The Night I Met Graham Elliot

I’ve been a fan of everything Graham Elliot since I started watching Master Chef back in 2011. For years, I had been dying to try one his restaurants, but I was a student, with little income and never had the chance to make it out to Chicago.

When I made the decision to move here, one of the first things on my list was to check out one of his restaurants. Graham has two restaurants in Chicago. He has a two Michelin Starred restaurant on Huron Street (it’s actually only 2 blocks from my apartment) called Graham Elliot and another one in the West Loop called Graham Elliot Bistro (GEB). Since I will have to save up a little before I can afford to try his Michelin restaurant, I opted to head over to GEB (although I just found out that it will be closing January 1…I better hurry up)!

The day before heading over, I tweeted him and asked if he was going to be around GEB and that I would love to say hello. To my total surprise, he tweeted me back and told me he would be there!!! It was honestly one of the most exciting moments of my life (and the first time a public figure had every tweeted me back).

As you can tell from the photo above, I did meet Graham and he spent 10 minutes with our table just chatting and getting to know us.I was humbled and honored to not only get the chance to meet him, but eat such an incredible meal.

Although the menu is seasonal (and may not be the same anymore), my meal highlights were:

1) Sweet Corn Soup ($12): This was a HUGE bowl of soup and maybe one of the best I’ve ever had. It was a little spicy and had this interesting spiced coffee granola that gave it the most interesting texture. If Graham didn’t come over and say hi during that course, I probably would have licked the bowl.

2)  Chevre Angolotti ($20): This home-made pasta was so light it literally melted in your mouth. It was tossed with burgundy truffles, delicate pea tendrils & swiss chard.

3) Banana Split ($9): This unique desert was served in a jar. It was an elevated banana split with a coffee chocolate sauce, salted pretzels and caramelized hazelnuts.

4) Indoor S’mores ($9): This dish is everything you love about a delicious s’more. It has a decadent chocolate mousse, graham cracker crumble & burnt meringue (to mimic the marshmallow)

I apologize in advance for not having photos. I went to GEB before I officially started my blog and was honestly so awe-struck just being there and meeting Graham that I didn’t even remember to take photos.

I promise I’ll head back there soon and give this restaurant the full review it deserves!

Love always,
Erica