Duck Inn Chicago for a classic Chicago neighborhood unique dining experience
Fellow Pour Boy wine buddy Dr Dan arranged a Pour Boys (Wine Group) dinner at The Duck Inn Chicago, a neighborhood gastro-tavern and dining room, located at
Loomis Street and the Chicago River, on the border of Chicago’s booming
Pilsen and Bridgeport neighborhoods.
Duck Inn is housed in a pre-Prohibition
era tavern with a cozy retro design aesthetic that has
continuously operated for almost a century.
Patron Chef Kevin Hickey was born and raised in Chicago’s iconic south side
neighborhood, Bridgeport; historically home to the best meat-packers and butchers in
the world. His family has been a part of the Bridgeport business,
political and social community for over five generations.
Kevin began his
professional career in the restaurant business at his uncle’s restaurant on the Gold Coast while in high school at De La Salle Institute
in Bronzeville, Chicago. This led to a 35-year career working for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Beverly Hills and eventually with Four Seasons in Dublin, London and
Atlanta.
He returned to Chicago in 2004 — first at The
Ritz Carlton as Executive Chef and eventually the Four Seasons
as Executive Chef & Restaurant Director where he led his
team to two consecutive Michelin Stars, the only Four Seasons Chef to
receive Michelin Stars in North America and AAA Five Diamond status with
the restaurant Seasons. He eventually opened the acclaimed restaurant,
Allium.
Chef Hickey opened this Bridgeport venture, The
Duck Inn in 2014. In November 2015, The Duck Inn was
named one of the “Best New Restaurants in America” by Esquire Magazine,
named as one of the Top 10 restaurants in America by USA Today and
chosen as Restaurant of the Year by Eater Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune named Kevin Hickey, 'Chef of The Year for 2015'. To date, The Duck Inn has
been awarded the coveted Bib Gourmand by Michelin for six consecutive
years.
We dined outside on the Duck Inn Patio which was ideal for the beautiful late summer evening, adjacent the gardens of wild flowers.
We were served our wine service by Brandon Phillips who has spent the last half-decade perfecting his craft behind the bar, earning the title of
Master Bartender. Phillips
and Hickey together, open Bottlefork, a stylish New
American concept in Chicago that was almost immediately heralded by Wine
Spectator & GQ Magazine as having some of the most innovative
cocktails in the city.
Building on the success of their first
partnership, Phillips & Hickey opened The Duck Inn in 2014, which
would later be named one of the “10 hottest Bars in Chicago”, as well as
given numerous “Best Restaurant” accolades from publications such as
Eater Chicago, Esquire Magazine and USA Today. Included in Zagat’s
prestigious annual 30 Under 30 roundup, Phillips was honored by The
Chicago Tribune which named him “Bartender of the Year” in 2016.
The Duck Inn's signature dish is a simple yet elegantly-prepared whole
rotisserie duck. The legs and thighs are slow-roasted for three hours
and the breasts are pan-roasted medium-rare to order. The carved duck is
served over greens tossed with duck fat dripping potatoes and seasonal
fruits. The final component is a duck jus reduction served at the table.
As an appetizer course we feasted on Duck Inn signature Duck Wings in Japanese BBQ Sauce (shown below) which I might argue was one of the highlights of the meal.
As crazy as it sounds, we also feasted on another Duck Inn signature dish, the Duck Inn Dog,
their tribute to the classic Chicago Hot Dog. Made
with all-natural beef and duck fat in a hog casing and grilled to a
perfection, it is topped with the classic ingredients of a
Chicago dog, homemade mustard & relish combined with pickled hot
peppers and pickle, tomatoes, onions and celery salt, all in a, one of a
kind, brioche poppy seed bun.
The
Duck Inn Dog has received numerous local and national accolades,
including being named Top Dog by Food Network and Best Hot Dogs in
Chicago by Food & Wine magazine.From the daily specials, Dan ordered for another main course selection to be shared by the group, the 38 ounce rib-eye steak, that we shared family style.
To accompany the different dinner courses, each of the three Pour Boys provided a bottle for a flight of three red wines. Lyle brought BYOB from his cellar a Willammette Valley Pinot Noir. Dan ordered from the winelist a California Central Valley Cabernet Franc, and I brought BYOB from our cellar a Columbia Valley Rhone varietal blend.
I. Brand & Family Paicines, California Bayly Ranch Cabernet Franc 2018
Ian and Heather Brand founded
I Brand Family Wines in from the Central Coast
California in 2008. Ian’s first winery job was with Bonny Doon Winery;
he then went to work for Big Basin Vineyards for four years before he
and Heather decided to begin their own project.
I Brand uses organic and
sustainable farming practices to produce 11,000 cases annually from 20+
year old vines.
Ian devotes much time to selecting vineyard sites with
shallow, rocky soils and proper varietal match with soil and climate in
the often-overlooked Monterey Bay area, which has a wide range of undiscovered or underappreciated vineyards.
Named one of Wine & Spirits Magazine's "40 Under 40 Tastemakers", and
the San Francisco Chronicle's '2018 Winemaker of the Year', Ian Brand has emerged as one of the premier names in California winemaking today.
Brand
adheres to organic farming and progressive style from his
time at Bonny Doon where he was the assistant winemaker to Randall Grahm. Working
primarily with vineyards in Monterey and San Benito counties, Brand has
the chance to champion both regions and their unique terroir, a
confluence of Pacific wind and most of California's otherwise rare
limestone escarpments.
This 100% Cabernet Franc is produced from vineyards located in Tres
Pinot Creek, (along the San Andreas Fault Line), at only 800 foot elevation.
A great locale for Cabernet Franc, this exhibits Loire-like structure
overlaid with the bright fruit befitting California sunshine.
Cabernet Franc can exist in two styles; the more elegant central Loire
style, or the more muscular style found in Bordeaux. The Bayly Ranch Cab
Franc is more akin to the Loire Valley reds of Chinon, Saumur, and
Bourgueil.
Somewhat opaque, garnet colored, medium weight, an Old World style with bright black berry and plum fruits accented by black tea, tobacco, dusty leather and hints of spice,
with a long savory finish of tangy acidity and chalky tannins. K&L in the Bay Area say "It’s no wonder this has become of one of our
best sellers."
RM 89 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3673494
https://www.ibrandwinery.com/
Alexana Terroir Series Willammette Valley Pinot Noir 2016
Alexana’s Terroir Series Pinot was created from a diverse selection of clones and encompasses fruit from five of Willamette Valley’s top
AVA’s which lends to this wine's complexity.
At the winery, the
fruit is triple-hand-sorted allowing only the best berries through. The
Alexana Pinot Noir 2016 was crafted by Bryan Weil who previously worked
at Domaine Serene, one of our favorite Oregon Pinot Noir producers.
This is from the producers of its sister winery, Revana in St. Helena, and like Revana, Alexana is quickly
building a reputation of excellence. In 2013 their Dundee
Hills Pinot earned the #17 spot on the Wine Spectator Top 100 list.
This was rated 94 points
and was Highly Recommended by
Wine Spectator and 91 points
by Wine Enthusiast.
Ruby colored, medium bodied, cherry and boysenberry fruits give way to tones of floral, smoke, anise and dark chocolate with smooth polished tannins on the moderate finish.
RM 90 points.
Force Majeure Parvata Red Blend 2015
We discovered and acquired this wine during our visit to Force Majeure in Walla Walla back in 2018. We just this week processed our allocation order to replace this bottle with the current release!
This is from their Red Mountain Vineyard site in the central Columbia Valley. The Red Mountain site was the very first
vineyard on the steep, rocky upper slopes of Red Mountain. Developing
the Red Mountain estate vineyards involved carefully matching varietal
and clonal selections and vineyard trellising and
irrigation to the eight distinct soil types in the vineyard.
Parvata means “mountain” in sanskrit, and hence is the name
for Force Majeure's southern Rhône style blend, grown in the sandy, loamy
soils of the lower section of the Red Mountain vineyard.
This is a a classic Rhone River Blend that the French, and in the new World, the Australians, call GSM, for the blend of the three Rhone varietals, (20%) Grenache, (34%) Syrah, and (46%) Mourvedre.
This is the style we love, with its dark blackish garnet purple colored, full bodied, rich unctuous concentrated black and blue fruits accented by
white pepper and tones of dried herbs with bright lively acidity.
RM 93 points.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2018/10/force-majeure-vineyards-site-visit-and.html
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2659538
https://forcemajeurevineyards.com/
@ForceMVineyards
To close out the dinner with desserts, the Pure Chocolate Beignet and the creme glaces - salted caramel truffle and the maple butter pecan were all delectable - to die for.
All in all, a spectacular, delightful, fun evening in a classic Chicago neighborhood setting.
https://theduckinnchicago.com/
https://twitter.com/DuckInnChicago
@DuckInnChicago
