We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are.-Adelle Davis

Fine Dining Tour of Chicago Day One: Zest and Table 52

This weekend was one of the tastiest of my life thanks to my mom visiting and her equally big appetite.

For lunch on Day One we ate at Zest, the restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel. I've always been attracted to eating at hotels, probably due to the combination of good food, luxury, and the allure of travel. I feasted on grilled medallions of beef tenderloins w/ gnocchi, artichokes, and fire roasted bell peppers. Delicious, tender beef that combined into an amazing flavor with the fire roasted bell peppers. However, definitely not enough artichokes and the gnocchi was a tad soggy.


Dinner was at Table 52, Art Smith's southern comfort restaurant, built to look like a southern home. All the tables are close to each other to encourage discussions with your neighbors, which adds to the southern feel.

They brought out two deviled eggs and a goat cheese biscuit to get things started. Delicious deviled eggs devoured in five seconds but that biscuit...wow. Goat cheese and herbs baked into a crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside biscuit. I would've been more than happy to eat that biscuit and call it a night. It was that good.

I got started with an arugula and blue cheese salad with candied pecans and a light Riesling dressing. Not an overwhelming amount of dressing and fresh arugula, I could just taste the vitamins. Moderate, not overwhelming blue cheese, which could've ruined the salad. And candied pecans are the perfect touch to anything. Divine!

Next came salmon with quinoa, pine nuts, golden raisins, and tomato beurre monte. Fresh and flavorful salmon that filled me up but didn't put me over the edge, like a good salmon. I'd always wanted to try quinoa, a grain seed, and it was pretty good, especially combined with the pine nuts. I could've done without the raisins though; I'm not a fan. We shared a side of the three-cheese macoroni and cheese...sinful. I don't even want to predict the nutritional information for that dish. But despite my fear, the extra cheesy noodles were worth every bite.

Dessert was a southern staple, pecan pie. Too bad I was so full I couldn't enjoy it all but the crust was flaky and the pecans crunchy and sweet. And the caramel is always the perfect touch.

These were excellent choices to kick off the culinary tour. The stakes were definitely raised for Day Two.