Several weeks ago I saw a woman on a ladder painting over the sign that used to mark the entrance of In Fine Spirits, a much-loved and, by all appearances, highly successful wine bar in Andersonville.
A few swipes of the paintbrush and an interior redesign later, our beloved and relaxed little neighborhood spot for reasonably priced wine and small plates was gone. The owners transformed the wine bar into an upscale restaurant called Premise.
When I first heard the news, my first thought was, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The Clark Street strip in Chicago's North Side "gayborhood" is slowly but surely transforming into quite the destination spot for fine dining. That's not a bad thing, but I fear we're reaching a bit of a saturation point. We now have a number of upscale dining options (Anteprima, Big Jones, Acre, Bar Ombre), a few good bar-and-grill types (T's and Lady Gregory's come to mind) and more than our fair share of Mediterranean restaurants (and antique shops!). What Andersonville is now conspicuously missing is a wine bar.
Full disclosure: I live in Andersonville and I really, really like to drink wine. So, I was baffled when I heard In Fine Spirits was going away, and I heard similar rumblings from neighbors and friends who frequent the neighborhood. Nevertheless, I decided to give Premise a try.
I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the transformed space. Black walls, bright white chairs and catchy jazz music at the perfect volume create a truly sophisticated dining room. My next surprise was not quite as pleasant. The menu prices are startlingly high. There's an $18 prawn starter and entrees range from $24 to $27. Yikes! I was nostalgic for In Fine Spirit's overpriced cheese plates before I ate a single bite of food. In fairness, the man preparing the high-end, artfully experimental cuisine at Premise is Chef Brian Runge, who was formerly chef de cuisine at Graham Elliot—not a resume to sneeze at and perhaps worth a few extra bucks.
I started with the fava agnolotti (a fancy word for ravioli). The pasta was filled with morel mushrooms and dotted with thin slices of country ham, wood sorrel and ramp ragout. The flavor combination was so delightful that had the pasta itself not been undercooked, this appetizer may have been worth the $16 it cost me.
Fresh bread, still warm and crusty from the oven, was served on a bizarrely long plate with a little dot of green citrus butter placed about 12 inches away from it. I appreciated the drama and the presentation to detail—which continued throughout my meal. The bread was fantastic, but the citrus butter was a little to, well, citrusy.
You're probably thinking, "Enough about the bread and the chairs. What's on the drink menu?" The answer is anything and everything. There's a long list of gins, vodkas, rums and whiskeys with the same focus on locally produced small batch liquors that In Fine Spirits had. You'll also find about a dozen delicious sounding specialty cocktails for $10 a pop and a wide selection of beers from breweries near and far.
What's disappointingly short is the list of wines available by the glass, considering the place used to be a wine bar, where glasses of wine flowed freely. There is, however, an extensive list of wines sold by the bottle. Note to fans of In Fine Spirit's reasonably priced bottles (I, for one, recall many happy nights over $28 bottles of Prosecco): Those days are over. The cheapest bottle on Premise's list is $40, but most are in the $50 to $60 range, and a few are even more than $100. Sigh.
While the wine prices might suggest you're about to have a snooty, inaccessible dining experience, the lovely staff makes it anything but. The wine director knows his stuff and is happy to help you find the perfect wine to complement your food selections—and he does it without a hint of arrogance. He recommended the Domain Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis. Normally, I don't like Chardonnay, but this lovely French version was sturdy with a creamy texture and paired nicely with everything I ate.
The menu at Premise isn't long and overwhelming. You'll find just a few carefully selected (and highly imaginative) offerings for each course, which I'm sure will be changing with the seasons. For my main course, I tried the cod. I was lured in by the leek fondue it would be served with, but it was the fish itself that stole the show. The cod was tender, seared golden brown on top and was perhaps the most perfect preparation I've ever eaten of this normally ho-hum fish. The potatoes served with it were a bit underdone, but not enough to ruin the dish. I also tried the grass-fed beef, which was flavorful but a little chewy. The tough texture of the meat was unfortunate because the hearty cream sauce and nicely cooked vegetables it was served with were fantastic.
The dessert menu is similarly short. On my visit there were just three choices. Based on their descriptions, none of them jumped out at me. But in the name of research, I let the waiter talk me into the carrot cake, which is served with pea gelato and freeze-dried peas. The dessert is the chef's playful reinvention of childhood admonitions to "eat your peas and carrots." It's cute, I'll admit, but as it turns out, I can't be cajoled into eating peas and carrots any easier than I could be 25 years ago. The carrot cake itself was denser than most versions and tasty enough, and the pea gelato was surprisingly refreshing—slightly sweet with (mercifully) just a hint of pea flavor. The freeze-dried peas were dusted with sugar, but that still doesn't make them dessert in my book. Overall, the clever carrot cake was fun to try—once.
If you prefer more traditional desserts, like chocolate, Premise accommodates. I tried the chocolate torte, which is anything but ordinary. Ancho crumble and chorizo espuma give the sweet cake a spicy kick, and cinnamon ice cream rounds out the flavor combination.
I think I speak for a lot of people in Andersonville when I say, "I miss In Fine Spirits." But, it's gone and Premise is worth a try. If you want to check out the place, but aren't ready to commit to a pricy meal, have a cocktail in the upstairs lounge, which has been remodeled into a dark and sexy lair with sleek oversized furniture and a VIP "king's table" tucked away in the back. And don't worry: The back patio you came to love at In Fine Spirits remains at Premise, so you can still enjoy a glass of wine out there this summer. Just bring some extra cash.
Premise is located at 5420 N. Clark; call 773-334-9463 or visit www.premisechicago.com .
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