Entre Suenos is a restaurant temporarily located in Soho House (113-125 N Green St, Chicago). The Chef, Stephen Sandoval, is looking for a permanent space. The small restaurant serves a regular menu, described as borderless Baja cuisine, the Baja part a reference to the growing food scene in Ensenada and Tijuana. The regular menu recently received a 3 star all out rave review in the Tribune by Nick Kindelsperger.
We opted to go for the Experience Dinner, which is what I'll describe, and which was a delightful experience:
1. You arrive at 6:30, and for the first hour you can sit anywhere in the small room. They take drink orders and serve 4 small sea food based appetizers. We sat near the open kitchen and watched the chef prepare a paella over an open wood fire. There is just the one seating, and it takes over the whole restaurant.
2. The appetizers were fabulous:
Tostada with sea urchin, equite puree and burnt lime
Tostada with anchovies, duck liver mousse, avocado and fresno chiles
Oyster with morita chiles, melon and jamon iberico fat (which the chef torched)
A fried ball of some kind with duck, avocado and pickled onion.
3. The chef personally served most of all of these giving a detailed description.
4. You are then seated at a table for 6, so you do have to socialize with strangers.
5. The 5 course meal was a mixture of Mexican and Spanish, with 2 courses (the Valencia style paella) and a suckling pig (with 2 sauces) served family style.
6. The chef spoke the the room and told a story before each course of how he created it and why. The stories includes references to his history of cooking in Mendoza Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and as chef at Lena Brava (he has a strong Bayless connection).
All in all, a unique and special evening. The food was good to outstanding. The atmosphere convivial, and the chef spent most of the time going around and talking to individual diners. You got to ask him any and all questions as he never seemed rushed. We'll definitely go back for the regular restaurant.