this innovative Chicago establishment.
Crafting the Opening Act: Esmé’s Inventive Canapés
The experience at Esmé begins long before the main courses arrive, with an array of meticulously designed canapés setting a tone of whimsical elegance. Each bite is a prelude, showcasing the kitchen’s technical prowess and playful approach to flavor.
The Rabbit Consommé Eggshell
Guests are first presented with a delicate rabbit consommé, served ingeniously within a ceramic eggshell, crowned with a vibrant pea foam. This initial offering is not merely a taste; it’s an introduction to Esmé’s innovative presentation and commitment to layered flavors.
The Plum and Fava Bean Tart
Another intricate component is the plum and fava bean tart, a creation demanding extreme precision. Chefs carefully remove plum seeds, replacing them with a subtle harrop purée, then shingle cured kimmandai from Japan onto the tart. This kimmandai undergoes a meticulous six-hour kombu cure, intensifying its umami notes and creating a truly unique textural experience.
The Labor-Intensive Almond Tart
Following this, the almond tart further exemplifies the kitchen’s commitment to labor-intensive processes. Whole almonds are blanched, then sliced paper-thin before being meticulously shingled into a delicate floral pattern. Beneath this crunchy layer, a house-made farmer’s cheese, infused with puréed fava beans, provides a creamy counterpoint. Topped with mustard and thyme, it offers a sophisticated bite, reminiscent of charcuterie flavors in a single, refined package.
Japanese A5 Wagyu Carpaccio
The culinary team also prepares a striking wagyu carpaccio, featuring Japanese A5 wagyu sliced incredibly thinly. These delicate slices are rolled before service and assembled fresh as guests arrive, ensuring peak quality and flavor. This dish is then paired with black garlic, perfectly seasonal strawberries, and shiso, creating a rich yet balanced flavor profile.
The Iconic Partridge in Clay: A Signature Esmé Experience
One of Esmé’s most recognized and beloved dishes involves cooking partridge in a sculpted clay vessel. This method, while not entirely new to cuisine, is elevated to an art form here, combining historical technique with modern presentation.
Preparing the Partridge
The process begins with butchering fresh partridge, which is then submerged in a flavorful brine for approximately twenty-four hours. This extended brining period is crucial for osmosis, allowing the bird to absorb salt and moisture, ensuring it remains plump and tender during cooking. The chefs emphasize working a day ahead, illustrating the rigorous planning inherent in a Michelin-starred kitchen.
The Morel Mushroom and Foie Gras Mousse
Next, a rich sausage mousse is prepared, blending morel mushrooms and foie gras with an array of spices and salt. Temperature control is paramount during this stage; the mixture is spun until it reaches a precise forty degrees Fahrenheit, with a strict fifty-five-degree limit to maintain its emulsified texture. Keeping ingredients as cold as possible throughout the process is essential for achieving the perfect consistency.
Stuffing and Sculpting
After the mousse is ready, it’s carefully piped into a cavity created between the partridge’s skin and breast, ensuring the bird retains its natural shape. A layer of roasted lettuce acts as a crucial barrier between the bird and the clay, preventing the edible but less palatable clay from adhering directly. The clay itself is a marvel, sculpted around the bird with the aid of a foundation to streamline a previously entirely hand-sculpted process. This step requires immense skill, ensuring a uniform fit to prevent the bird from shifting during baking and ensuring even cooking.
The Dramatic Reveal
The clay-encased partridges are roasted for forty-five minutes to an hour. Upon arrival at the table, the sculptural clay vessel is dramatically broken open with a hammer, revealing the perfectly cooked bird within. This theatrical presentation enhances the dining experience, showcasing the effort and creativity invested in each dish. The juice truly is worth the squeeze, as the encasement provides another profound layer of flavor and moisture.
Refreshing Interludes: Tomato, Watermelon, and Artisanal Bread
Midway through the Esmé menu, brighter, more refreshing courses offer a palate cleanse, while the bread service demonstrates a mastery of classic baking techniques.
Tomato Gelée and Watermelon
A vibrant tomato gelée, crafted from heirloom tomato water and set with agar and gelatin, provides a beautiful clear liquid. This is then used to set slices of watermelon, creating a visually stunning and refreshing dish. A sidecar of hollowed-out watermelon, serving as a lid, covers a delicate crab salad, introducing contrasting textures and temperatures. The crab salad, accented with an XO sauce and a mustard-based dressing from crab scraps, adds a delightful crunch and heat.
The Laminated Cornbread
Esmé’s laminated cornbread has become a signature staple, described as a “love marriage between cornbread and croissant.” This involves a complex lamination process using active dry yeast, water, and sugar to kick-start the yeast, then combining sifted bread flour, salt, and rehydrated cornmeal. The key to its success lies in using European butter, which has less water content than its American counterparts. This high-fat butter makes the dough less brittle during lamination, allowing for the creation of numerous distinct layers. After an overnight bulk fermentation, the dough is meticulously rolled and folded, then braided to exaggerate its intricate layers, which become beautifully exposed during proofing and baking.
Dover Sole: A Masterclass in Fish Butchery
Gustavo Mejia Alfaro’s innovative approach to Dover sole transforms it into a “rack” or “tomahawk” cut, showcasing an unparalleled understanding of fish butchery.
The “Tomahawk” Cut
The process involves carefully skinning the Dover sole while preserving specific side bones, creating a distinctive fan-like shape at the tail. This intricate butchery, inspired by chefs like Peter Luger and Thomas Keller, highlights the skill required to transform a delicate fish into a robust, bone-in presentation. The fish is seasoned internally with salt and then adorned with a mosaic (mossec) of thinly sliced zucchini and yellow squash, shingled meticulously across its surface. This is then gently wrapped, vacuum-sealed, and sous-vide cooked for about twenty-eight minutes, reaching a perfect medium-rare doneness.
Finishing and Presentation
After cooking, the fish is precisely trimmed at the bottom to allow it to stand upright on the plate. The bones are blanched for a few seconds to loosen any remaining meat, making them easy to clean and present cleanly. The interior of the fish is completely deboned, ensuring a seamless eating experience where the only bone visible is the intentional “tomahawk.” The Dover sole is then briefly steamed before plating, presented with a modern interpretation of Sole Veronique, blending French influences with other thoughtful flavors.
Art, Ingredients, and Operational Harmony at Esmé
Beyond the dishes themselves, Esmé’s philosophy integrates local artistry and a relentless pursuit of perfection in its daily operations.
Culinary and Artistic Collaborations
Every four months, Esmé collaborates with a local artist, transforming the dining space into a gallery. Local Chicagoan Meghan Borah’s work, featured in the video, included custom plateware for the salad course. Chef Jenner Tomaska emphasizes how the palette of the salad dressings directly influenced Borah’s vibrant “summery” color scheme, creating a cohesive sensory experience between food and art.
The Seasonal Salad Course
The salad course itself is a dynamic creation, reflecting the freshest daily and weekly harvests from local farmers like Mike Murphy. Starting with a hearty foundation of romaine, chefs build a “bouquet” using three types of pea tendrils: Kelvin, verde, and yellow. The philosophy behind the salad is to balance sweetness, acidity, and herbaceousness, achieved through components like orange, celery, aged carrots, fermented honey, and acidic elements from rose and beet. Dressed simply with yuzu and olive oil, the guest is encouraged to interact with the dish, using their hands to pick up the bouquet and “paint” it across three distinct purées on the plate, tasting each element separately and then together. This interactive approach encourages guests to engage deeply with the food’s artistry and flavor profile.
The Pulse of the Kitchen: Precision and Consistency
The kitchen operates with military precision, with the team arriving at eleven, conducting a full breakdown at 2:30, and staff meal at 3:00. A critical daily ritual occurs at four o’clock: a tasting of all sauces, purées, and menu items. This collaborative tasting, involving multiple chefs, ensures nothing is “out of whack,” guaranteeing a consistent, high-quality experience for every guest. From adjusting acidity in a rose sauce to ensuring melon flavor or proper seasoning in a fennel purée, every detail is scrutinized. Chefs return to service only after all adjustments are made, ensuring every element of Esmé’s menu meets exacting standards. The physical demands are immense, as illustrated by Noah Lorenz, who humorously notes losing thirty pounds working at his station, a testament to the intensity of fine dining kitchen work.
Beyond the Mise En Place: Your Questions for Esmé’s Culinary Creativity
What kind of restaurant is Esmé?
Esmé is a Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant located in Chicago, renowned for its highly creative and artistic approach to cuisine.
What makes Esmé’s menu special?
Esmé’s menu is special because it features wildly creative dishes and innovative culinary techniques, turning meals into an artistic and unforgettable experience.
What is the ‘Partridge in Clay’ dish?
The ‘Partridge in Clay’ is one of Esmé’s signature dishes where a partridge is cooked inside a sculpted clay vessel, which is dramatically broken open at the table for guests.
Does Esmé offer any unique bread options?
Yes, Esmé is known for its laminated cornbread, which is described as a unique blend of traditional cornbread and a flaky croissant, featuring many delicate layers.
How does Esmé combine food with art?
Esmé regularly collaborates with local artists, transforming the dining space into a gallery and sometimes even incorporating custom-designed plateware to enhance the sensory dining experience.