Restaurant Spotlight: Brown Trout

My dear friend Eryn was in town for the holidays so T and I took her to Brown Trout to celebrate her recent engagement! Sadly her fiancée Kevin was stuck in California for work but we managed to celebrate just fine without him... sorry Kev! Located on Lincoln in North Center, Brown Trout focuses on sustainable, locally sourced and organic dishes. They create a rotating menu that's adapted to the ingredients available to them.

Congrats to the future Mrs. Schnitzler! 

For starters we ordered a meat and cheese plate. Shoot, I can't even remember what type of cheese (local Wisconsin I think) or meat, but it was pretty good... and I loved the pickled cranberries that came with! It added a festive touch for the holidays.

I'm a sucker for a good bowl of mussels. Before this, I don't think I ever had chorizo with mussels, but it was a welcome addition to this bowl of yumminess...chorizo, fennel, celery root, lime, parsley and a spiced chorizo broth. Delish!

T ordered Patty’s Melt…a seared ranch burger, local swiss, caramelized onions, smoked crispy onions, rye bun, & frites. He claims it is one of the best burgers he has ever had! Impressive!

I LOVE pappardelle, so I went with a small plate of the Mint Creek Lamb Pappardelle…shitake mushroom, swiss chard, rosemary, red wine smoked butter, & lamb jus. That red wine butter? Hello! So good! This is a lovely pasta dish, perfect on a cold winter night!

We ordered the Butterkase & Cheddar Mac & Cheese for the table. I’m a huge fan of Butterkase, but I feel like something was lacking. It wasn’t bad at all! Just something amiss for me personally…

The bride to be ordered the Slow-Roasted Cauliflower…roasted chestnuts & brussels sprouts, grilled matsutake, chestnut spaetzle, carrot ginger sauce, chestnut puree, arugula, & Sherry vinaigrette. What a gorgeous display of veggies! Everything was cooked perfectly and E thoroughly enjoyed her choice!

Overall, we had a solid, fresh and tasty meal at Brown Trout. It’s nice to come across places like this where you can get some serious quality food at a very reasonable price. They also have weekly specials like BYOB Thursday's! Looking forward to coming back for more! 

4111 N Lincoln Ave

(773) 472-4111

http://www.browntroutchicago.com/Default.html