Viand Bar & Kitchen, which opened Dec. 10 on Ontario Street, seems to have a corner on “cute.” And that’s a compliment.
Interspersed in the windows outside the restaurant are small signs bearing such words as slurp, savor, sip, nibble, nosh and nip.
Inside, some of those same labels can be found on the parchmentlike menus, which come to the table on heavy rectangular boards. Dishes–including 20 small plates–have names like “bucket of bones,” “black & bleu beef” and “lamb lollipops.” The prix-fixe option is called “Pre Post Whatever.”
Then there are all the funky flourishes: Clean-lined flatware is set on an angle; neatly folded napkins sit atop a stack of small square plates; a sleek salt vessel is nested inside a chubby pepper shaker. At the end of the meal, the check comes clamped in a stylish paper-clip-on-a-stick.
With all this cute stuff around, you wouldn’t be surprised if you had to pass through a metal detector upon exiting. (You don’t.)
But if the crowds stay as light as they were the two times we visited (once on a Friday evening and once on a Tuesday afternoon), the high server-to-diner ratio may be enough of a theft deterrent.
Though general manager Marc Yanga (who worked previously at Michel Richard Citronelle restaurant in Washington, D.C.) said business so far has been “OK–we definitely have the word out,” Viand still appears to be a bit of a well-kept secret.
Maybe it’s the location, off Michigan Avenue and in the same building as the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel. Though Yanga says the hotel and restaurant operations are completely separate, Viand is accessible from the Courtyard lobby, it provides the hotel with room service, it’s owned by the same companies that own the hotel, and the chef (Jay Denham) worked previously for a Marriott property in Kentucky.
Still, it doesn’t feel like your average business-hotel restaurant.
Aside from the cool tableware, the room itself is attractive, with its exposed kitchen, burgundy booths, gear-shaped light fixtures and a trio of oversized vases gracing one alcove. Then there’s the food, which has its own virtues.
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Viand (pronounced vee-OND here, but VI-end in the dictionary) means an item of food or a delicious dish, and the menu encourages the whole sample/taste concept.
So does the bar, which offers “culinary cocktails,” including both savory and sweet martinis (listed on yet another fun metal contraption), each of which comes with some kind of little nosh–cheese-stuffed olives, apple squares–on the side.
Although Yanga says many tables are ordering a lot of small dishes to start and then moving on to entrees (including grilled tuna with vegetable risotto, filet mignon with cheese potatoes and green beans, and rum-glazed double pork chop with sweet potato hash), we were perfectly happy grazing among the small plates, bites (sandwiches) and vital victuals (side dishes).
With all these choices in so many creatively named categories, the menu can be a little confusing at first. We didn’t receive any guidance from our servers until we took on that dazed look, and asked how it all works.
Once we were enlightened, we ordered and dug in. The grilled lamb lollipops, two medium rare chops, were perfectly tender and servedwith a nice dab of mint sauce. The bucket of bones weren’t a mess of ribs, like you might expect; the dry-rub ribs come nestled in a tiny metal bucket with some sweet slaw and a tangle of tobacco onions. Poached salmon in a jar is just that: a hefty portion of rich and salty salmon spread served in the littlest Mason jar, with a side of crackers.
The grilled lobster and cheese is a decadent sandwich, with its ample helping of seafood and gruyere stuffed between slices of crispy brioche that are seemingly soaked in butter. It comes with a tiny cup of herbed tomato “soup,” but when we requested a spoon, we were told it is really more of a dipping sauce. The server-touted Kobe meatloaf, served with vegetable mash (basically mashed potatoes) and gravy, was good enough, but tasted pretty much like . . . meatloaf.
Viand caters to kids, too, with such entrees as shrimp’s cocktail and popcorn chicken. Like the popcorn calamari on the regular menu, the chicken comes piled in a small popcorn crock with some real popcorn. The hand-cut fries, crispy and good, cascade out of a metal flute with a sidecar of ketchup.
Such whimsical touches show that Viand, while obviously wanting diners willing to pay $9 for a munch martini and $23 for an entree, doesn’t want to be taken too seriously. In fact, Yanga says his goal is for it to become a neighborhood place–a destination for Chicagoans, not just a stop-in for tourists.
It has a fun and tasty menu–and all that cute stuff. Now it just needs more diners to notice.
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Viand is at 155 E. Ontario St.; 312-255-8505. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Mon.-Sun. Small plate prices $6-$8; entree prices $17-$25.