BY Meghan Streit
Tavernita Chef Ryan Poli has partnered up with Mercadito Hospitality to open a second restaurant. Little Market American Brasserie opened earlier this year in the Gold Coast.
Little Market occupies a handsome space on Delaware Place. Quaint subway tiles and a pretty front patio space lend some charm. And, and the menu beckons with some interesting offerings like poutine and cocktails that are mixed with craft sodas like apple lavender and orange hibiscus mint. That's why it takes a few minutes to realize that Little Market is, in fact, a hotel restaurant located on the ground floor of the Talbott Hotel. Being affiliated with a hotel isn't a culinary crime in and of itself. To be sure, in a world-class city like ours, there are several hotels with top-notch restaurants. The Blackstone Hotel's Mercat a la Planxa and Hotel Palomar's Sable both come to mind.
Unfortunately, Little Market doesn't transcend hotel restaurant status. For one thing, the menu, which seems interesting at first glance, quickly emerges as more confused than quirky. Hotel restaurant staples like chicken Caesar salad and shrimp cocktail seem out of place among more inventive dishes like grilled asparagus with quinoa, almonds and kale chips or ricotta ravioli with English peas, mint and house-made bacon.
I resolved to simply ignore the standard-issue hotel fare and opted instead to try a few of the more creative dishes. I was excited for the poutine, but beyond disappointed when I was presented with a crock of underdone French fries covered in watery gravy, with only a precious few bits of short rib. Worst of all, there were no cheese curds to be found. The dish was drizzled with what appeared to be a cheese sauce of sorts, but not a curd in sight. Look, if you're out of cheese curds, just tell me so I can make another selection.
Moving on, I sampled the mac and cheese. Like the French fries, the pasta was underdone, and while the Gruyere cheese sauce tasted good, there wasn't nearly enough of it. One high note among the starters was the house-made pull-apart bread. It comes to your table piping hot in a tiny bread pan and is served with delicious herbed honey butter. The bread was so good, it might lure me back to Little Market, for a quick snack and a glass of wine.
In addition to the small shared plates, there are also a handful of larger dishes also meant for sharing. I tried the halibut. The fish was nicely cooked, tender and flaky. It was served on a bed of sweet corn, fava beans, bacon and potato. The flavors in the corn mixture were interesting and each item was tasty each in its own right, but they didn't come together in the right way, making the halibut seem as confused as the rest of the food at the restaurant.
Everything I ate at Little Market was fine, but nothing more (except for that pull-apart bread). If Little Market was a hotel restaurant in the middle of nowhere, I probably would have been delighted and found the food far above average. But, it takes more to dazzle Chicago diners, who are admittedly spoiled by all of the truly spectacular food to be found in this town.
Little Market is located at 10 E. Delaware Pl.; call 312-640-8141 or visit www.littlemarketbrasserie.com .
Do you need some more Sugar & Spice in your life? Follow me on Twitter: @SugarAndSpiceMS—for inside scoop and commentary on Chicago's dining scene.
