“Light, clean and with a backbone. The flavors speak for themselves.” That’s how Executive Chef Eric Aubriot characterizes the food at his new restaurant, Fuse, at Hotel 71 on East Wacker Drive in Chicago.
Since its soft opening this month, the restaurant with its stylishly cool yet welcoming urban ambiance, in keeping with the rest of the hotel, has been attracting a young, professional business crowd at lunch and delighting hotel guests from across the country for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Fuse was developed for the hotel by the noted Chicago restaurateur Richard Mott, known nationally for North Pond and other establishments. “Our goal with Fuse is two-pronged – to deliver a memorable and unique dining experience and to play a leading role in Chicago’s vibrant dining scene,” he said.
General Manager of Hotel 71, Ian Nicholson, adds: “We are delighted to offer our guests and the city of Chicago a restaurant and gathering place that is destined to become a focal point of life and entertaining in America’s friendliest and most appealing big city.”
Designed by Nancy Warren of Warren Architects, Ltd., Fuse is a full-service restaurant open seven days a week, and includes two private dining rooms. The ambiance is evoked with floor to ceiling windows, tiled stone floors and walls of textured sand and copper toned paper. A large oval bar with glass mosaic tiles lit from within and gray leather-backed stools take center stage. Blue mosaic tiles and columns of clear glass pay tribute to Chicago’s skyline and Lake Michigan setting. Overhead, alternating columns of glass and dark wood of varying heights create a hanging skyscraper effect – a design element used throughout the restaurant.
Chef Aubriot, who welcomes Chicago’s emergence of the clean, hip look of the newer city restaurants, characterizes Fuse as “one of the places to be” in the Windy City. For Hotel 71’s signature dining venue he has designed a menu that reflects his passions and style.
Appetizers include Poached Pear and Muenster Salad, with figs, port reduction and a fresh herb garnish; Yellow and Red Beet Carpaccio with frisee, mache, orange supremes, chives and truffle vinaigrette; and Seared Foie Gras with Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce – Aubriot’s signature dish. Entrees include Oven-Roasted Lamb Loin, with eggplant caviar, oven-dried tomato, and a garlic-lamb jus; Provencal-style Seafood Stew “en cocotte;” and Roasted Black Cod, with poached egg, black olive, truffles, and zucchini puree. Desserts are highlighted by Crunchy Cranberry Upside-Down Polenta Cake with buttermilk ice cream, and warm apricot purée, and Chocolate Mango Tart, banana saffron sauce, mango sorbet, pistachio tuile. Starters range in price from $7 - $19 entrees from $19 - $28, and all desserts are $9. Fuse features over 100 international selections of wine, showcasing the best vintages of noted vineyards.
ABOUT THE CHEF
Born in Paris, Eric Aubriot immigrated to the United States in 1981 where his culinary career began in Orlando, Fla. as a part-time busboy at La Belle Verriere and then working in the kitchen of Le Coq au Vin. Realizing his passion for cooking, Aubriot returned to France for training, first as an apprentice to Michel Guerard at the Michelin three-star Les Pres d’Eugenie in Eugenie Les Bains. Under Guerard, the acknowledged pioneer in “cuisine minceur,” Aubriot learned the art of light, healthful cooking that minimally uses fat and cream. Aubriot next apprenticed under the renowned Alain Ducasse at George V in Monaco. The only chef in the world with nine Michelin stars, Ducasse broadened the young chef’s culinary palate by demonstrating the techniques of blending French and Italian cooking.
Back home in America, Aubriot settled in Chicago where he first worked as pastry chef at Gypsy, the American restaurant in the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood. He then became chef garde-manger at Trio in Evanston, Ill., a Mobil Four-Star Continental restaurant, and later sous chef at Vidalia on Park in Glencoe, Ill. It was as sous chef and then chef du cuisine of Jacky Pluton’s Carlos restaurant in Highland Park, Ill., that Aubriot built a name for himself.
In 1998, Aubriot and his wife, Stephanie, opened Aubriot to commercial and critical acclaim. That same year, the restaurant was selected as one of Esquire magazine’s “Best New Restaurants” in America. In 1999 and again in 2001, Chef Aubriot was honored with a “Rising Star Chef” nomination from the James Beard Foundation. Shortly before joining Mott to develop Fuse, Aubriot launched Tournesol, a casual French bistro in Chicago’s lively Lincoln Square area.
ABOUT HOTEL 71
Following an approximate $20 million transformation, Hotel 71 recently announced its completion. Among the newest features are Fuse, a restaurant created by Richard Mott and noted chef Eric Aubriot, as well as a high-tech business lounge with Wi-Fi capabilities. A fresh, new Web site featuring enhanced services such as a pre-check in option for guests and the ability to listen to a range of music specifically designed for Hotel 71, as well as the launch of a guest rewards program are also on the horizon. Other features of the hotel include 422 guestrooms, 32 suites, including eight executive boardroom suites with in-room meeting space accommodating 14; a distinctive rooftop penthouse setting for meetings (up to 350 guests at a time) and memorable special events with panoramic views of the city; a trendy boutique for necessities and luxury travel and lifestyle products; and a fully equipped gym. All facilities are designed with a unique flair for comfort, aesthetic appeal and functionality to appeal to leisure and business travelers alike.
For further information regarding Hotel 71, please call (800) 621-4005 or visit www.hotel71.com. To reach Fuse directly, please call (312) 462-7071.
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