PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

Chef Shawn McClain won raves for his seafood at Spring, and then proved Chicagoans would flock to an off-the-beaten-path, mostly vegetarian restaurant with Green Zebra. With Custom House, his third restaurant, McClain has proved he does pretty well with red meat, too. Although the menu has a decent seafood section, the highlights here are strictly carnivore, from the rich, almost buttery short rib (served with horseradish-flavored cream puffs) to the pork chop accompanied by pork-stuffed cannelloni and wild mushrooms. This isn't knock-your-socks-off dining; you won't be dazzled with flavored foams or other culinary tricks, but McClain has a masterful touch with seemingly simple ingredients and a knack for mixing unexpected flavors. (Take, for example, the seemingly straightforward spinach salad, which is livened up with thick chunks of salty bacon, roasted shiitake mushrooms and hazelnuts). The prices strike me as fairly high for such simplicity, but the service is top-notch and the setting sophisticated, with velvet-upholstered booths that allow for quiet conversation and large windows looking out onto the surrounding cityscape.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Chicago 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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