I finally made it to the Aviary during a visit to Chicago last week, so I thought that I would resurrect this thread in order to report back. Overall, it was a fantastic and very unique experience, and one I would definitely recommend! First, the service was absolutely impeccably, from the moment we hit the door. They had a person at the door who took our name, and then radioed in to let the staff know to prepare our table. We were then led inside, past their impressive kitchen, and to a lovely corner table in a large, modern room. Our server was friendly and knowledgeable, and did an excellent job of guiding us through the night. We (and all the guests) were also treated to a lovely, and complimentary, apertif cocktail upon sitting down. I forget exactly what it was at this point… I think it was sake based, or maybe pisco.
Second, the cocktails were quite inventive and really very good. My wife found them to be some of the best cocktails she’s ever had. Personally, I wouldn’t rate them quite that high… that honor still goes to Canon here in Seattle. But they were of obviously high quality, and unlike cocktails I’ve had anywhere else. And the presentation alone was worth much of the (not inconsiderable) price. We decided to go with the a la carte menu, and went through three different rounds (photos below). My first drink was a very inventive combination of frozen daiquiri (on the bottom) and an Averna-based cocktail (top). I was instructed to drink a third of the daiquiri first (through the straw that was built into the glass), then a third of the top cocktail (through the additional straw), and then to blow bubbles into the drink in order to combine the two. Really fun and really good. The daiquiri was made with Wray & Nephews, which gave it a great funkiness, the Averna had some nice chocolate depth to it, and they combined wonderfully. My wife had a gin-based cocktail. I forget what else was in it, being most impressed by its presentation, nestled in a bunch of grass that was sprayed with some sort of BBQ smoke. It smelled and tasted delicious. For Round 2 I got the famous ‘In The Rocks’ cocktail, which is essentially a cocktail frozen inside an ice ball. They bring it to your table with a sling shot that fits over your glass, so that you can break the ice and release the cocktail into your glass. If I recall correctly, the cocktail itself was bourbon/vermouth/bitters/absinthe, plus a cherry granita that came in the glass along with the ice ball. Or something like that. Very nice, although not as good as the first cocktail. My wife’s was a gin, Scotch, and tea-based cocktail. They actually didn’t list Scotch as an ingredient on the menu, which is really the only reason my wife ordered it, since she HATES all whiskies. At least, she says she does… but when she got the cocktail she kept saying how it was the best cocktail she had ever had. And then when the server mentioned that it had Scotch in it, she was blown away. Perhaps the highlight of the night for me… I might just make a whisky drinker out of her after all! It also came with a tea pot into which they dropped dry ice, which blew some sort of aromatics into the glass. My last drink was the Hermoso, which was a mixture of tequila, Cocchi, and Bonal which was brought to the table in a decanter filled with cedar and cigar smoke. The cigar smoke infused deeply into the drink, resulting in a delightful combination of tobacco, chocolate, and grassy tequila notes. My wife got a cocktail in the Porthole, which is essentially an 8-10 oz vessel used to infuse cocktails. She was instructed to drink small amounts over time, in order to allow the cocktail to infuse more. It did, in fact, change quite dramatically over the course of the evening, going from a very gin-forward drink to a very complex, herbal libation. Unfortunately, my wallet couldn’t handle any other rounds, so we ended there. However, we saw some other very inventive cocktails taken to other tables, including one made in put together tableside with a Bunsen burner, and a tiki-style drink which contained gelled balls of rum (a la Bubble Tea).
The food was also really good… we had a giant piece of BBQ pork rind (very impressive presentation, standing up as a giant sheet), crab in a bag (a take on a Frito taco, but with crab and corn salsa… so good), Wagyu beef, and the foie gras Snickers bar. Although a tiny portion, I was really impressed by the Wagyu. They actually make a Dark ‘n’ Stormy, use a rotary evaporator to distill it until it is clear, then use the flavors that are left over to marinate the meat. They also serve the distillate. Absolutely delicious.
Anyway, a great night. The one drawback, of course, is the price. Very expensive. But I definitely plan to go back… I would love to do one of the fixed course cocktail menus. We also didn’t make it into the Office this time around, so we’ll have to do that on a future date.
