Arigato Matsumoto
Chef Matsumoto returns to Chicago, and brings kaiseki to Mizu
Anyone who has been to Japan knows there's a world beyond sushi and ramen--from okonomiyaki counters to restaurants devoted to tonkatsu. But of all the less exported elements of Japanese cuisine, the structured, seasonal, multicourse kaiseki menus are often the most astounding.
Kaiseki made a brief appearance in Chicago from 2005 to 2006 at Matsumoto, an Albany Park restaurant that morphed into Chiyo when chef Seijero Matsumoto left after less than a year.
Now Matsumoto is back--at Old Town's Mizu--with an 8- to 10-course kaiseki menu that changes weekly ($85). Reservations must be made one week in advance, and the restaurant only serves kaiseki on nights when five or more diners request it.
Recently it began with an aquatic triptych: raw, soy-marinated deep-sea squid; slippery but delicious chilled seaweed soup with raw quail egg; and monkfish liver (pictured). Next was a delicate soup of nameko mushrooms, duck and shrimp floating in dashi; then gold-leaf-dusted fluke sashimi with a small bowl of homemade soy sauce, sea urchin and chives.
The broiled course--tamago (omelet)-wrapped unagi (eel) and miso-topped catfish--was a highlight, as were the tempura-fried prawn, shiso and nori. And the handwritten menu and wooden chopsticks are your gifts to take home.
Purists may lament the American-size portions and absence of traditional decorative serving dishes. But Matsumoto is just getting into the groove--and what we've seen so far is an exciting start.
Mizu, 315 W. North Ave.; 312-951-8880
