CheekyChicago

I was fortunate enough to dine at Pops last week. Despite blizzard-ous misery, I hopped my freezing hiney onto the 36 and popped out at…Pops. Now, I’ve been to Pops before. Duh. It’s the only Champagne bar in the city and I’m a chick. Chicks and Champagne go hand in hand. However, I have never had the pleasure of dining at the establishment, only imbibing in copious amounts of bubbly.

At our highly desirable window seat, we had a beautiful view of palm trees and sunshine. Just kidding…but we did have a lovely view of rampant snowfall, plows and people slipping on their asses. Our wonderfully colorful waiter came over and said that he’d like to surprise us with each of our dishes and their respective Champagne pairings (instead of ordering off of a menu). I guess I’m just a girl who can’t say no.

First things first. Said waiter drops off Chef Andrew Brochu’s Rabbit Rilette with shallot marmalade, red grapes and vanilla. Rilette = fancy word for paté. Although, paté is kinda fancy too. I digress. Anyway, I’m not a huge fan of paté, but this was quite delicious; not too creamy and not too paté-y. At the point of trial, we had no idea what we were eating. We were not granted menus because our server wanted us to try everything with an unbiased palette. How very tricky of him. It was quite the interesting experiment – as I’ve only been exposed to blind wine tastings, I was very open to trying the food-driven alternative.

The Mushroom Crackers followed with duck confit, mango-ginger dice, black sesame puree and cilantro. Again, sheer ignorance, but my friend-with-an-awesome-palette knew that it was duck right away. I knew that it was mango, I’ll give myself that. This impromptu guessing game was actually quite fun. As were the amazing sparkling pairings. I swear, Champagne may pair better with food than….dare I say…wine? Our next dish fell a little short: Poached Lobster Skewers with lobster froth, lemon and minced herbs. Although I definitely guessed the protein in the dish, it might have been for the wrong reason of it being a bit fishy flavored.

Dessert was SWEET…in the best way possible. Pear Strudel with D’Affinois cheese, pineapple dice and cassis syrup. Not to mention my all-time fave, Moscato d’asti. I hope this doesn’t sound weird or anything, but it brings me back to my childhood. (Why would an alcoholic beverage do such a thing?) Well, Christmases with the big Italian family in New York were never complete without a glass (or two) of Moscato.

Over the years, I’ve sipped my fair share of bubbly from this contemporary Champagne bar on the corner of State and Ohio. I’m glad that I popped more than just a cork on this last visit. The food was as sparkling as the Champagne it was paired with.