Author and Photographer: Olivia Shanler

The Nobu Chicago experience, which centers around elevated Japanese dishes served family-style with subtle Peruvian twists influenced by Nobu Matsuhisa’s background, is indeed “worth it.” With an asterisk.

Situated in the Nobu Hotel, located in the West Loop, Nobu Chicago’s modern, clean-cut space featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and floral light fixtures welcomes customers to a dining experience marked by precision, luxury, and personalized service. As the staff greeted us in Japanese - in unison - I felt like a minor celebrity. The waiter made the experience feel more exclusive as he helped curate a personalized menu for our party. He assured me that all of our requests would be met and that the chef would modify dishes to accommodate the one vegetarian with us. And thus began my journey into Nobu - I was anxious to see whether or not the group’s iconic dishes would perform as expected.

Cold Dishes

The dining experience unfolded in a specific order: cold dishes, followed by hot dishes, and then the sushi selection before dessert. To start, I had the iconic Yellowtail Jalapeño, served with a light ponzu sauce. The precision of the sliced jalapeños contributed to the perfectly balanced flavor of the tuna (subbed out as shiitake mushrooms for the vegetarian), which was light and fragrant. We moved on to the Baby Spinach Salad with Dry Miso. Any salad with crispy fried leeks, a savory miso dressing, and strong truffle flavor is automatically a favorite. This salad was a mastery of flavors, with delicious savory notes that instantly became addictive. This is not your mother’s spinach salad. Then came another iconic dish that finished off the “cold” portion of the meal: Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna. This is a deceptively difficult dish to master: the crispy rice patty must be the right thickness to complement the tuna topping, and the patty must not become soggy or gluey. Additionally, the tuna should be presented with enough spicy and tangy flavor to cut through the starchy rice. Overall, this dish did not disappoint, although its vegetarian counterpart did not perform the same way. Though the vegetarian dish included a vegan caviar substitute made from tonburi, the dried seed of the summer cypress tree, the avocado mash did not offer the same variety of texture as the chunked tuna. As I watched the last dish be cleared away, I felt satisfied by the cold dish round and even more excited for what was to come.

Hot Dishes

Next up: hot dishes. The Rock Shrimp Tempura with a Creamy Spicy Sauce lived up to its name, with succulent bites of shrimp encased in a crispy and light tempura batter and covered in a positively addictive sauce. The vegetarian version with silken tofu gave the dish even more contrast in textures. The Lobster Ceviche on Limestone Lettuce surprised me the most. These delectable lettuce wraps were filled with tender bites of lobster and quinoa and topped with a light, creamy sauce that allowed the sweet flavor of the lobster to shine. The vegetarian alternative, a tomato ceviche with quinoa, sweet potato, and cucumber, offered a tangy and light flavor. My palate was satisfied beyond my expectations… and so was my stomach. But there was still more to come.

Up next was the dish we had been waiting for: Chef Nobu’s most iconic creation. It felt like I was Gollum and Black Cod with Miso was “my precious.” The texture of the cod was tender and flaky, and the skin possessed a delicate and light quality to it. The flavor of the fish was buttery and savory, due to the miso (which I now esteem to be the perfect ingredient). This dish is a hallmark of Nobu for a reason. It encapsulates every aspect of dining that the restaurant does well: simple ingredients paired well with well-executed culinary techniques and precise flavors, the perfect marriage of flavors and textures, and a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian influence. The high-quality fish, the perfect texture on it, the savory sauce, and the combination of miso and soy, along with citrus, came together to make a perfect dish, and one that I still think about every day. This dish was hard to follow, but of course, Nobu continued to roll out excellent items.

The 12 oz Dry Aged Ribeye with Truffle Butter was amazingly tender and topped with fragrant shavings of black truffle at a melt-in-the-mouth thinness. This was paired with a selection of mixed vegetables in wasabi sauce (which I took to my dorm as leftovers and reheated, and yes, it was delicious), which finished out the “hot” dishes.

Sushi

The third stage of the meal, the much-anticipated sushi course, highlighted the precision of Japanese cuisine. My nigiri sampler included a light and fluffy scallop topped with a single cilantro leaf and crystallized soy, all of which combined to make a bite that tasted like the best parts of the ocean: salty yet sweet and delicate. I then tried the snow crab with chive and toasted garlic and was blown away by the freshness of the crab, and the contrast between its flavor and the strong profile of the garlic. Of course, I couldn’t come to Nobu without sampling their uni, and I was not disappointed. Served simply with a minuscule amount of wasabi, this dish had perfectly minimal ingredients that allowed the natural flavor of the uni to shine, all together making a bite that exploded with complex and briny flavor. Finally, my personal favorite, the otoro (fatty tuna belly). Here, I got my caviar and otoro fix rolled into one. Topped with Kolikof caviar, there is truly nothing in this world like fatty tuna.

Dessert

Somehow, I managed to save a little room for dessert. As soon as I sampled the Yuzu Custard Tart, I said, as if in prayer, “there is truly nothing in this world like honeyed strawberries, crème fraîche gelato, and a smooth, acidic, delicate, yuzu tart.” And yet, there was also nothing in this world like the Banana Soy Toban, which brought a fresh riff to the classic Banana’s Foster dessert. I couldn’t have imagined a more stunning finish to an exceptional meal.

So, is Nobu worth it? Yes, absolutely. The asterix, as you can guess, is the cost. Ordering a la carte from the menu is one option to keep costs contained. However, if you want the tasting menu experience, set a limit with the server so you can have the experience without a surprise bill at the end. And this experience is worth it. The photos of the food celebrities and influencers post on Instagram pale in comparison to the overall nature of the actual dishes. One cannot live the experience of the exquisite Black Cod with Miso just by looking at a picture of it. Furthermore, claiming that we understand Nobu, that we “get the point,” after seeing photos of the dishes, leads to missing out on the actual experience. To truly understand the dedication of the staff, the culinary creativity of the chefs, the precision of the menu, and the personalization and intimate nature of the experience, one simply must try Nobu themselves (and please bring me back the Black Cod with Miso, as I miss it every day).

Nobu Chicago: Is It Worth It?

Author and Photographer: Olivia Shanler

Cold Dishes

Hot Dishes

Sushi

Dessert