Macbeth : The Cuisine
As they stand over their diabolical potion, the weird sisters of Macbeth chant, “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble” (Act IV, scene 1). Chef Phillip Foss creates his own bubbling concoction in the form of French fries and ice cream as an homage to the most famous of Shakespeare’s witches.
Chef Phillip Foss
Phillip Foss received his formal culinary training from the Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 1991. He cut his teeth at venerable New York restaurants such as Le Cirque, before traveling to France to work under Chef Jacques Maximin. From there he bounced around from Chicago and Brazil to Maui, Israel, and Bermuda and then back to Chicago, always cooking at the best and learning from the brightest.
Foss’s mission at EL Ideas is to redefine fine dining, with the help of his fellow EL chef, Matt Dubois, by removing pretension and preconceptions from the dining experience. His motto is “question everything” and his decree to his guests is BYOB—he’ll take care of the food. Foss’s inventive cuisine reflects his approach to life, whims, personal standards, and vast experiences from cooking and living all over the world.
About EL Ideas
EL Ideas quest is to make fine dining cuisine and service approachable and fun instead of pretentious and stuffy. The most unlikely of Michelin-starred restaurants, EL is located in the little known Chicago neighborhood of Douglas Park. Although it's just a 10 minute ride from downtown, it feels as though EL is situated in another world. Once inside the unmarked building, guests enter a setting not generally associated with restaurants serving elite cuisine. As there are no walls separating diners from chefs, interaction with the kitchen team throughout the meal is not only welcome, it is encouraged.
The cuisine at EL is about as adventurous as the setting is unusual. Given the direct line with the audience, the small culinary team is able to give their own descriptions as to how their creations take form through inspirations, stories, and even guest interaction. Culinary ideas are crafted with a modern sensibility that expresses the experience, palate, humor, and honest approach of chef/owner Phillip Foss (Quilted Giraffe, Le Cirque, Lockwood). Through this direct line, a relationship is forged between diner and chef that inherently goes deeper than thought possible in a Michelin-starred restaurant. Part dinner party, part performance, and all restaurant, EL Ideas is introducing the world to a new genre of fine dining.
