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!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/67043
so many dinners (so little time...) Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago is home to Sixteen. Sixteen's dining room features 30-foot ceilings. sous chef at Everest and chef de cuisine at San Francisco's Quince. But he most recently worked in the kitchen at Las Vegas's three-Michelin-starred Joël Robuchon at the MGM Grand. all grown up SIXTEEN'S NEW HEAD CHEF, THOMAS LENTS, IS BRINGING THE FORMAL TABLE BACK. by ari bendersky F rom Donald Trump's point of view, Sixteen, like everything else he owns, was always the best restaurant in Chicago. But the refined dining room overlooking the Chicago skyline and Chicago River on the 16th floor of the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago went through somewhat of a transitional period last year. Following the departure of Michelin-starred executive chef Frank Brunacci in June of 2011, the restau- rant—despite maintaining a steady flow of moneyed diners, celebrities, and the politically connected, including Drew Barrymore, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, The Donald, and his daughter, Ivanka—struggled a bit with its identity. This resulted in the restaurant being excluded from Michelin's 2012 star listing, leaving foodies to question the status of the fine-dining spot. Today, with gleaming silver on the tables set below 30-foot ceilings, Sixteen looks anything but dull. In January of this year the restaurant announced it had brought on Thomas Lents to serve as executive chef and had high hopes that Lents would return Sixteen to its glory. And those hopes come with good reason: Lents has a world-class pedigree, which includes time as executive 80 michiganavemag.com Lents had always planned to return to Chicago and was waiting for the perfect reason to jump. Trump gave him the impe- tus to head back East. "It was really the opportunity at Sixteen that drew me more than anything else," Lents said. "I looked at the restaurant and the team they wanted to build. I looked at it as an opportunity to build a new version of a modern restaurant." Lents didn't come to Chicago fists clenched, ready for an aggressive fight. Instead the accomplished chef, who also honed his craft in restaurants in Ireland and the UK, quietly continued on page 82 eat like a trump Enjoy The Donald and his family's favorite dishes on Thomas Lents's new menu. Donald: Ribeye of American Wagyu beef and cranberry cherry crème Ivanka: Minted English pea soup Donald Jr.: Loin of red fallow deer Eric: Tempura soft-shell crab and Berkshire pork belly and filet (both from the lunch menu) Donald and Ivanka Trump photography by katrina wittcamp (hotel, interior, plate); gregg deguire (d. trump); george pimentel (i. trump)