Uptown's Intimate Tasting Room
Brass Heart in Uptown has built one of Chicago's quietest and most-respected Michelin-starred operations. A small dining room, a single tasting menu format, and Chef Matt Kerney's parallel omnivore-and-vegetarian tasting. The same number of courses, the same level of technique, the diner choosing which path to take.
The cooking is contemporary American with restraint: careful sourcing, considered seasonal courses, the discipline of a kitchen that has decided what it wants to do and refuses to expand its remit.
What to Expect
Order the tasting. Choose your path between omnivore and vegetarian. Expect ten or so courses moving across raw fish, vegetable showpieces, slow-cooked proteins, and the closing dessert sequence. Wine pairings are short and considered.
The Vegetarian Path
The vegetarian tasting is a serious commitment from the kitchen, not an afterthought. Vegetable courses receive the same level of technique as the meat-and-fish courses, and the result is one of the more thoughtful plant-forward tasting programmes in the city.
Best Occasion: Anniversary
An anniversary at Brass Heart is one of Chicago's quieter celebration moves. The intimacy of the room, the multi-course pacing, the wine programme. Combine into the kind of evening anniversary dinners are built around. The omnivore-or-vegetarian format gives both diners agency over the meal.