Proust had his madeleine, and we have Elysee, a new French restaurant on North State Street. About halfway through my first meal there I was suddenly transported back to the Paris I had first visited 20 years earlier. My husband and I were just out of school and felt recklessly extravagant in the possession of a few surplus dollars. What else to spend them on but food? La Tour d’Argent and Maxim’s would have been too extravagant, so we went often to a small family establishment near the Ecole Militaire, where the wiry proprietor welcomed regulars by name and led them to their special tables, while his wife sat watchfully at the cash register, scowling as she counted up the day’s receipts. In a far corner nearly out of view an older woman often sat in a dark woolen suit, picking daintily at her food and passing tiny bits to a diminutive dog on her lap.
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Our meals at that modestly priced, middle-class restaurant were never less than good–frequently they were excellent, and once or twice superb. Ever since we have been on the lookout for something similar but closer to home. Though citadels of haute cuisine have been around for some time in Chicago and ethnic eateries have been proliferating like mushrooms, there has been what might be called a Gallic gap in our culinary landscape–the absence of a reliable source of well-executed French cuisine that won’t wreck the bank balance. Elysee shows promise of filling that gap.
Diners can choose from a judicious sampling of la cuisine bourgeoise. Begin with a half dozen steamed oysters on the half shell, plump and pristine, drizzled with a silky sauce redolent of leeks ($4.50). Or try the excellent calves’ liver with two sauces–one dark and winy, the other pale and peppery ($2.95). Chicken pate–coarsely chopped chicken meat, chicken liver, and, occasionally, duck is studded with pistachios and served on a pool of sweet wine gravy flanked by poached pear and gherkins ($3.25). One evening’s special–six New Zealand green mussels steamed in white wine and cream and lightly kissed by lemon–was juicy and bursting with flavor ($4.95). Another time artichoke hearts ($3.50), bathed in a blue cheese sauce made from a mild French import, happily caught our fancy.
The limited wine list changes frequently and contains a few bottlings for the budget conscious. The Louis Latour chardonnay, a smooth, oaky bargain at $21, goes well with most of the food.
