[Nicko]

Had dinner at Vong in Chicago on New Years eve which was great. The interior is pretty standard and the bathrooms are in a strange location (very out of the way and you have to walk by the waiters station to get to them), but the food is excellent. What I particularly like were the different dipping sauces that are served with the courses. Had the Valhrona chocolate dessert and it was really excellent.

Overall great meal.

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Thanks,

Nicko
ChefTalk Cafe Administrator
nicko@cheftalk.com
www.cheftalk.com "A food lover's link to professional chefs!"

I ate there a few months ago and enjoyed the dinner. I dont remeber it being the best I ever had but one thing really impressed me. We had ordered the 'sampler' plate with multiple items and corresponding diping sauces, the next day looking through the cookbook I found the recipes and pictures for that course and the plate looked exactely the same. I was really struck with how they can maintain that level of consistency and quality. I am glad you had a good experience.

While I haven't tried Chicago, Jean-George's New York Vong was always one of my favorite locations until recently. Not a "bad" experience per say last time, however a year ago when I took my girlfriend there for dinner on her birthday I palmed the Maitre Dee a $50.00 and explained the situation. We had one of the most memorable meals I've had in years, service was fantastic and the samples brought over in between dishes were unique and wonderful (to this day I couldn't tell you what we had, however Vong remained my favorite here in NYC until this year)

My girlfriend wanted to do Vong again this year, and this time I didn't have a lot of cash on hand (was planning to charge dinner)

The same Maitre Dee was there, I told him it was my girlfriend's birthday, and it was like a whole different place (not even a cake)

The meal was still good, however just wasn't the same.

Just goes to show the benefit of greasing.