One Great Dish: Choucroute From Dusek's Board And Beer

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Nov 9, 2013 9:00PM

Photo credit: Chuck Sudo/Chicagoist

We're well into autumn&mdashbut winter is right around the corner, which means restaurant menus across the city are adding heavier dishes perfectly suited for the season utilizing pickled vegetables and charcuterie.

Choucroute garnie is a hearty, filling Alsatian dish of sauerkraut dressed with sausages and other salted meats. Root vegetables such as potatoes also play a part.

The choucroute at Dusek's, the new restaurant inside Pilsen's Thalia Hall, pays homage to the neighborhood's European roots while receiving a modern facelift in another winning entry from the team of Bruce Finkleman, Craig Golden and Jared Wentworth, who developed the menu.

Every aspect of Dusek's choucroute is prepared in house: from the garlic sausage, duck confit, and bacon blanketing a bed of crisp, tart sauerkraut, to confit red potatoes and compressed caraway pickled apples.

The apples are one of the highlights of the dish with a bright acidity and sweetness that both complements the sauerkraut and serves as a nice contrast in texture to the smooth sausage and the duck confit. A healthy dollop of stone ground mustard ties the meats together in a perfect marriage.

Choucroute is a dish that makes for a great pairing with beer and Dusek's draft menu has plenty of options available.

Dusek's Board and Beer is located at Thalia Hall, 1227 W. 18th St.