sola

sola was not what I expected. The street address is on Lincoln but the entrance is on Byron. You will miss it if you’re looking for a storefront on Lincoln. That being said, it was a real surprise when I saw the place. It is a beautiful restaurant. Dozens of simple light fixtures hang in a grid from the high ceiling, simple and comfortable chairs keep a very large space open but formal. The decor was not what I associate with the neighborhood that finds the great bar/hangout Grizzly’s a block over.

We started with frou-frou drinks and they were really good. They actually are good enough to dictate a dinner. Where I would think a nice Zinfandel would go with my lamb chops I could easily do cocktails with the mahi-mahi. I would need a menu to remember the drink details but will mention what I can… a vodka fruity martini-thing with cracked pepper and star anise floating on top. Wonderful drink. A pomegranate mojito was light but powerful, a cream soda and raspberry vodka was also lighter than you’d think but still sweet and punchy. The strawberry and something martini was not sweet but very cold and tart. I’d get another of “those” next time.

Appetizers of fried artichokes with truffle dressing and sweetened soy dipping options and lobster pot stickers were starters. The lobster didn’t do much for me but the truffle dressing turned into the surrogate butter for the rosemary crisp bread as well. Mmmmm. The sweet soy did the trick too.

Entrees of scallops, lamb chops and mahi-mahi were all beautiful. The scallops were the best with a light risotto bedding. The mahi-mahi looked great with a drizzled sauce presentation and the lamb stuffed with cambazola was tasty and crusty and probably needed the Zin more than the 2 cocktails.

The service was efficient and the restaurant was nicely crowded for a weeknight. Lucky, Carol Wallack offered her miso cod dish at the “At the Table” event and stole the show. That dish is available on the sola menu as well.

sola also serves brunch Saturday and Sunday. The huevos benedictos (Chorizo, cornbread and salsa) has my attention.

Wallack’s Sola Shines
By Denise I. O’Neal

Wanting to strike out on her own, the former California surfer girl created a unique concept that offers something for every palate.

Sola’s menu is alive with fresh California-style cuisine tweaked with Asian influences, such as Hawaiian snapper with roasted pineapple and shiitake mushrooms as well as traditional homey fare, including braised short ribs.

There are no ho-hum offerings on the brunch menu. Instead, there are items such as Grand Marnier-souffle French toast and huevos benedictos, which combines chorizo sausage, cornbread, salsa and Hollandaise sauce.

So far, so good for Sola
Ex-Deleece chef excels in the details
By Phil Vettel

Sola is a culinary declaration of independence, a very personal statement by a chef/restaurateur who clearly sweats the details.

And, not coincidentally, it’s a terrific restaurant.

Carol Wallack, the one-time chef at Deleece (which is still owned by her sister, Lynne Wallack-Handler), opened Sola in January in the North Center neighborhood, about a dozen blocks west of her former haunt.

Wallack originally considered a location a bit farther west–Maui, where she has a second home–but when circumstances prevented that move, she sensibly chose an area where her cooking already had a following.

Sola, however, is not Deleece West, though the restaurants’ menus share a dish or two. This restaurant is very much Wallack’s vision–a minimalist, light-filled area with contemporary decor, upscale cooking and a focus on service that borders on the fanatical.

Indeed, the name Sola is a feminization of the word “solo,” though Wallack is quick to share credit for the restaurant with her co-workers, specifically sous chef (“and soon to be chef de cuisine,” she says) Vince Zhanay.

Wallack’s food demonstrates a love of texture and a fondness for spice, and a master’s touch with both. It begins with the bread basket, which includes pretzel rolls, multigrain bread and crispy flatbread so spicy that busboys have taken to issuing warnings as they set each basket down.

Best New Restaurants 2006

Sola
3868 North Lincoln Avenue (entrance off Byron Street); 773-327-3868
Contemporary American
[$$]

The chef/owner, Carol Wallack, over from Deleece, takes a Hawaiian and Asian perspective on American cooking. Sola is a sleek and noisy bi-level space done in shades of brown, beige, and ocher—down to the brown butcher paper on cream-colored tablecloths. Waiters are sharp in describing the tasty trio of tuna tartares accompanied by ginger confit and Thai cucumber salsa. Purely Western and simply delicious, puffy artichoke fritters come with a soy dipping sauce and white truffle honey aïoli. Wallack grows mangoes, pineapples, and bananas in the backyard of her home in Hawaii, so watch for fresh fish paired with those fruits. The braised short ribs rock, but even better is the five-spice duck breast with brandied cherry ginger demi-glace, wonderfully matched by a complex 2002 d’Arenberg Footbolt Australian Shiraz ($38). Mainland American flavors come to the foreground in a fine pecan molasses cake with bourbon caramel, pecan brittle, and buttermilk ice cream.
–D. R. W.

metromix.com Chicago Restaurants

sola Flair

What makes this new spot such a right-out-of-the-box hit?
by Chris Lamorte

It was only midweek, but securing a Saturday reservation at Sola, the two-and-a-half-week-old North Center spot, was proving to be tougher than I anticipated.

“Sorry, sir, the earliest we can seat you is 9:30 p.m.,” said the reservationist.

Really? I thought. Good reservation times (which, for me at least, means 8 p.m.) can be a pain in trendy River North, but c’mon; this is homey North Center. Sure, Sola has some buzz, but it’s holding back on seatings. Right?

Wrong! This place was packed. Really packed. And by the time I left, I knew why. Sola’s got the right balance of food, ambience and price.

It’s a winnng recipe that, no doubt, chef/owner Carol Wallack helped to perfect while exec chef at Deleece before striking out on her own with this spot. And while this venture doesn’t really resemble Deleece–Sola offers Asian-inflected, contemporary American fare (even treading into comfort food) and a more tailored, upscale vibe–it has a similar approach: Offer solid, occasionally stellar cuisine in an approachable space at a great price. Hey, why not line up for it?

From a $17 bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin to $28 dijon mustard-crusted lamb chops, the something-for-everyone menu doesn’t try to make our heads spin with ambition but rather impresses with execution. My tender, savory braised short ribs ($20), for instance–served off the bone and paired with deliciously creamy mac ‘n’ cheese–will no doubt be a crowd-pleaser.

Of course, crowds here aren’t the trendoid, what’s-the-next-big-thing class of idiots who usually infect new spots. To my eye, the crowd seemed to skew toward middle-age. Yet I was entertained by at least one attractive, well-dressed, twentysomething couple engaged in some pre-Valentine’s, post-dessert liplocking.

If it was Sola’s decor that inspired their ardor, my boyfriend, Rob, and I–to everyone’s relief–didn’t share it. Sola is a good place to bring your parents and tell them you just got engaged, but not an ideal place for the proposal. Yes, there’s a warm color palette, and the constellation of hanging pendant lights is striking. But the central room (there’s a smaller seating area on the side) with a fairly noticeable noise level isn’t cozy. The room’s more stylish than super-sexy, sort of like the food.

The standout, believe it or not, was the salad. Yep, the quirky sea greens ($6) will impress even carnivorous he-men with sweet, tangy hoisin vinaigrette over mildly liquorice-y hijiki seaweed.

There were two shrugs of the night. First, the tuna tartare trio ($12): One was salty, one sweet, the last spicy. But each was outgunned by the accompanying tortilla chips and cucumber salsa. The other: Rob’s pan–roasted grouper ($20), which offered a potentially interesting orange-chili sauce but needed more of it to give this dish spark.

There is one similarity to Deleece, perhaps more noticeable to dedicated elbow-benders like myself: Sola makes a mean cocktail (there’s even a dessert martini list). I was so impressed with the gorgeous strawberry-muddled Valentini ($9), I stole the idea for a dinner party we were throwing the next night. (For the record, mine was merely a muddled mess.)

Even the wine list ($7-$11) pops with plenty of personality: We liked the off-the-beaten-path selections like the $8 2004 Kuentz Bas, an Alsatian Sylvaner.

Speaking of off the beaten path, Sola’s address is on Lincoln Avenue, but the entrance is actually a few steps down on Byron Street, which we hear is causing a bit of confusion.

But if the crowd we saw there is any indication, people aren’t having any trouble finding it now.

Chris LaMorte is the metromix dining producer.

Time Out Chicago : Issue 53

March 2-9, 2006

Here comes the sun

It’s not a day at the beach, but Sola manages to take the edge off winter
By David Tamarkin Photograph by Donna Rickles

Note to restaurateurs: sun imagery works. Especially in the middle of winter.

Case in point: Sola, Lincoln Square’s comfortable new venue for chef-owner Carol Wallack’s cooking. Even though the name translates to “alone”—a reference to the fact that Wallack is on her own this time around, having just come from a collaboration with her sister at Deleece—customers and the restaurant’s publicists are focusing only on the first part of the word: Sol. “Sun.” And judging from Sola’s crowds, sun is exactly what Chicago is craving.

The essence of the sun—or at least the sun-soaked culture of the West Coast and Hawaii—is what Wallack tries to infuse into every dish on her menu. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t; either way, her menu is usually successful. The caramelized onion tartlet is a superb starter, its golden crust a rich base for the creamy, sweet-and-savory combination of onions, apples and Gruyère. And her brandade (whipped salt-cod puree) contains a touch of ginger, just enough to lighten up this classically rich dish—and, of course, to mark it with Wallack’s stamp.

Another Wallack original is “Carol’s Colorado Lamb Chops.” She’s been working on this dish for years, and it shows. The lamb is so tender it’s practically creamy, and the Dijon crust plays off the lamb’s gaminess brilliantly. It almost made up for the lackluster grouper, set atop a pile of bland purple rice.

Dessert is a funny concept for a restaurant that attempts to capture the essence of the beach (and all the trim, toned bodies on it). But Wallack consulted HotChocolate’s Mindy Segal on her creations and came up with a few that fit with her philosophy. The Thai coffee crème brûlée and pecan molasses cake are both fine. But they aren’t essential, and it’s just as well if you skip them. Besides, as Sola tries to remind us, swimsuit season is just around the corner.