I recently went to weekend brunch at Andersonville's Appellation ( 5212 N. Clark St.; PastoralArtisan.com/appellation )which I could also seemingly call Pastoral/Appellation, as the 75-seat bistro is an extension of the Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine business located at the same address.
Something that surprised me was the fact that there weren't too many diners at Appellation at 11 a.m. Maybe people were still adjusting to the recent time change. ( I know I've had my struggles. )
Hopefully, the place was bustling after I left because the bistro has quite the impressive brunch.
Appellation has a wide-ranging selection of dishes ( including sweet and savory items as well as sandwiches )and, much to her credit, the server was candid with me and my dining companion about which dishes worked better than others ( which might have saved this write-up from going in a different direction ).
To start, she was on the money about trying the grapefruit mimosa. I'm not a huge fan of grapefruits, but this Ruby Red concoction was refreshing and VERY delicious.
Regarding the culinary fare, we started with arborio rice porridge, accompanied with poached pears and honeycomb brittle. For some reason, this initially gave me pausebut I would return for this dish alone. The dish was almost comforting, with the right amount of sweetness.
For the main dish, my friend had the smoked whitefish tartine with fennel apple salad and pickled mustard seed deviled eggswhich he really liked. I also really liked my selection: grilled hanger steak with sunny eggs, cheddar grits & kohlrabi-Brussels sprout slaw ( and hanger steak can really trip up some chefs ). We concluded things with ricotta fritters with grapefruit curda pair of tasty desserts that happened to be the right size.
Appellation ( or Pastoral/Appellation ) has other items that warrant trying, including cornmeal-and-sage pancakes, the Croque Monsieur and ( most grandly ) the continental breakfast with Quicke's Devonshire Butter, Crescendo Crescenza, Pio Tosini Proscuitto di Parma served with toasted miche and panettone. Hopefully, there'll also be more people sampling the fare this eatery has to offfer.
Lecture on fats at Next Door
A free event focusing on good versus bad fats will take place Wed., March 30, at Next Door, 659 W. Diversey Pkwy., 6:30-8 p.m.
Ed O'Brien ( Ed-Obrien.com ), a dietary expert and former owner of Bountiful Eatery healthy eating restaurant, will lead the discussion.
Register at www.eventbrite.com/e/good-fat-vs-bad-fat-tickets-23060051234 .