Tete Charcuterie brings French meat-curing traditions to West Loop
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Despite technical advances in the kitchen over the years, some chefs prefer to keep things old school.
The ancient technique of curing meats is taking center stage in the West Loop, where a new restaurant is bringing the traditions of the French countryside alive along west Randolph Street.
To run a restaurant like Tete Charcuterie, you have to be patient. That's because much of what they serve at this enormous West Loop palace of pork is preserved or cured.
"Charcuterie refers to the art of sausage making, give or take," said Thomas Rice, co-owner and chef of Tete. "Sausages, dry-cured sausages, terrines and pates, which are a cold form of a meatloaf, if you will."
Rice and his business partner, Kurt Guzowski, specialize in the namesake, tete, or "headcheese," which is bound together by the natural gelatin in the animal. There's also cured salami and coppa aging in a special cooler, along with French classics like pate de campagne - that's chicken liver, pork and cogna - plus a terrine with pork, duck, foie and figs. Better yet, just get some sliced mortadella with pistachios and a few other cured items, and assemble a board, along with grainy mustard and pickles.
Those pickles also make a cameo in a fantastic Philippino sausage dish of longaniza, which rests above a base of rice.
"Shrimp fried rice, there's some fresh green garlic in it, a slow-poached egg and garnished with some fresh, housemade bread-and-butter pickles, chili marmalade and the longaniza," Rice said.
It's not all beef or pork. The "spring garden" features a vegan's fantasy of pickled, roasted, grilled and fresh ingredients, with zero animal inspiration.
"Anywhere from 25 to 40 different vegetables, fruits and herbs of the season," Rice said. "It's really fun, it's interactive, it changes throughout the season and it's kind of a journey for the guest to kind of dig their way through and develop some new things."
The exciting thing about charcuterie is time. You get to literally watch beef and pork transform over the course of several weeks, or even months. But here at Tete, all of that salumi hanging in the back is going to be ready to eat in about a month.
The restaurant's patio recently opened up, so you can now sit outside, along West Randolph. One warning: prices can add up for an assortment of cured meats and pates, so don't over-order.
1114 W. Randolph St., Chicago
312-733-1178
