Restaurant Week --- Part V

Restaurant Week, Part V aka Chef's Week, Part I

Last night's dinner was at Perennial. In a word, wow. So so good.

And for Chef's Week, the dinner was $30.

Starter: Pretzel roll

I just looked this up on the Daily Plate which, incidentally, is a great resource for finding nutritional information. It say 6 points per 3.5 oz roll. I might've had two. I'm in trouble for the rest of the meal! I did skip the butter though, so that's something...

Course One: Black Truffle Gnocchi, parsley root puree, hen of the woods mushrooms, frisee salad

This was listed as one of Food & Wine's Top Ten Dishes of 2009. And it's really phenomenal. It's semolina gnocchi and it appears to be baked.

I'm estimating 5 points for the dish.

This course on the regular menu is $12. And it's the same size. (We may have requested another order for the table.)

Course Two: Grilled Atlantic Salmon, butternut squash, caramelized brussels sprouts, mushrooms

I estimate that the fish was approximately 7 ounces (based on the how-big-is-your-hand test), which is 10 points.

This course on the regular menu is $20.

Course Three: Crispy Hazelnut Bar, milk chocolate, creme fraiche, chocolate caramel

The closest thing I could come up with is a Kit Kat bar + some Nutella + some creme fraiche + some chocolate caramel. 22.5 points.

That's a total of 56.5 points. FOR DINNER. (I hope I'm off in some of these calculations.) (Also there were 3 glasses of wine and a vodka drink.)

This course on the regular menu is $7.

It was an expensive dinner, points-wise, but probably one of the best meals I've had in Chicago.

I'll be at the gym tonight, for sure!