Sabor Saveur

By Written by April Schneider on March 20th, 2010

In celebration of my good friend Evan finally moving to Chicago, my other friend Danielle and I took him out for dinner, big-city style. You see, Evan is moving here from Appleton, Wisconsin, and while he can get his fair share of Panera and Chipotle up in the north woods (which is only a recent occurrence, might I add), the region is decidedly lacking in quality home-grown, chef-driven restaurants.

To introduce Evan to Chicago culinary, we went to the French-Mexican Fusion of Sabor Saveur. We were all intrigued with this concept; the chef is Mexican, but trained in a French culinary school. The flavors were very much Mexican, but the dishes had more refinement than the casual taco and used traditional French cooking techniques.

From 5-7pm they offer a five-course prix-fixe menu for $40, and the restaurant is, for now anyway, BYOB.

Let’s start with the soup course. Evan and Danielle ordered the soup du jour, which was a creamy, roasted corn and poblano soup. I didn’t try it, but they both were in love. Things were looking up.

My salad—roasted beets with arugula and a touch of crème fraiche. The beets were great. I thought it could’ve used a little more acid, though admittedly I prefer my salads to be on the acid-heavy side.

And then, a nice surprise, a house-made sorbet made with fresh sugar cane—just a little something to cleanse the palate before our entrees. It was spiced with some cinnamon and was really fantastic.

Ultimately, the chef really shined with our entrees. I ordered poached salmon, which was served with some xoconotzle, a mild and slightly sweet fruit that, according to the waiter, helps with digestion. The texture was similar to watermelon, but with a flavor closer to a papaya. Danielle’s Sea Bass was served with it also. And Evan ordered the Chile Relleno. We were all drooling through our meals, barely speaking a word to each other while we devoured the goodness.

I’m always weary of ordering salmon; even at really great restaurants, I’ve had terrible salmon. If it’s not sourced properly, or cooked correctly, or absolutely fresh, a lot can go wrong. But this salmon was so delicate, light, perfectly cooked… just wonderful. Danielle and Evan gave their dishes equally rave reviews.