Chicago Sun Times

WORTH SINGING

FOOD AND ATMOSPHERE IN PERFECT TUNE AT SOLA
by Pat Bruno

SOLA / ***
You know how it is when you can't get a tune out of your head? Sola, a new restaurant in Lake View, had me doing that with "O Sole Mio." That song was bouncing around in my head as "Oh, Sola mio," a positive prelude to how I might wish to sing the praises of this pleasant and most enjoyable restaurant.

The chef and co-owner of Sola is Carol Wallack. Not too long ago, she was in with her sister at a restaurant called Deleece (just up the road a piece on North Southport). Sola is open, bright, refreshing and radiates positive vibes.

There are some restaurants where there is so much raw energy that you get all jittery. And there are restaurants like Sola, where you can sit back, relax, get into the moment. Everything is smooth and the service is at your side but not in your face. Tables are nicely spaced, so you can chat without shouting, and you also can muse, connect with your food.

The menu is a tidy read. There is an equal number of appetizers and entrees (about a dozen each). A daily special or three is announced, as is the soup of the day. And, praise be, the price of each daily special also is announced, so there will be no surprise when you look at the bill.

The food here has three dominant influences: Asian, Hawaiian and American. That's not only from the choices, but from the nuances that hobnob around each dish. For example, a potato-leek soup in its birthright happens to be French, but when the chef adds a splash of coconut milk to the mix, it spins off (gently) in the direction of Asian, and the ride is quite tasty.

The provenance of brandade (salt cod and potato puree) is Provence, but Sola offers this French classic with a hint of ginger (instead of the usual garlic). Despite donning my skeptic's hat, I could not resist trying it. I still favor brandade made with garlic instead of ginger, but I was impressed with the creativity and the fact that cod works with ginger. I would like to see the brandade served on a flat plate instead of in a bowl, but that's just me.

While all of this was going on, I was snapping pieces off a "sail" of highly peppered flatbread that did the job of lighting the fuse on my taste buds, which in turn added some oomph to the Asian pear salad, a lusty combination on its own of greens, endive, thin slices of pear, blue cheese and pecans.

In a similar fashion, an onion tartlet appetizer really got it going with sensual flavors that came from the indulgent and rich honey-colored crust, the sweetness of the caramelized onions, a bit of tartness from the apples and, to round it all out, a nutty niceness from the Gruyere.

Eating on down the list of entrees, the first one listed on the menu is stated simply as seared scallops. The scallops, four plump beauties, were seared perfectly. Underneath the crusty brown exterior, the flesh was not quite rare, and with the moisture came flavor. The scallops were served under haricots verts and formed a circle around an "apple-sweet potato risotto." Not a risotto in the strict sense of the word, rather a grain that worked beautifully with the scallops. But the crowning glory in all of this was the elegant star anise sauce, a delight that brought the scallops to an even higher level of enjoyment.

I passed on the New York strip with mashed potatoes and oven-roasted chicken breast, simply because I had my eye on the tuna. This was a fine piece of fish, a chunky fillet encrusted with black pepper and glazed with a balsamic-soy syrup (great idea, that). To add to the pleasure, there were properly cooked snow peas (good crunch) and "black beluga lentils." I am not big on lentils, but I got on with these just fine.

The daily specials included beef tenderloin, monkfish with a mango chutney and lamb chops. The chops have become noted as the chef's signature dish, and well they should be. The lamb got a Dijon crust (I am of the opinion that lamb and mustard are an incomparable duo) and a silky "stuffing" of Cambazola, a cheese that straddles the line between Brie and Gorgonzola (actually the name is a combination of Camembert and Gorgonzola). The cheese is an interesting idea in that it tempers the flavor of the lamb just enough to make it all the more interesting.

Show me short ribs on a menu and I am a pushover. In this entree, the American comfort-food part of the menu comes out in full glory. Great meat: flavorful, fork-tender, delicious. And with the meat came the ideal accompaniments -- a pile of cheddar-laced macaroni and cheese and several halves of glazed brussels sprouts. The combination worked great.

Sola's desserts go into a dimension that makes a lot of sense when taking into account that bold Asian flavors might have been the lead-in. Sweetness became a palate cleanser in the beautifully done pecan molasses cake with a bourbon caramel sauce, served with a hunk of pecan brittle and lush buttermilk ice cream.

Or, in a more fruit-inspired fashion, try the warm citrus pound cake with its accompaniments of kiwi fruit, strawberry, papaya and a mango curd. It's all good.

Pat Bruno is a local free-lance writer, critic and author.

short ribs and pecan molasses cake. ***