Resy’s Guide to Off Menu Week Chicago

Paul Kahan’s jewel box of a space is delving into its roots, with a playfully modern menu that spans the Mediterranean. Think a reinvented Spanish paella brimming with confit chicken, morcilla sausage, shrimp, and tangerine aioli; or the baklava sundae, with burnt honey gelato, spiced walnuts, and pistachios with fried kataifi. There’s also a bourbon sour with a red wine float, and a mezze platter, the essence of avec on a plate.

This boisterous Mexican eatery is venturing beyond its taco-slinging chops, for a deeper dive into Mexican street bites. So, get yourself to Big Star Wrigleyville for off menu hits like pozole verde (braised pork in a jalapeño-poblano broth), albondigas (beef-and-pork meatballs) with yellow mole and peanut matcha, blue corn tlacoyo (a fatter, oval-shaped tortilla) stuffed with creamy cheese and cactus, and an ode to summer’s end: a cinnamon sugar-coated churro pop.

Inspired by a trip to one of France’s most famous oyster ports, chef Paul Kahan and his team are focusing on the flavors of the coastal town of Cancale. There’ll be a fried clam boat to warm your soul, a savory galette complète that’ll put all other crêpes to shame, the iconic Paris Brest (a coffee and hazelnut dessert), and a Cancale negroni—with Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac—to toast it all.

This family-owned Filippino eatery is flipping the script this Off Menu Week, transforming  traditional soups into deconstructed, unexpected entrées. There’s the linat-ang baka (a twist on the braised beef soup with bone marrow and squash purée), nilarand nga salmon (a revamp of the traditional fish stew from the island of Cebu, the broth reduced to a heady sauce), and Magellan’s dessert: leche flan with ube cake and shredded manchego.

The pasta destination that is Daisies isn’t the sort of place where you’d find red-sauce staples. Yet that is precisely what the riveting eatery will be exploring come October, with a joyous, four-course, family-style feast. The Italian-American preparations will include porchetta di testa (pig head’s roulade), calamari fritti with Calabrian aioli, potato gnocchi sauced in beef heart Bolognese, chicken Marsala with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, and, for dessert, tiramisu.

Wicker Park’s favorite greasy spoon is toying with Tex-Mex classics that haven’t graced the menu just yet. Make a Resy for Off Menu Week and fill your belly with battered and fried, Oaxaca-stuffed chile relleno; shrimp and grits with head-on prawns, collard greens, and pickled fresno peppers; sweet corn esquites; and chicken tinga tostada with refried beans and cabbage slaw.

The Vietnamese stunner with a bevy of accolades is bringing out the big guns with a stunning five-course tasting ($44). Served family-style, get ready to dive into Gỏi Đu Đủ (papaya salad with beef jerky and cilantro), Gà Kho Măng (braised chicken with lemongrass and young bamboo), and the brand-new Xíu Mại (Vietnamese pork meatballs and stewed tomato), before ending with a plate of exotic fruit.

For Off Menu Week, the handsome Edgewater neo-bistro is letting its sous chefs and cooks take the lead. The resulting plates are pared-down and elegant, and feature highlights such as stuffed squid with Robuchon-inspired potatoes, pork coppa with collards and a clam vinaigrette, and dark chocolate tart with chestnut cream and cranberries available either à la carte or as a set menu.

This Chicago institution is putting its seven days of experimentation to good use, producing dishes the chefs have long been thinking about, but have never had the chance to serve. Highlights include an oven-roasted scallop, flecked with yuzu and flying fish roe; harissa-braised lamb shoulder; and an unlikely (but delectable) chocolate crémeux with parsnips in every form, from chips to malted milk.

Inspired by his travels and the market’s very best ingredients, The Promontory’s chef Carlos Cruz is whipping up a sensorial $55 prix-fixe for Off Menu Week. Start with a chestnut foie shooter amuse, before indulging in heftier plates: foie torchon with duck fat biscuits, oyster mushroom tamale (with spice pepitas, ground cherries, and black mole), and a chocolate cake with sweet potato ganache.

As a bombastic ode to simple farmhouse cuisine, The Publican is doling out seasonally-tuned, belly-warming fare for Off Menu Week. Take the skate wing, dotted with sunchokes and persimmons, which come from a farm the kitchen holds near and dear. Or the speck (swiped from PQM’s butcher case) with brun ussto and Jonagold apples plucked from Klug Farm. There’s also a panzanella topped with crumbly cheese from Kahan’s new cookbook, and a tribute to New England: a decadent apple pumpkin sundae.

Summer produce has given way to the crisp, bright days of fall, and Tied House’s Debbie Gold is capitalizing on these transitioning flavors for her seasonal Off Menu Week menu. There’s winter squash porridge peppered with crab and mushrooms, Chatham cod with blueberries and savoy cabbage, house-made tagliatelle slicked with boar and goat cheese, and sweet gianduja mousse dotted with caramel and hazelnut.

This game-changing Southern restaurant is putting forth a gripping menu, inspired by the African-American men and women who provided food and service throughout the country. Titled “unrationed,” chef Erick Williams highlights bold yet approachable ingredients rooted in the south, to compose a complex and layered menu. Expect sweet potato soup laced with cashews and cinnamon, trout with black eyes peas and pimento peppers, ribeye in its natural juices, and a pecan tart with brown butter pears and sour cream gelato.