While the Riverwalk continues to heat up — literally, as food vendors count the days until consistently warm weather allows them to finally open for the season — a nearby seafood destination has quietly opened in the former home of South Water Kitchen in the Hotel Monaco.
Fisk & Co. takes seafood seriously. From a number of preparations of mussels — classic white wine broth, Thai curry and Spanish chorizo, among others — to a wide-ranging raw bar, to chef-ier takes on charcuterie (made with seafood, of course), executive chef Austin Fausett wants to offer a wide-ranging experience to guests.
Excepting places like Hopleaf, which is well-regarded for its classic versions of moules frites, Fausett sees an opportunity to tap into the Belgian tavern experience downtown. “Belgian mussels and beer are a great fit, it’s an approachable meal on its own,” he said. “I want to offer a unique experience while still tapping into the familiar.”
For Fausett, Fisk & Co. is something of a homecoming: A native of Wisconsin, his new gig running the kitchen brings him closer to family. His most recent stint was as executive chef at Proof, a lauded restaurant in Washington, D.C., but before that he held positions in New York, San Francisco and Vienna.
“Cooking has allowed me to travel,” said Fausett, name-checking the Michelin-starred restaurants where he’s worked: Sea Grill (Brussels) and Novelli Bacaro con Cucina (Vienna). “I had an amazing time and have been blessed to learn so many different regional cuisines,” particularly central European techniques, he says.
While five kinds of mussels and hand-cut frites with six different sauces are available — rustic and approachable as they are — Fausett shows off a little more of his chef skills on other parts of the menu.
Take the seafood charcuterie section. Fausett describes the monkfish liver mousse as “foie gras of the sea.” Prepared like traditional duck or chicken liver mousse, the monkfish is cooked with cognac, cream, thyme, butter and onion before it’s whipped into a mousse. “The item — monkfish liver — can be intimidating, but making it familiar is part of the creative challenge,” said Fausett. “We’ve been open a week, but I’ve already seen guests cleaning out the bowls, every last drop.” Smoked whitefish rillette “is fresh and bright,” thanks to a touch of fennel, he says.
Other items to seek out are an artful plating of salmon tartare, plus more traditional dishes like oysters Rockefeller and sole meuniere, served with trendy cauliflower puree. Fausett is quick to highlight the traditional charcuterie, cured in-house, and his pretzel monkey bread. Octopus Bolognese, made with tagliatelle nero (dramatically colored black by squid ink) and served with cured egg yolk, hints at Fausett’s penchant for creativity, as he developed a method for grinding down the cephalopod. “I like taking things from the idea phase and executing them,” he said about the creation of this dish.
Back to the mussels. Prince Edward Island mussels are common around the city, but Fausett opted to source instead from Acadia Aqua Farms in Maine, having experienced the producer’s goods at a restaurant, The Sovereign in D.C. “They’re really special shellfish,” he said. Explaining that the mussels are slowly cultivated, the chef likens them to tomatoes. “Have you had a hothouse tomato, grown in two weeks, and tasted it against a slow-grown heirloom tomato? The heirloom is just bursting with flavor and texture, and you can’t really compare the two.”
The frites themselves are as thoughtfully prepared. Brined in a solution of 3 percent salt and 1 percent vinegar (the salt to extract flavor from the potato, the vinegar to aide in a crispier fry), the frites come with a choice of chef-y sauces. Black garlic ketchup “is still just ketchup, but with more umami,” while garlic aioli “is just how they do it in Belgium. Can’t go wrong.”
A selection of draft beers, bottles, cocktails and wine fall under the purview of industry vet and head bartender Melissa Carroll. The zippy wine list features seafood- and shellfish-friendly offerings like sparkling cremants d’Alsace and Loire, a Northern Italian corvina blend and a furmint from Hungary’s Tokaji wine region, plus less than a handful of heftier reds like zinfandel, syrah and cabernet sauvignon. Expect a strong showing of local beer, though three Belgian ales on the draft line wink at the restaurant’s Belgian-bistro focus.
For now the restaurant is serving only dinner, but Fausett says lunch and brunch will be available soon. “I’m ready for Chicago to come check us out — we’re doing some fun stuff here,” he says.
225 N. Wabash Ave., 312-236-9300, fiskandcochicago.com
jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @joeybear85
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