Restaurant Week 2013: Vermilion and Cafe Spiaggia

This is part of a series of posts about Chicago Restaurant Week, held February 1–10, 2013.

Dinner at Vermilion

Best Bite: I was partial to dessert, a mango-cardamom flan that made for a creamy, aromatic finish to our Latin-Indian fusion meal. The lychee and tart cranberry garnishes set off the flan nicely, though I wish there had been more than one piece of lychee. See full menu.

Other notes: Also enjoyed the caldeirada de peixe (Brazilian seafood stew), loaded with seafood and the right amount of heat, and artichoke pakoras made a nice, street food-inspired starter. Service was a little off, though, and the setup of the menu itself wasn’t the best value – an $11 upgrade to normal entree portions made the tasting almost cost more than the sum of the courses. Liked the lighting and red decor.

The details: Vermilion, 10 W Hubbard St., Chicago.

Lunch at Cafe Spiaggia

Best Bite: This one was a tie. My entree’s gnocchi were impossibly fluffy, perhaps the best texture of any gnocchi I’ve tasted, with a meaty ragu that wasn’t too thick. And then there were the bomboloni, a heavenly trio of Italian doughnuts for dessert. Again, I was impressed by the airy texture (they weren’t greasy at all!) and the apple-cinnamon compote and poppyseed sugar recalled all the comfort of cider doughnuts from my local orchard growing up – just in a more refined package. See full menu.

Other notes: Lovely first-course ribollita soup, with tomatoes, kale, and cannellini beans. Excellent service and pleasant view of Michigan Avenue and the lake, even on a gray, slushy day.

The details: Cafe Spiaggia, 980 N Michigan Ave., Chicago.