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I had a reservation that they had canceled. I talked to Michael for a bit and he is ready for the openning and glad to get back into things. But, this time around he doesn't want to burnout like he did.

Has anyone been since they've reopened?

I have a reservation next week and had hoped for a bit of a preview.

Regardless I'll post my report after my dinner there.

Thanks,

John

I just tried to call and make a reservation, and I got a generic recording that said the "mailbox belonging to Schwa Restaurant is full." No other options.

my GF talked to Michael about a week ago and we have reservations for the 22nd...will definitely share on this thread.

btw, a friend of mine had a super bowl and chili cook-off party at his theater space, and Michael had one of the dozen chilis, but didn't win the popular vote My friend said that his chili was quite something, plated to order by the chef himself...

Like MessyCook, I tried to made a reservation today. The voicemail box is still full. No further directions or help are available by phone. The web site also has no other information, just the same phone number leading to the overstuffed mailbox.

What a disappointment. And so the wait for quail egg ravioli and its happy little brethren continues....

From the pure speculation department:

I'm going to guess that the quail egg ravioli will have disappeared from the new menu. That's only a guess, though.

=R=

Ronnie, I'll be happy to eat whatever he's cooking. Our meal there 11 months ago was spectacular. Expectations are high for the new stuff, too. I know I'm always a little bit more motivated when I get back to work after a true vacation.

However, my husband assures me that Chef Carlson is bringing back the quail egg ravioli dish. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking, but he is convinced he read it somewhere... (And you know that if you read it somewhere, it must be true.)

LOL . . . I agree with you completely about being happy to eat whatever chef Carlson is preparing. I can't say that I hope I'm wrong, but I certainly won't be disappointed if I am. I just got the impression last time I was there that it was being worked off the menu. But a new perspective and a new crew could certainly have changed that.

=R=

I found it! From Heather Shouse's article in TimeOut Chicago, last week of January:



But of course, that article also says they'll be taking new reservations and serving them from February 15th onward.... But when I drove by last night, there was no visible movement. I may just have to walk up to the door tomorrow afternoon and begin stalking.

I called last Thursday and booked my reservation for Tuesday the 19th.

I believe they are closed on Mondays.

Regardless of all of this, I sure am excited about my dinner there this coming Tuesday.

I will certainly post a full report and would like to do so with photos. Having never photographed food in a restaurant I'm wondering if there is a thread somewhere with tips on how to shoot food without flash.

I don't own a digital camera but my dining companion does.

Looking forward to sending my report.

Michael himself returned my call today. I'm excited about my early March reservations!

HI,

Discussion on the Chicago Tribune's article on Why did Michael Carlson vanish the day after serving dinner to the greatest chefs in the world? has been moved here.

Regards,
Cathy2 for the moderators

Johnny, guess what? I got the same call today! And I was giddy, yes giddy as I spoke to him 20 minutes ago.

(Caller ID shows 'Schwa Restaurant' and my heart races as I answer.)
Chef Carlson: "Hi this is Michael, from Schwa Restaurant...?"
Me: "Wow. Oh my gosh, this is awesome. I'm so glad you're back!"
CC: "Yeah, we are, too." (smiling in his voice)
Me: "I've gotta ask, how do you like all the publicity and articles being written about you?"
CC: "It's been good! I'm happy to be open again.... It looks like you want to come to eat on the 5th?"
Me: "We would love it, my husband will be thrilled, as that's his birthday. Anytime is fine."
CC: "We'll tell me your ideal, and I'll see what we can do."
Me: "Ideal would be around 7."
CC: "We can do 6:30 or 7:30, how does that sound?"
Me: "It sounds like Nivana will commence at 7:30. Thank you so much."
CC: "OK, looking forward to it. Oh, and unfortunately, we need a credit card to hold reservations."
Me: "No problem. It's part of being a service business, isn't it?"
CC: "I guess so, just feels strange to me."
(Then I give the number.)
CC: "Any allergies or restrictions we should know about? And you know we're BYOB, right?"
Me: "You can feed us anything. And since I don't know what's on the menu yet, what do you think about a pinot noir and maybe an Alsatian white?"
CC: "We're saying a pinot blanc, actually. Something light bodied that won't fight with the food. And maybe something sparkling, like an inexpensive (something that made sense at the time but I have now forgotten). You could get by without a red." (NB: Incidentally, this is exactly what was suggested by chef Nathan last year; it worked out great. The kitchen poured us a glass of their own pinot noir for the lobster course last time, but other than that, we were fine without a red.)
Me: "OK, thanks. See you on the 5th. Do you know any good babysitters?"
CC: Laughs. "All right, see you soon, and thanks for calling us."

He sounded relaxed, exactly like he does in print, and yet excited about being back to work. To say I am excited for "my husband's birthday meal" would be an understatement!

I had the pleasure of having dinner last night w/ my so and have to say it was my favorite Schwa visit yet. Mike was spending much more time in the dining room- hopefully this is a step in the right direction for his longevity as he learns that he doesn't have to cook every single dish. It was nice to be able to give him some feedback on the menu which he seemed to genuinely appreciate.

I hate to ruin everyone's surprise but a few of the highlights were an unusual crab and banana pairing, a perfectly seared and flavored Kanpachi dish, and a wintry delight of liver and onions- wow. A few old favorites such as Pad Thai and the Pine Cone came back better than ever.

I look forward to seeing somebody's food porn of this menu soon!

Very psyched Schwa is back- we are lucky to have such a unique chef/restaurant here in town!

Chico

I was there last night too!

Many great things happening there. Can't wait for my return visit! The sous vide Liver and onions blew my mind as did the Parsnip custard with candied sweetbreads!

Which table were you at misterchico? We were immediately to the left of the front door as you entered.

We were there last week. Food was exquisite with several pleasant surprises. Michael was pretty patient explaining all the dishes to us (perhaps we were the first few to be there) but we were slightly (just a teeny bit) disappointed (with all the hype on lthforum) that the quail egg ravioli was not on the menu. I will definitely have to try it again another time when he brings it back to the menu.

As I posted above, I had a feeling that the quail egg ravioli might not make it onto the 'new' menu. Michael's got a lot of other tricks up his sleeve, I'm sure. Signature dishes can end up being very confining to a chef. I'm not surprised by this, nor would I be surprised if it made it back onto the menu at some point down the road.

=R=

Last night Michael asked us if we had dined there before and when we said we had he asked if we wanted to try the quail egg ravioli or the pine cone again. Of course we do! And they both appeared.

He had mentioned several tiems that he;s treating this period as a soft open and plans on doing a lot of tweaking to the menu.

We were sitting next to the cupboard by the Kitchen...

And I guess we were lucky that you wanted to re-taste the pine cone and ravioli as we were treated to them as well. That ravioli is awesome and the pine cone (and pad thai) both tasted a bit more assertive this time around.

While I didn't love the char roe course or the antelope, I still thought this was our best Schwa experience yet.

chico

The thing I loved about the antelope course was the sweet/savory thing he had going on in it. On my last visit to Schwa (weeks before the hiatus began) he showed a lot more of that which I was very intrigued with.

I agree that the pine cone wasn't as "on" as the first taste I had of it. I think the tuile was a bit thicker and there was less uni flavor to the ice cream this time around.

The GF and I went last night, with another couple who are also devout foodies. I was the only "virgin" at the table, but I know what y'all have been talking about now!

Here are the courses we had:

Amuse of grapefruit cells & Brittany sea salt, topped with honey sorbet, chamomile agar, finished with freshly grated black truffle that Michael did at the table. This little taste treat was served on a clear plastic cube for a nice aesthetic touch. Quite delish and very refreshing.

Jonah crab: served a few ways, along with roasted banana, dehydrated banana, roasted celery puree and sweet celeriac sticks, garnished with citrus coriander.

(the above courses with a 2000 Gramona Imperial cava)

Beer cheese soup: Chimay cheese soup, served along with a pretzel puff, mustard "skin" and dill puree - I think this would be my favorite course.

Pad thai: jellyfish "noodles" tossed with (as Michael described it) pad thai flavors. Another fav.

(not on the menu) pine cone: spruce pine-infused cone filled with "fake pine" pudding (rosemary, juniper, banyuls vinegar flavoring) and sea urchin ice cream, topped with salted caramel and a pink peppercorn.

(above courses with 2006 Pinon Vouvray)

(not on the menu) quail egg ravioli: enough has been written about this already - outstanding single bite of deliciousness.

(with 2005 Peay Pomarium pinot noir)

Arctic char roe: with plumped mustard seeds, pumpernickel coins, meyer lemon puree, and this amazing crystal-clear rutabaga consommé.

Kona kampachi: translucent sashimi slices of fish, with lime syrup, maple mousse-foam, and galangal crisp.

(the 2 above courses with 2006 Sinskey Abraxas)

Liver & onions: sous-vide calves' liver over onion risotto, with crispy shallot, pickled cipollini onions and bay leaf gelee. My 2nd favorite.

Antelope: sous-vide antelope loin in thin slices, over roasted butternut squash and antelope curry, with a white chocolate mousse-foam and fenugreek seed sprouts.

(2 above courses with 2000 Mascarello Monfortino Barolo and 2004 Felsina Fontalloro)

Cheese: Humboldt Fog cheesecake, with Hunza raisin graham cracker crust.

Dessert: parsnip custard, lavender foam, passionfruit puree, ice wine vinegar caramel, candied veal sweetbreads and dehydrated parsnip.

(last 2 courses with Felsina vin santo)

So it was all outstanding, and Michael was in great humor, as were the other chefs. The room was 2/3 full, and that was perfectly fine with Michael.

One of our friends who usually opts to just keep her glass of red wine for dessert was completely won over by the savory-sweet dessert, and now thinks that all desserts should include candied sweetbreads.

Great report wino66!
I've got a reservation in early March.
Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind me asking, what is the price per person these days?

$105

I have reservations for Thursday night--

Does anyone know if it is possible to have one person at the table order the smaller tasting menu and the other the 9-course? I know it is pretty rude, but some of the food would go untouched by my partner.

If the process has not changed, then the table has to go one-route or another, but not both. Of course, only the restaurant has the final word.

Regards,

When I was there a week ago the only menu was the 9 course.

Michael finally returned my call today and I have reservations for March 6th! I'm very excited, especially after reading the new reports.

So, here's a question - if you had to pick just one bottle to bring for the entire menu, what would you go with?

Upthread, this post says Carlson recommends a pinot blanc.