Simple and elegant, and yet ...

Nightwood's seasonal offerings were a mixed bag

07/22/2009 10:00 PM

By MELISSA ALBERT
Contributing Reporter

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Wood-grilled trout: $21

Dining
A windowed box on an evolving stretch of South Halsted, Nightwood feels appealingly out of the way, though it’s gotten a lot more ink — digital and print — than most recent restaurant openings.

The new restaurant from Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds, owners of Logan Square’s popular Lula Café, promises an ever-changing lineup of seasonal New American cuisine. Its warm, open interior holds a junkshop’s worth of salvaged-looking lamps, casting textured shadows on exposed brick walls and wood ceiling, and vintage-y auburn chairs are invitingly curvy.

The waitstaff seems happy to see you, offering still or carbonated water and handwritten menus. The open kitchen is an efficient hive of brushed silver, and the bar, complete with an espresso machine and a wall of retro-style glass cubes, gives the room focus. Even the well-designed outdoor seating trumps its curbside placement — it’s a covered haven in the spirit of an anniversary party tent. Nightwood as a space reflects the promise of the food: elegant, unpretentious.

The menu offered, however, on my recent trip, more nuanced-sounding dishes than it ultimately delivered. A starter of arugula salad ($8), a tangle of spicy greens enriched by slivers of smoked trout and rough-cut cubes of beet, was the tastiest, best-looking dish of the night. Less impressive was the gnocchi ($10), blobby (rustic?) and served with an underwhelming tomato and goat cheese mash. An entree of wood-grilled trout ($21), salty but good, was served on a pile of undercooked root vegetables, odd for a restaurant that’s made seasonality its calling card. The fatty toughness of a pork loin ($25), served with a piquant salad of shredded cabbage, wasn’t compensated by its pairing with a homely but delicious pool of caper- and apricot-infused creme fraiche, more appealing to me than the strictly sweet standard for pork accompaniments. Dessert, baked chocolate-hazelnut custard ($8) topped with a loose pile of whipped cream, was tasty, though the hazelnut flavor was difficult to detect.

A review of Nightwood is perishable, reflective of only one meal, as the menu is constantly changing. But the dinner I had was at odds with itself: plain in appearance as home cooking, it seemed marooned on large white restaurant plates.

Despite the ambition of the lovely menu, the food itself projects a perhaps calculated ease, which would only work if it was perfectly cooked and made with superlative ingredients. Dishes this simply done throw the spotlight on quality of elements and execution, and the meal I had was a mixed bag for both. I would like to give it a second chance — I love the space and the concept — but its prices, perched where you’d expect for a destination restaurant, make a return trip unlikely.





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