Beef Tartar from Henri

While every other new restaurant in Chicago lately features either tacos, burgers or Neapolitan pizza, it’s refreshing (albeit, quite a bit more expensive) to see Henri trying to bring back the era of luxe dining, in a room where you can actually have a conversation with your dining companion(s). Chef Dirk Flanigan – who still oversees The Gage next door – is flexing his French skills, in both technique and ingredients, and one of the menu’s stars seems to be the steak tartar. I’ve been seeing this assemblage of raw beef, seasoned with capers, a little egg yolk and accompanied by toast or chips, at a number of places recently, including Duchamp and Leopold. But the version at Henri is simply splendid. If you are going to splurge a little, and you need your red meat quota, this is the dish to get.