This is part of a series of posts about Chicago Restaurant Week 2022, held March 25–April 10. To browse past Restaurant Week coverage between 2013 and 2021, click here.
Best Bite: Proxi has been on my list to try for a while, and the mostly family style Restaurant Week menu allowed us to try 12 different dishes inspired by cuisines across Asia. The steamed curry custard with generous lump crab on top was the most unique bite, comforting yet elegant. I also couldn’t get enough of the salmon salad, perfectly dressed with coconut, peanut, and heat from the chiles.
Other notes: Among the other highlights were the roasted heirloom carrots, well spiced with creamy tahini, and an especially excellent version of shrimp toast where the topping and bread melded into singular goodness. My favorite of the heartier dishes was the wood-grilled pork tenderloin, which came with a smoked peanut mole sauce that I wanted to drink by the gallon.
All three desserts were outstanding, from the purple corn sorbet with warmed spiced pineapple jam, to the cardamom-laced mango kulfi with a beautiful shortbread tuile, to the coffee-chocolate opera cake with a s’mores-like combination of accompaniments. And it was a bonus to sit at the counter in view of the kitchen, with chef Andrew Zimmerman (also of Sepia) expediting.
The details: Proxi, 565 W Randolph St., Chicago.