Good bread is dying a slow, painful death in this country, its crackly crust chipped away every time a new fast-casual sandwich chain opens in a strip mall. Worse, what people understand as good bread dies too.
Focaccia has perhaps been the worst victim, so often presented as a dense, dry, lifeless brick sprinkled with asiago cheese and rosemary. Eat it enough, and you’ll be tricked to believe that is focaccia. If you’re my mom, you think it’s pretty good.
If this is striking a chord: Please, go eat the focaccia at Beacon Tavern. Tell your friends; shout it from the rooftops of Subway. The restaurant is the new off-Mag-Mile tavern from restaurateur Billy Lawless (The Gage), with the always-grinning chef Bob Broskey (Intro) at the helm, and if anything, it specializes in seafood, not Italian bread. But a pal tipped me off to the focaccia, baked in house by pastry chef Kevin McCormick (North Pond), and he was right.
The bread is delightfully light, with air pockets the size of quarters letting the dough breathe upward into a towering loaf. The outside is just a little crunchy, the inside soft with some bite, even better spread with the accompanying mini-football of perfectly room-temperature butter. You think you like butter with salt? Try it sprinkled with bottarga, tiny crystals of cured fish roe that bring saltiness and a bit of umami-rich funk. It’s a nice touch by Broskey, who jokes he just needed to get some kind of fish on the plate.
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For $6, you get two massive hunks. You think you’ll just have a little, won’t spoil your dinner, and then suddenly the wooden serving board is nothing but a sea of crumbs.
Beacon Tavern, 405 N. Wabash Ave., 312-955-4226, www.beacontavern.com
[email protected]
Twitter @marissa_conrad
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