There are so many people I’ve encountered that have never even heard of Mercat a la Planxa (638 South Michigan), and that definitely needs to change. It’s connected to the luxurious Blackstone Hotel and makes some of the best Spanish-inspired dishes I have ever tasted. I recently visited the restaurant and was treated to the Luxury Tasting Menu, and it was much better than I could have ever imagined.
When I arrived I didn’t know what to expect, I had read reviews of the place and saw that people really loved the food, but you still never know. To make things worse, I am not the most open-minded person when it comes to food, but I went in determined to at least try everything I could. Be warned before you start digging in, pace yourself. The amount of food you are going to receive is unreal and you will want to leave room for every single dish. From the very beginning, the dishes come out in bundles and this is where my taste buds and culinary world was transformed.
Every single dish that was brought out was at least very good, every single one, and most were absolutely amazing. From things that I knew were going to be great like the charcuterie, risotto, and bacon-wrapped dates to things I have never tried like rabbit pasta with brown sugar foam, blood sausage and the dish I said I wouldn’t try, lamb chops. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed the blood sausage (Chef Cory Morris had just gotten back from a trip to Spain and brought back this great olive oil that he poured over the blood sausage that made it even tastier) and lamb chops, it totally made me rethink my food philosophy. I would highly recommend Mercat a la Planxa for anyone who enjoys great food. Look no further than the accompanying photos to see all the incredible food. And the looks from my amateur iPhone photos will never do the food justice, I don’t want to ruin the surprise by telling you what it is, but the dessert dish is out of this world. To get a taste of all this for yourself, you have to make a reservation to Mercat today by clicking here.
