THE GAGE

A WBBM RESTAURANT REVIEW BY SHERMAN KAPLAN

BROADCAST NOVEMBER 2, 2007

The Gage, at 24 South Michigan Avenue is where marquee chef Dirk Flanagan holds down the kitchen, as a first rate staff makes sure the dining room and bar are at peak performance.

Flanagan’s menu goes far beyond the comfort food which The Gage suggests in appearance. The chef’s approach is imaginative, but not cutting edge by choice, I am certain. The menu begins with oysters and closes with a daily risotto. Recently, it was a dense and grainy mix of basil, goat cheese and escargots bound by appropriately chewy Carnaroli rice.  I think it works better as  first course than entree, if only because of sheer intensity.

Among other starters, house cured salmon is plated with creme fraiche, grainy mustard and crisp potato pancakes. For more adventure there’s a fried cake of smoked haddock and peeky toe crab, or smoked prosciutto  piled high like so much corned beef with a toasty French baguette that stretches from here to there and back again.

The Gage has saddle of roast elk among entrees, which tastes closer to beef than game. You have to work at it because of the bones around a central core, but it’s worth the effort.

Among other choices, seared semolina dumplings proved to be our only disappointment. Don’t expect anything like a traditional dumpling; polenta is the closest comparison with dots of  grape tomatoes a scattering of mushrooms and thin sliced pecorino cheese. When I mentioned our dismay to our server, he removed it from our bill.

There’s a broad wine, beer and cocktail selection and desserts which include pear crisp our server described as reminding him of his Grandmother. We took the chocolate torte, only because, as everyone knows,  chocolate is a food group and an anti-oxidant. A puff  of whipped cream sat atop, but the clincher was warm sabayon egg cream with the light flavor of stout ale.

           
Expect to spend about $80 a couple plus add ons. Valet parking around the corner on Monroe street is somewhat inconvenient, especially when weather turns cold and windy.

The Gage, at 24 South Michigan has a K/RATING of  18.5/20.