With Chicago being named the best restaurant city of 2017 by Bon Appetit, I knew we’d have to go to some special spots during our October trip. When we saw Giant on Bon Appetit’s list for best new restaurants in America 2017, I knew we’d found our spot. With something like a “fried super uni shooter” on the menu, how could we go wrong? Folks, Giant restaurant is the latest in my New Bites series.

Located in Logan Square, the restaurant is really tiny so be sure to make reservations! We had a nice corner table for a 9.30 dinner reservation.

We got started right away with that fried uni shooter served with a little cucumber salad, and had a glass of bubbly. I thought it was tasty but not as much of an uni flavor as I was expecting. Neat experience and concept.

I’d read that the little biscuit, while simply, was divine. It was definitely yummy, especially with the jalapeno butter which was perfection. Comfort food on a chilly, rainy evening. I really liked that this place and the food was not pretentious. Just good, and with friendly staff.

We knew we were going to order pasta, since this is a pasta restaurant but we decided we should also probably eat some vegetables so our next dish was the broccoli with peach chutney, pine nuts and crescenza cheese. This is one of the more interesting dishes I’ve had this year. A lot going on, but ultimately really good. A little earthy from the broccoli, sweet from the chutney, salty and crunchy from the crispy breadcrumbs, and tangy from the cheese – nice.

Then we had the best dish of the night – and one of my top five dishes of year – the saffron tagliatelle with King crab and chili butter. It was so, so incredible. Fresh, flavorful, simple yet complex at the same time…go now and try this dish!

We ordered another pasta dish and this one was also amazing. Double ravioli with ricotta, oyster mushroom and carrot. But not just any carrot as the filling. Roasted carrots, then pureed, then roasted again. Oh.My.God. So rich, so delectable. And all that garlic on top! Yum.

Dessert was the black and white babka with banana ice cream, pears and figs. I’m not always a fan of babka but this was so yummy paired with that banana ice cream!

That’s it for this installment of New Bites. If in Chicago, get thee to Giant.