Revisit: Lark

I was invited to dine at Lark free of charge, but all opinions stated below are my own and have not been influenced.

As I've talked about before, up until last year, I'd spent over 10 years living in Lakeview, but what some of you might not know is that my day job is also in Lakeview. I literally used to walk to and back from work every single day, and let me tell you, it was pretty glorious to not have to deal with the CTA. It was during one of those morning walks to the office a few years ago that I first noticed the signage for Lark going up. The space had previously been occupied by some generic Boystown bar that served forgettable food and watered down cocktails, so I was very excited to see what this new development might bring. And as you can see from my original... um... I mean Brandy's original review of the place, I was pretty smitten with their simple, yet flavorful food, especially their wood fired pizzas.

Flash forward to today and Lark is now a staple of the neighborhood, hosting themed brunches every weekend and all kinds of trivia nights and viewing parties during the week. The restaurant recently underwent a few updates, so I happily accepted their invitation to come in and see what kind of changes they'd made.

Although they have a drop dead gorgeous patio, the day we stopped in (I took along my friend Jenna) was pretty warm, so I opted to stay inside and enjoy the AC. Their new drink menu sections off all the cocktails by spirit. I loved this sort of set up, as it enabled me to quickly narrow down what I was in the mood for. I went for the Monotonous Lark, a cocktail from the "Tiki" section of the menu, that combined coconut rum, blue Curacao, pineapple, and vodka. I love a good tropical blue drink. Jenna went for the El Diablo Duck Mule, which was made with tequila instead of vodka, mixed with ginger beer, lime, and cream de cassis. The mule even came adorned with an adorable rubber ducky painted like a panda, and we were informed that the restaurant had an infinite supply of different designer ducks to float atop their drinks. They even had special ducks in lederhosen ready to go for Oktoberfest. Too cute!

I insisted that we start off with one the house signature wood fired pizzas, so we went with the prosciutto, arugula, and mozzarella. The crust was just as crisp and chewy as I remembered, with the slightest hint of char on the edges. This particular pizza's mix of salty, peppery, and creamy flavors was right up my alley, and the little finishing drizzle of truffle oil sure didn't hurt anything.

For her entree, Jenna wanted the Chilaquiles, which turned out to be a re-worked version of the Breakfast Nachos from Lark's original menu. It still resembles the nachos more than a traditional chilaquiles, which are generally prepared more as a hash, but I wasn't about to complain. The chips were nicely crisp, which made it easy to scoop up the mountain of toppings. Jenna had chosen to add some chicken to hers, which was a perfect addition to the zesty guac, spicy green salsa, scrambled eggs, pickled peppers, and streams of sour cream. I may have stolen a few bites from her plate, not gonna lie.

I decided to try the Recovery Burger. This burger was a pretty traditional stack, with cheddar, bacon, tomato, lettuce, a fried egg, and an onion ring, but everything was prepared exceptionally well. The onion ring added a very nice crunch to the whole thing that I really enjoyed. The only aspect I was a little confused by was that I had been asked how I preferred my meat cooked, to which I responded, "medium rare." But as we found out later, these burgers are always cooked as "smash burgers," that is to say, they are smashed on the griddle so that they develop a slight crisp on the outside. Since smash burgers are typically thinner, I'm not sure how they intended to cook mine medium rare, but I was perfectly happy with the result regardless.

Finally, the restaurant surprised us by bringing out one of their signature desserts: a S'mores Pizza. Using the same wood fired oven, they had topped their Neapolitan-style crust with Ghirardelli chocolate chunks, mini marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and crumbled graham crackers to create the ultimate campfire fantasy. Just looking at this thing brought a smile to my face, and the smell of the toasted marshmallows nearly hypnotized me. Though the crust was pretty light and airy, the whole thing was so rich that we could barely finish a slice each. I highly advise bringing along some friends to help you down this sucker.

All in all, I'm very glad to see that Lark is still operating to the high standards they were when I first visited them all those years ago. Though I may not live in Lakeview any more, I'd be more than willing to once more take the journey south from my current home in Rogers Park to visit with Lark and slowly work my way through every single one of their cocktails.

Lark or And Your Bird Can Brunch

The Slow and Savory Review

Aristotle had Plato.  Sherlock had Mycroft.  Luke had Yoda.  Brandy has Belvedere,

Yes indeed, there is one person in this world who might know more about brunch than Brandy and that person goes by the singular name of Belvedere.  Brandy met Belvedere one chilly autumn evening at an experimental theater performance in the basement of a cracker factory.  The doom and gloom of the absurdist piece wasn't quite as effective as its director had hoped due to the pervasive smell of butter in the air, which had given Brandy a case of the giggles throughout the performance.  Belvedere, there to review the show for a major publication, was quite taken with the irreverent girl and offered to take her out to brunch the following morning, and Brandy, intrigued by the tuxedoed man who seemed to have a martini permanently embedded in his fist, readily agreed.  The following morning, she was taught exactly how to evaluate a mimosa, how to judge the consistency of French toast, and how an eggs benedict is correctly assembled.  It was an education she carried with her for the rest of her life.

So when Brandy learned that Belvedere would be visiting Chicago (a rare event, as the man is highly in demand in his native Pittsburgh, where he ghost writes for a rather entertaining cultural program), Brandy knew she had to take him somewhere fantastic for brunch.  "I want to try something new," he told her, "So new that it should be somewhere even you haven't tried yet."  Brandy was distraught by this request, as she wondered how on earth she was going to impress his formidable palate with somewhere she hadn't put her stamp of approval on.

Thinking back to her visit to Replay in Andersonville earlier in the year, she realized that the same chef that had created the whimsy and originality on their menu had recently premiered a new restaurant in the Boystown neighborhood called Lark.  Lark shared some of the same crowd pleasing dishes as Replay, but with even more exciting additions, the least of which was an extensive selection of freshly made Neapolitan style pizzas.  "This could be as safe a bet as I'm going to get," she pondered, "Goodness me, I haven't been this nervous about a brunch since that fateful day we met!"

Lark had a beautiful, sunny interior which welcomed in the neighborhood with large windows at the front and a bustling bar, at which Brandy and Belvedere grabbed a couple of bright and fresh mimosas before heading to their seat near the stone pizza oven.  "Fresh juice, excellent ratio, not too sweet.  It's... acceptable," Belvedere pronounced, as Brandy let go a sigh of relief.

To start the meal, they placed an order for a plate of Smoked Bacon Arancini and at Belvedere's request (much to Brandy's surprise) a plate of Nachos.  The arancini were fairly light with a smokey, silky interior and a crispy exterior, which Brandy rather enjoyed.  The nachos, though, were quite the surprise with their crisp and freshly made chips, the cool dollops of guacamole and sour cream, juicy morsels of pico de gallo, and a touch of sweetness from a sprinkling of pickled peppers, topped off with some tender chunks of flat iron steak.  Brandy was truly shocked by how much she was enjoying the nachos, but Belvedere seemed non plussed.  "It simply sounded to me like everything one needs to sap up the previous night's...vices.  Never underestimate the value of a plate of chips," he said, sagely.

Moving on to something sweet, Brandy insisted they try an order of the Pineapple and Blueberry Pancakes.  Brandy was pleased to see these pancakes also came adorned with a snowfall of coconut and a side of homemade vanilla pineapple maple syrup.  "I never order pancakes unless they are something truly unique," she told Belvedere, "And these look like nothing I've ever seen."  The pancakes were substantial, but also fluffy, and had blueberries mixed throughout them as well as topping them.  Brandy just adored the caramelized flavor of the pineapple mixed with the coconut and tart berries to makes something at once exotic and familiar.

Following that, Belvedere ordered not one, but all of the Benedicts on the menu.  "How else is one to judge the true value of a brunch?" he explained when he saw that Brandy was looking slightly embarrassed by his gluttony.  The Lobster Benedict was just as good as Brandy remembered it from Replay with big chunks of lobster, a soft pretzel roll, and an herby hollandaise,  The Crab Cake Benedict had a loose texture to the cake with a bell peppery note, accented by an Old Bay infused hollandaise that gave it a real New England flavor.  Lastly, the Smoked Salmon Benedict was the perfect combination of a traditional benedict and a lox plate with fresh pesto hollandaise and some arugula and tomato to give the entire thing some levity.  "I've seen the rainbow for the colors," Belvedere said cryptically, "But now I need to study the clouds to truly see the sky."

Brandy took this to mean that Belvedere wished to try the signature dish of the restaurant, a wood fired Neapolitan pizza, and there was no better choice than the Breakfast Pizza with mozerella, ricotta, smoked ham, and a sunny side up egg.  The hand tossed crust was thin and crispy with the slightest bit of chew to it, and the woods used to cook it (apple, cherry, and oak) really infused it with tons of flavor.  Brandy especially liked that the cheeses had been made in house, while Belvedere liked that the smokiness of the meat didn't overwhelm everything else.  "All one would need to perfect this would be a little salad on the side," Belvedere suggested.

Anxious as their meal finally came to an end, Brandy looked to her friend for his honest opinion.  "I thought the prices were what I would expect for that caliber of food," he started to say, "And the food itself was well prepared and thought out.  But what really impressed me was the staff, who seemed to know every tiny intricacy of the menu, which speaks to the passion they have to see a new comer to the Chicago dining scene survive.  I do so like to see a well informed staff."  And so, with a final sigh of relief, Brandy realized that she had actually succeeded in impressing her mentor and friend.  "Now, thinking in advance of our next meal," said Belvedere, "I've heard wonderful things about an Italian man named Al and his unique beef preparation."

The writers of this blog were invited to dine by the restaurant free of charge in exchange for and honest review.

The Short and Sweet Review