Finally went to Grace last night (for our anniversary), and had a few things with a very, very impressive and delicious meal. We didn't opt for the wine pairings, given the wine list, which I'd love to have had a chance to study for about a week beforehand; but we did okay.
With the first several courses we had a bottle of Hirsch 2013 Kamptal Grüner Veltliner 1e Lage Reserve, Kammerner Lamm. Upon first opening, this was good but not great: a solid, typical Grüner with decent concentration and propulsive acidity, but without the complex harmonics I was hoping for, especially on the back end. But time, warmth, and food brought a lot more out of it, accenting the sometimes spicy, sometimes dry-honeyed finish, and it proved to be an admirably interesting and flexible companion to most of the dishes with which we paired it.
We then shifted to glasses of a Olga Raffault 2007 Chinon "Les Picasses," a softer, slightly more indistinct vintage than some I've had, but nevertheless caught at a perfect moment, with the leafy earthy notes in fine balance with the fruit. Always a favorite.
We had intended the Chinon to pair with the last couple of savory courses, the final one of which was beef; but before the beef appeared, we were offered a complimentary pour of their usual pairing for that dish -- which turned out to be a Bottex NV Vin de Bugey-Cerdon. This was an inspired choice, and the beef was inspired too, because what it really was was an astonishingly complex risotto-style mix of cooked whole grains, hon shimeji mushrooms, kaffir lime, and other very delicate, filigreed aromatics, with two modest cubes of seared A5 Kobe serving as rich accents to the dish. Any standard "red meat" wine would have overwhelmed it. The Bugey was laugh-out-loud perfect.
This was also the dish that finally got me to understand what Grace is doing (insofar as I can interpret that on the basis of one visit). You have to understand: this is still the American Midwest. Even in the upper stratosphere of the Chicago restaurant scene, a lot of diners, seeing a menu that promises a final savory course of beef without specifying the prep, are going to think: "Thank god, I've played along with all this other fancy stuff, now I get to eat a hunk of meat." Grace is toying with that expectation and then refusing it -- and then giving people arguably the best course of the night as their reward for continuing to pay attention. It's not a flashy restaurant, where technique explodes in all directions: there are a couple of subtly goofy presentations but there's no pillow of orange air or smoking eucalyptus leaves. But it's also not a beacon of simplicity: no baby carrot on a prong, no "this morning's farm egg." (And I say that with great respect for Alinea and great love for Blue Hill and Stone Barns.) It's a paradoxical experiment in the expansive, creative possibilities of restraint, sublimation, and discipline. And it's terrific.