At the Bristol, Great Eats Support Greater Causes
By Christina Whiteus 
September 2, 2010 
17 Comments
The Bristol
2152 N. Damen Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
773.862.5555
Website
When I open my fridge and see: grape tomatoes, green beans, and a small piece of trout; and in my pantry: potatoes, I think, “Grilled trout with a side of mashed potatoes and boiled green beans.†I’m not sure what Chris Pandel, chef of The Bristol, thinks, but what he makes is the best salad I have ever tasted. The trout was smoked and flavorful, its flaky texture complemented by the beans, which retained a palatable crunch. The sweet, juicy tomatoes provided light overtones to the earthy potatoes grounding the dish. The salad was tied together with a delicious dressing that had a mustard-like bite and a creamy consistency.
Aside from creativity and culinary craft, another crucial difference separates my theoretical trout dinner from The Bristol’s salad. All of The Bristol’s ingredients came from local farms. The restaurant has standing relationships with farms in Illinois and Michigan that supply it with fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables and sustainably farmed meats. When I spoke to Phillip Walters, the co-owner of The Bristol, he quoted Wylie Dufresne, a pioneer of molecular gastronomy and chef of WD-50, who said in an interview that “to use farm to table,†(that is, touting the use of local ingredients) “to imply that there’s something that equals quality is misleading.†This is one reason why The Bristol advertises its suppliers; farms like Nichols, Seedling, Spence, and Swan Creek, have the type of high quality produce featured in the city’s best (and most expensive) restaurants. Purchasing from these farms ensures transparency and reliable quality. Seedling Farm, for example, only harvests fruits when they are ready to eat, as opposed to many farms that let fruit to ripen in transit or in storage. This allows the fruits to produce more sugar and improves their taste. At Spence Farm, hogs are pastured, rather than penned, ensuring a varied diet of roots, flowers, and even rodents that results in more marbleized pork meat. Buying locally allows The Bristol to serve fresher ingredients. While the beans in my fridge come from California and my tomatoes from Florida packed in plastic, traveling in chilled trucks, their local counterparts arrive at The Bristol a few hours from where they were grown. Walters described the magic of having local ingredients arrive in the kitchen “covered in dirt, with roots… still alive!â€
The meal argued the case in its own way. A hearty homemade pappardelle was prepared al dente and served with chanterelles and corn in a rich buttery sauce that would make a dieter blush but left me wishing for seconds.
Our other two dishes were more daring. First, roast bone marrow. I’ll admit this wasn’t my cup of tea, served as it was bubbling in the bones of its bovine donor. But spread thinly on a yummy crostini with a bit of tart shallot jam (eyes averted from the dish itself), I was able to enjoy the smooth fattiness of the marrow.
We ordered the skate wing without knowing what exactly skate is. A quick Google search on the phone turned up the intimidating image of a bony, alien-like body with rectangular wings. Further investigation revealed that the skate is a type of ray and that most species are overfished or bred in unsustainable farms. Though this information taints the dish somewhat, it was pretty tasty. The zesty leaf broccoli and pickled romano beans, though a little too strong eaten on their own, created a sort of alchemy with the mild-mannered skate to make a delicious forkful.
I finished off my meal at The Bristol with chocolate sabayon, which is an Italian desert somewhere between a sauce and a pudding. We used crunchy homemade nutter-butters to scoop it up: the classic peanut butter and chocolate combination presented with a novel twist.
When I asked him what inspired him to open The Bristol, Philip Walters explained that all three owners emerged from Chicago’s most upscale restaurant scene (Tru, N9ne, one sixtyblue) and had banded together to make fine dining available to more people. His vision for The Bristol was a place where you could enjoy the high quality food in a more casual way, without breaking the bank. In this vein the drink menu touts ninety beers and a selection of wines that are moderately priced (and when possible, organic and sustainably produced). The dim lighting, exposed brick walls, and cherry floors give the place a romantic vibe, yet the crowd is casually dressed, there are no tablecloths, and the bill is reasonable ($35-$40 a person). One way The Bristol keeps the cost down is using “snout to tail cookingâ€. Buying an entire animal to be partitioned so that all of its edible parts can be used is a lot cheaper and less wasteful than buying steaks apiece. Noticeable on the menu is a “crispy pig tailâ€. Chicago was described in the New York Times as a “city that needed less pomp and polish to go with good foodâ€. The Bristol has joined restaurants like The Purple Pig and the Publican to fill that niche. Phillip Walters claims his motives are “selfishâ€.
Well, not entirely. It turns out that The Bristol has close ties to several charities. Walters says these are hand picked: Share our Strength, Meals on Wheels, and Common Threads. All three of these charities focus on providing low-income families with healthy and nutritious food. Chef Chris Pandel participates in Meals on Wheels’ yearly Celebrity Chef Ball, where he whips up dishes to raise funds to provide meals for seniors and people with disabilities, who are unable to leave the house. On September 16th, The Bristol is hosting a special fundraiser for Common Threads, a charity that combats obesity and malnourishment by teaching low-income children how to cook. The Bristol will be carving up a Mangalitsa pig in true “snout to tail†manner to make a five course dinner for donors. The Mangalitsa is a so-called “curly hair hog†bred in Hungary for its especially fatty meat (the Hungarian word Mangalica means “hog with a lot of lardâ€). According to Walters its fat is so saturated its meat would melt if left in the sun too long.
I left The Bristol feeling a little like a Mangalitsa myself: I had pigged out on high quality food, I had melted over some of the dishes, and I was far from “hungary”. I also left feeling satisfied I had supported a business that values sustainability and giving back to the community. The word “bristol†derives from old English and means “place of the bridgeâ€. In a way The Bristol fits its name well. It connects local farmers with city customers, the casual diner with the world of fine cuisine, and unwitting consumers with charitable causes. It’s a bridge I’ll certainly be crossing again.
Photos by Christina Whiteus for Appetite for Good.
Related Posts
No related posts.
Author
looks fabulous!
It was so good!
I am so hungry for some Hungary food! Dying to pig out on some Mangalitsa pig!
mmmmmmm everything looks so0o0o delicious!
Wow great pictures! Looks like you had a delicious meal!
Thanks! The food looked so good, the pictures practically took themselves
.
All this food looks incredible, especially that papardelle! Yum!
I know! And there are so many other things on the menu I still want to try. I hear the monkeybread pull apart is amazing.
With a title like that, I had to check the post! Looks great!
Glad you looked in! You should check out the place too!
We were in Budapest a few years back and ate the most fabulous food – similar to the food in your post. Everything is made to fill you up!
And what a great cause The Bristol supports. Great post.
You’re right! Bone marrow is a very traditional Hungarian dish.
I love love LOVE bone marrow! It just has so much flavor
The skate looks AMAZING! Great pictures!
Thanks! Did you eat bone marrow on bread too?
“I left The Bristol feeling a little like a Mangalitsa myself: I had pigged out on high quality food, I had melted over some of the dishes, and I was far from ‘hungary’.”
Most amazing sentence ever composed? Yes, I think so. Great article!
Haha thanks. Would you like some corndog with that?
The review of the restaurant’s offerings was wonderful. I don’t know that I’d be able to eat marrow straight from the bone, just for the reason you skated…stated (sorry, couldn’t resist).
Since the author’s last review turned out so well, I decided to host a business dinner at the Bristol last week. Instead of the usaul overpriced Chicago restaurants, which my guest would have been to several times anyways, we were treated to wonderful meal with great service and at a price well under my entertainment budget.
I am starting to get hooked on this web site as the reviews have been to date absolutly spot on. Entertaining business guests in a “foreign” city can be a bit tricky. I have scored points with my clients when they ask “where in the world did you find this place?”. I just pretend I have a good nose for unique, good value restaurants….plus I score points with my clients for being enviormentally friendly.
Looking forward to your next post Christina…keep the review coming!
Geoffroy