Japonais
By Bee

‘So we’re still driving to Chicago to see your friends on the weekend, right?’ Paul chirped, eerily enthusiastic, from his spot in front of the computer screen as I entered the office.

‘Yeeess..?’

I should mention that when traveling in the United States, Paul and I usually spend some time in the Midwestern states. A born and bred city boy, Paul historically has not been enchanted by the combination of cornfields, basketball mania, and Wal-Mart that my home state of Indiana has to offer. Thus it was disconcerting to find him so suddenly chipper about the Midwest portion of our trip—but it was soon to be explained-

‘I’ve found Kobe Beef in Chicago!’

‘Really. Is he related to Kobe Bryant? Can he get us tickets to a Lakers-Bulls game?’

Paul gave me the stink eye. He loves a joke, just not at the expense of his food.

‘No, Kobe BEEF. It’s this special Japanese method of raising cows. They feed them beer, give them massages everyday and brush their coats with sake.’

‘Sounds like a great job. I think I’d like to be a cow masseur!'

‘The meat is supposed to be amazingly tender and well marbled.’

‘Oh… I don’t think I’d feel right massaging a cow everyday and then sending him to be slaughtered.’

‘But they’re happy cows… and too drunk to feel anything. The place just opened, it’s called Japonais --that’s French for “Japanese”, in case you were wondering--I’m calling to see if we can get a booking.'

‘Great. Let’s call Anne and see if she wants to go.'

A few weeks later, after a chilly walk from the Chicago “L” stop, we entered a foyer dominated by water shimmering down a glass wall. We then proceeded through the swank restaurant, decorated in reds, amber and burgundy. The grey concrete columns of the renovated industrial loft spaces were off-set by the columnar concrete-grey jackets worn by the waitstaff.

On a Sunday night, the restaurant was not too populated. The newly trained servers were friendly and knowledgeable, and worked to make the casual diner feel comfortable. Perhaps because it was early still, there were also a high number of busboys in proportion to the amount of customers.

Paul worried for a moment over this ‘Why are there so many people hovering around us? We haven’t ordered yet. I hope they won’t be taking my food away before I’m done!’

In truth, the plates appeared and disappeared at completely appropriate times. The staff was also very supportive of our plan to order many dishes to share between the three of us.

Among our selections were the Ka-Momo (duck salad) Shumai Flighto (crab shumai) Tuna Tuna Salmon, Soft Shell Crab Roll, and of course, the Kobe Prime Rib.

The duck salad was a tasty delight, perfectly dressed, and full of flavour. The crab shumai however, was mildly disappointing. Although it contained a generous portion of crab, it felt too similar to gyozas in the frozen food case at an up-market grocer. Paul and Anne deemed the Monkfish Fois Gras was rich and yummy.

To my less developed palate, the fois gras tasted like octopus-- not that that’s bad. My favorite dish was the Tuna Tuna Salmon. The fish was fresh and good, the wasabi mayonnaise dressing, inspired.

The soft shell crab roll was a little plain, served drizzled with a ponzu sauce that was too quickly absorbed by the dish--however the leftover wasabi mayonnaise made for an excellent alternate.

The moment of truth arrived, of course, with the KOBE PRIME RIB. The serving size was not embarrassing, but not overly large (especially when compared to its price tag of US$60), and was accompanied by a uni-hollandaise sauce and sweet potato French fries. Our reviews of this dish were as follows:

Anne: ‘More yummy than cow that doesn’t have a daily massage, and the uni-hollandaise is a perfect complement, but a sixty-dollar steak? It is not. The sweet potato fries are delicious.’
Paul: ‘Full flavoured. The hollandaise is a bit heavy but that can be reduced with the provided lime. The price is a bit steep, it’s almost not worth it. The fries were not disappointing.’
Bee says: ‘Looks very nice, especially decorated with that mysterious red tube- like garnish. Not being a meat fan however, I’ll limit myself to saying that the fries receive an A+, and one shouldn’t be afraid to order an extra side of the wasabi mayo for dipping.’

We capped off the evening with an array of desserts. ‘Coffee and Donuts’ were cutely but inaccurately named beignets with a hazelnut filling, accompanied by a green tea semi-freddo. (Semi-freddo is pretty much ice-cream, though Anne informed us that it is technically a frozen soufflé) The beignets reminded us of the Chinese-style donuts they served at Asian restaurants for breakfast. Both the green tea ice cream and the hazelnut filling were pleasant, but neither could truly match the heavy texture of the dough. The condensed milk that generally comes with Chinese donuts would have been a welcome addition.

The Almond Crème Brulee had a perfect crust but was on the runny side. We tried to use it as a dipping sauce for the beignets, but again it suffered in comparison to condensed milk.

The Dark Chocolate Mascarpone was beautifully presented, studded with raspberries and blackberries and plated asymmetrically on a geometric shadow of powdered cocoa, but unfortunately it was served too cold and hard. Said Anne, ‘If only they’d followed Sarah Lee’s instructions and thawed for one hour before serving.’

Overall, the restaurant was fun and impressive to see for the first time, it would be enjoyable to come with a group or bring someone else new…much like taking someone to a movie you’ve already seen just so that you can watch their responses. But for the money, it was not a place we would frequent repeatedly.

Note…We visited this restaurant soon after its opening in October 2003. Like all things, it has changed and evolved since that time, garnering some stellar, and some less than stellar reviews on various sites such as Citysearch.

Japonais. French/Japanese fusion.
600 W Chicago
Chicago

1-312-822-9600
Web Site: www.japonaischicago.com