Out to Lunch: Travelle
330 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago
Travellechicago.com, 312-923-7705
Who eats: Mostly businesspeople, some guests of The Langham, the attached luxury hotel, and ladies who lunch.
Why eat: Interesting, upscale food in a highly sophisticated setting
Ambience: Bright, elegant and modern. Catching your eye first are the floor-to-ceiling windows, which offer unvarnished views of the parking at Marina City. But there’s also the spotless kitchen, in a completely transparent glass box at the back center of the room, which is more like a performance-art stage. Light-hued Scandinavian-influenced wood-and-leather chairs are comfortable, but make sure to check your coat; it’s impossible to wrap one around the curved armrests. There’s nary a dark surface in the dining room, save for the rich red-leather place mats that had a tendency to slide around a bit on the blond wood tables, each with its own vase of fresh flowers. A private dining area sits behind a glass-encased wall of wine near the host stand, which also separates the less-formal-but-still-fancy lounge from the main dining room.
Dress code: Business. A couple of hoodies here and there, but they were worn by kids, and likely hotel guests.
Noise factor: Fairly loud when the room got full, but not enough to challenge conversation at tables, which are well spaced.
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Overheard: “I mean, he’s not far from Indianapolis, which is fantastic.”
Service: Still working out the kinks, but the aim is clearly high-class professionalism. Even without a reservation, I was asked my name at the host stand and addressed repeatedly throughout the experience as “Mr. Frost.” The servers and their aides, all clad in formalwear, made a valiant attempt to deliver each course to everyone at our table at once, but a failure to clear dishes from previous courses complicated the task. Nonetheless, there was clear attention to detail in the way the food was presented and explained.
Cellphone reception/Wi-Fi: Full cell.
Reservations: None needed on a recent weekday. But if you’re taking out clients, you ought to make sure.
Menu: Modern Mediterranean that skews Middle Eastern or North African.
Reliable options: The menu starts with a list of nine small plates meant to share, including four vegetarian dishes, which impressed one of our meat-avoiding table mates. The falafel ($12) features a handful of small pieces of the fried chickpea concoction, served with a bright, yogurt-based cucumber salad and a flavor-packed vadouvan sauce, the French take on an Indian masala. Pillow-soft on the inside, the falafel had a nice crunchy exterior but was slightly overcooked. A merguez sausage flatbread ($15) with olives and thyme was simple and pleasantly salty.
Five salads come next, ranging in price from $9 to $21, offering plenty of lighter options for the waist-watching set.
Sandwiches, which come with the choice of a basic house salad or heavily seasoned fries, include a perfectly cooked Moroccan lamb burger ($21) smothered with an olive relish and pickled feta. For vegetarians, there’s a $14 butternut squash melt, in which hunks of tender squash are paired with a mild cheese and caramelized onions and pressed between two thin house-made pitas. The generous portion was pleasant, but not memorable. The $28 hanger steak, on the other hand, was juicy and tender with just the right amount of charred edges. Sliced into bite-sized chunks and cooked to a flawless medium, it was served with a tangy bagna cauda sauce on the side.
Pan-roasted char ($24) was similarly delicious, served skin-side-up over a bed of cooked spinach and caramelized onions. If we had one complaint, it was that the crispy skin was nearly impossible to cut with the dull fish knife.
For dessert, the Nutella baklava ($9) was as indulgent as it sounds, plated with tiny beads of balsamic vinegar and thin crisps of chocolate studded with toffee. Again, though, we had problems cutting the pastry to share, its dense bottom proving impervious to our forks. Even though it ended up flying off the plate more than once, that didn’t deter us from devouring every last bit.
Expect to pay: $35-$45 per person with tax and tip.
Twitter @peterfrost