Province

Province is yet another wonderful restaurant in the West Loop neighborhood, which we recently tried for the first time. Their menu is made up of mostly small plates to share, but does have larger plates do you don't have to do the sharing thing if you don't want. The cuisine doesn't have one overarching theme or influence - there are several Spanish-inspired dishes, but also some Asian, some Southern, and lots of new American.

The first part of the menu is "Bites", and we chose the house smoked salmon, bagel crisp, and herbed cream cheese.



Our choice from the "Raw" section of the menu arrived along with the smoked salmon bites. This one is hamachi sashimi with sea salt and serrano chiles.



Next we made one choice from the "Small" section of the menu: grilled herbed flatbread with fresh cheese, arugula, and a slow poached egg. I asked what exactly "fresh cheese" is, and the waitress said it was a housemade cheese similar to ricotta. I even got an action shot of this one...




For the main course we did one dish from "Big" and two from "Bigger". I know, it sounds like a lot of food, but the Bigger dishes really weren't that big. Ok, now I'm starting to confuse myself. From the "Big" part of the menu: Spanish Calasparra rice with market vegetables and manchengo cheese. Very cheesy and rich, but delicious.



And from the Bigger section, rare Hawaiian tuna with baby bok choy, spring onions, romesco, and caper vinaigrette...



And ten hour BBQ's lamb with roasted eggplant, chorizo, and cornbread. Mmmm.



Did we order dessert? Is the pope Catholic? Any dessert item with blueberries, and I'm sold. We got a blueberry tartlet with vanilla bean ice cream and blueberry syrup.



Hard to say, but I think my favorite dishes were the flatbread and the tuna. And the smoked salmon bite, it was just a taste but really good. And obviously the blueberry dessert. Ok, ok...it was all great!