Photos by Laurie Proffitt
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ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO
Come again? And again and again. This Bucktown baby is well worth repeating. By Nancy Ross Ryan
Did Proprietor Sean Herron and Chef/Partner Jonathon Harootunian (who also collaborate in Meritage Cafe and Wine Bar) have a hidden healthy agenda when they created ECHO with its tasting-portions menu? Most certainly that's not the reason to go -- repeatedly -- to this exciting, grazing venue that opened in mid-November last year. But intentionally or not, they are pioneering a restaurant trend that anticipates the next dietary dictum: eat smaller portions. Beginning last year, the voices of dietary gurus were raised, and this year they are pointing fingers at the oceanic portions that most restaurants serve. Trust me, you will be hearing and reading more about this. Not that diners complain, mind you. But one of the culprits in our growing obesity, experts say, is our general failure to recognize what size a standard portion of anything -- pasta, meat, fish -- really is. If you eat at ECHO you don't have to worry; everything comes in the serving size (or slightly less) that we should be eating.
A more apparent trend that Herron and Harootunian have captured at ECHO is the tasting menu. Before ECHO, in order to treat your tastebuds to a wide variety of dishes at one sitting, you'd have to go to a pricey fine-dining restaurant with a prix fixe tasting menu (and the prix is usually fixed pretty high), or else to a tapas-style restaurant. Or else order all appetizers and get all paranoid that the waiter will dis you because your check and his tip are going to be below average. At ECHO? Forget these troubles. The menu is divided into 14 each hot and cold tasting portions -- plus seven desserts -- and in addition to a respectable wine list, there is a interesting, eclectic, by-the-glass list. How often do you see Cabernet Franc, Malvasia, and white and red Meritage by the glass? This list also offers several tasting portions, so you can create your own flight. All this and some really good Champagne -- Veuve Cliquot and Pommery -- by the glass.
Happily, the food is very good, thanks to the sure hand of Chef de Cuisine Dirk Flanigan, who paid his kitchen dues starting at the age of 14, and began his apprenticeship at The Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. There he experienced the multi-ethnic cuisines of Southwest Florida: Asian, Spanish, Mexican and Caribbean. He was seasoned by his posts in Chicago as chef de cuisine at Pane Caldo restaurants and Raw Bar and Grill, and executive chef at Madam B and Affair. His familiarity with diverse cuisines puts ECHO's global food on solid ground.
Some surface impressions: For industrial design, ECHO is surprisingly mellow -- considering that Sean Herron (designer and builder) makes use of raw materials: brick, steel and concrete, and the restaurant is long and narrow. The long pewter-colored metal bar is illuminated by lights that hang down from the ceiling and look a little bit like square glass handkerchiefs floating to the ground. It's very inviting, congenial, and, on Saturday nights, crowded two-deep. The table tops are concrete and the narrow, oblong black rubber place mats are pretty and practical. They permit the waiters to serve and remove plates with nary a klonk or a rasping scrape. Each table is set with a small, clear square glass plate. One night (when no bread and butter appeared at all), our waiter told us the glass plates were so we could share our dishes. My companion and I obliged and had a stereophonic experience: We tasted the tastings. On two succeeding nights, a plate of moist, dense, nicely structured country bread appeared with a little dish of two delicious butters: blue cheese-herb and sweet Thai red pepper. On those occasions our waiter informed us the plates were for bread and butter. Can't fool us. We used them for both bread and sharing.
Our servers were always cheerful, considering the very narrow space between tables they had to navigate, and able to describe the food, preparation, ingredients -- and willing to make recommendations. But one Saturday night, ECHO started getting crowded by 7:30 and by 8:00 it was s a zoo. Not surprisingly service that night was slow. Where to sit: If you have a choice, since you cannot make reservations except for parties of six or more, sit up front in the windows, along the left wall as you enter, or out on the year round patio. The middle tables closest to the bar often suffer territorial encroachment from the bar crowd when business is at its peak.
Three cold dishes are standouts: Tuna Tuna Tuna for two ($19), Chilled War-Mein Noodles ($7) and Main Crab Napoleon ($9). Tuna for two, served in a shiny steel dish that curves like a snake, included tuna maki roll, a little poki (Hawaiian ceviche) and sashimi with wasabi, ginger, pickled daikon, a soy syrup and a little watercress salad. The war-mein come in a big black plate with a spicy peanut sauce, shredded cucumber, chilies and cilantro. the plate is drizzled with two hot sauces, one hotter than the other. The combination of textures and hot spicy tastes is tantalizing. The crab Napoleon consists of shredded crab piled on small crisp house-baked crackers, accented with an oven-dried tomato-caper vinaigrette. This is a very small and very tasty tasting and easy to gobble up in three bites.
Still with the cold tastings: I was less impressed with the Peppered Venison Carpaccio ($10). The carpaccio was fairly bland, even though the sprinkling of pepper on the venison and the plate helped; the accompanying vegetable salad was nondescript but the piquant spiced chutney that came with it was first class. The Cheese Plate ($9), however, was flawless. Our waiter told us the cheeses change from week to week. Not only the staple blue cheese selection changes, but unusual cheeses are added. That evening there were five cheeses, among them was a golden, semi-firm, very mellow manchego from Spain. The cheese plate was garnished with sliced apples, seedless red grapes, several good, interesting crackers, and perfectly toasted, crunchy hazelnuts. For sheer good looks, we tried the Seared Beef Salad ($10) after we saw it pass our table. Thin slices of tenderloin are tossed with a very mild mango horseradish dressing and cellophane noodles, red onion, cucumber and green papaya, and then piled into a taco-shaped crisp white rice cracker.
Hot tastings: Who could resist trying Two Soups, One Bowl ($6)? We couldn't. A large, shallow bowl was indeed filled with two soups -- richly roasted carrot and smoked onion. The soup was garnished with a puddle of (the menu said chervil, the waiter said scallion) crème fraîche (never mind it was excellent) and one side was topped with crispy, crunchy fried onions. That was so good we really wished for more. Couldn't they just double it? Two X Two Soups, One Bowl.
Pan Fried Rock Shrimp Cake ($10) turned out to be two crisply sauteed small cakes of chopped shrimp served on top of hot pineapple pieces that had been glazed with a sweet star anise syrup. A dab or two of fragrant basil oil dotted the plate, adding a nice flavor contrast. But the sweet potato "hay" that garnished the plate was crispy and pleasant but flavorless compared to the shrimp and pineapple.
Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart ($9) was my least favorite dish of the evening. It was a tiny quiche, flavorful enough, served with a little green salad, but it was still quiche and was upstaged by the rest of the menu, for example Black Bean Potstickers ($7). Two spicy little fried dumplings stuffed with black beans were set on the plate beside a small white paper Chinese food carryout carton. From this carton spilled and careened crisply fried white rice noodles topped with shredded beets. Underneath the noodles were two more potstickers and for dipping the little darlings there was both a mild soy-based sauce and a spicy sambal.
Hot seafood tastings tried all rang true. Coriander Seared Hebi ($11) was seared on the perimeter and still rare in the middle. The flavor was somewhat like swordfish, and nicely complemented by the bitter red chard with its caramelized onion and mushroom broth, lemony potatoes and garlic puree softened and tinted with scallions. Pan Seared Sea Scallops ($12) are outstanding: The naturally sweet scallops top a tiny truffled asparagus-endive salad, and the crowning touch is an unctuous foie gras broth.
The dessert menu has already undergone a few changes and no doubt the future will bring some additions and subtractions. So in case it may leave the menu, do hurry in for the Warm Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cake ($6) -- dense and sinful, bedecked with chocolate and vanilla sauces, solid chocolate spikes, and a curry ice cream. It works. Bread Pudding ($6) comes in two triangles, set askew, with butterscotch ice cream. But what distinguishes this bread pudding is that it is baked with cherries and studded with white chocolate. Pistachio Mousse ($7) is a rather bright green, but tastes like pistachios, and is tiled with sliced strawberries. It's set atop a tiny circle of dark and sweet blackberry bread and garnished with fresh blackberries and a thick warm chocolate sauce.
My recommendation: Although the desserts are good, the tastings are better and more of an adventure. If you have three tastings per person, and change wines with courses (remember the tasting portions of wine), dessert can easily be shared. While not large, dessert portions are big enough to share.
I was waxing enthusiastic about dining at ECHO to a meat-and-potato lover, who remained skeptical about the pleasures of variety over quantity. "Just try it," I urged. "After all, if you find something you really relish, there is no law that says you can't order seconds."
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