ML - Michigan Avenue

2013 - Issue 2 - Spring

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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SPRING HAS SPRUNG Diners enjoy the warm, welcoming environment, with views of the surrounding gardens close at hand. Chef and partner Bruce Sherman Guests arrive at North Pond by walking a short path through an oasis of green. north star CHEF BRUCE SHERMAN���S JEWEL BOX OF A RESTAURANT, NORTH POND, STILL SHINES BRIGHTLY AFTER 15 YEARS. BY LIZ GROSSMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATHAN KIRKMAN N othing spells doom for a restaurant like having a location with no parking, no street visibility, minimal foot traffic, and no inkling of a ���scene.��� But all of these factors have helped add to the charm of intimate Lincoln Park favorite North Pond, a culinary standout since 1998. Chef/owner Bruce Sherman���s pedigree hasn���t hurt: Famously passionate about produce, seasonality, and simplicity, Sherman has received the James Beard Award for Best Chef Great Lakes 2012 (on his sixth consecutive nomination), a Taste of the Nation Award for Best Sustainable Chef, and other accolades that have kept him at the forefront of the Chicago dining scene. Nestled as it is in an early 20th-century ice-skater���s warming house in the middle of Lincoln Park, just getting to North Pond is an adventure. Cars can���t drive up to the door, and the valet is on the north end of the park; guests take a short, serene walk along a path to the entrance. ���It���s easier for us to embrace (the spring greenery),��� says Sherman, commenting on the location. ���We see it all around us; it���s easier to get inspired when you���re living in it.��� Over the past 15 years, Sherman has grown to be even more appreciative of the restaurant���s rare connection with nature. ���There���s very little that���s private anymore,��� he says. ���Part of [dining] is privacy, intimacy. The 74 best meal most of the time isn���t the fanciest, most elaborate masterpiece��� it���s got a time and a place,��� adds Sherman, who refuses to reveal the names of the restaurant���s celebrity visitors and only recently made peace with the idea of guests snapping photos of their food. ���Initially I didn���t want to,��� he admits, ���but you can���t fight the wave.��� At night, ducks glide on the restaurant���s namesake pond, which reflects the city skyline in soft ripples. The evening atmosphere is punctuated by the warm glow emanating from the Arts and Crafts���style restaurant, which is divided into a small bar area and two cozy dining rooms. Daylight reveals the restaurant���s surrounding gardens, lush with anise hyssop, chives, and produce that ���evolves,��� says Sherman, who added the on-site garden during a remodel in 2002. What Sherman can���t pluck from the periphery, he obtains from Midwestern purveyors (���It���s not about the food; it���s about the farmer,��� he insists). One of those purveyors is David Cleverdon of Kinnikinnick Farm in Caledonia, Illinois. ���I���ve known him since day one,��� says Cleverdon, who fondly tells of the chef climbing into his truck to inspect the arugula. ���His standards are high; it makes you a better farmer to work with him,��� he says. continued on page 76 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 074-080_MA_Flavor_FlavorOfTheMonthV2_Spring13.indd 74 2/11/13 6:05 PM

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