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Restaurant UUBU 6 Restaurant UUBU 6 offers contemporary taste in a lofty South Side landmark. First Course: $4-$15
A More Perfect Union Though South Side's vibrant, gentrified persona has long been known as "the Flats," this hip little area is working its way up the mountain, causing us to rethink its name. To the right of 18th on the high side of Pius Street, in what was once the home to Workingman's Beneficial Union No. 6, is Restaurant UUBU 6 (it appears the owners wanted to use the former organization's acronym, WBU, but decided to replace the W with double U's), the Slopes' first white-cloth restaurant. We caught chef/owner Michael Lench in crumpled chef whites and a ruddy-red kitchen face taking a break and proudly surveying the territory. "It looks like life," says Lench. "It has texture." A pioneer on the Slopes, Lench spent four years angling to open the doors at Restaurant UUBU 6, named after a union fraternal/social club that served as a unifying presence in the old German neighborhood. Lench loves the remnants of the past, the European feel, a vintage kind of glamour combined with the feeling of a hip, urban neighborhood, literally on the edge.
Old buildings intrigue me. Out of curiosity, I dropped a marble onto the stone entry floor and watched it roll. To me, the rolling marble defined the underlying tectonic-plate shifts beneath Pius Street. Perfection is boring. Old souvenirs hang on the whitewashed walls: giant Santa posters, an American flag (found in the basement), the WBU No. 6's original charter (dated March 11, 1919) and a photograph of the union members, circa 1937-'41, a solemn-looking group of men in suits who seem as if they hadn't yet made it to the bar that day. Past the glowing orange room that stimulates your romantic bravado and into the main dining area, you can get an ever-so-provocative peek at the kitchen behind dramatic ceiling-to-floor-length ebony drapes. More pumpkin and cream-colored curtains add richness and depth to the sheet pine paneling and scuffed floor. There is still work to be done, but much of the original bar is left for sheer charm, the original red-Formica counter, glass-block windows, a mirrored door inscribed with the union's name. "Different" is a word Lench used repeatedly, and product is what he cares about. At UUBU 6, food is tweaked, tasted and seasoned incrementally during the process - then tasted again. Check the chefs' aprons and be assured that taste is the final arbiter. "Everything is from the ground up," guarantees chef de cuisine Jeremy Waybright, who says he is going for power-packed flavor from prime product. "We want to blow you away, both in presentation and flavor," he says. Custom menus change every month, which adds to the adventure, honors the flavors of the season and showcases creativity in the kitchen. Before long, you'll be able to pick up an early-morning coffee and croissant. Weekday happy hours with complimentary tapas (5-7 p.m.) are a tavern trademark. Already bringing more of the flat world up the hill: a grandiose Sunday brunch with homegrown jazz. It is all done tastefully, with gorgeous imported French linens (monogrammed napkins), beautiful silver and a collection of wares that Lench has put together over the years. To get the best product, the restaurant uses local purveyors and small farm cooperatives, but there are also melons from Haiti and Brazil, stone crabs from Florida, fresh sturgeon from Portland, Maine. Even on an off night, the service made us feel that we had left the coach world behind. I love the pure, clean first courses; an Asian seafood sampler with hoisin sauce; a Medjool date wrapped in papery thin proscuitto showed up later wrapped in slab bacon in a salad with mâche, a form of lamb's lettuce. The salad mingles with a glossy, fat strawberry and balsamic vanilla vinaigrette, made from scraping vanilla beans soaked in balsamic vinegar. Bibb lettuce, caramelized pistachios, dried cranberries and pears are combined in a creamy green-peppercorn vinaigrette and served on a heavenly blue glass seashell plate. I can't remember the last time I raved about salad, but here, they're gorgeous. Jumbo-tiger-shrimp cocktail is a play on the standard appetizer. These are pink, pristine and firm, dusted in dried tomato with a chunky lemon confit and frothy horseradish crème fraîche. Different and delicious. Smoked sturgeon with sweet-potato pancakes dotted with chives and caviar is alone worth the trip.
With the ever-changing menu, you're not likely to find what we found, but the crusty, sweet crab cakes - not too complex but not trivial, either - with tarragon red-wine sauce could find a permanent spot under second courses. We tried a soulful wild salmon over brussels sprouts, a seared natural chicken breast with chanterelles and covered with velouté sauce. Pumpkin ravioli is brilliant drizzled with organic olive oil and cracked black pepper, with a velvety roasted-onion sauce surrounding a little mound of butternut-squash puree. During a menu change, we found roast pheasant with wild rice, apricots and duxelles (reduced shallots and mushrooms) in a light, bubbling champagne sauce; and New Zealand venison with chestnut spätzle, huckleberry sauce and chanterelles. For my husband, Brad, the highbrow Iowa prime-beef tenderloin eclipsed other choices, a beautifully marbleized cut spilling with red-onion butter and a warm leek compote and a light, fluffy celery-root puree that doesn't cloud the palate, so soft you can cut with your fork. Destined for greater fame (Lench started out as a pastry chef) are a sophisticated lemon crumb-cake tart and a poached pear scribbled with chocolate, stuck with an ethereally thin chocolate-wafer flag sporting tiny white snowflakes, and with powdered slivered almonds scattered about the plate.
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Each month, Deborah McDonald jump-starts appetites with lively restaurant reviews that scrutinize who's cooking what and where. She works anonymously, visiting each restaurant at least twice before writing her column. Do you know of a restaurant you'd like to have reviewed? | ||
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