The Verdict
VIRTUE is Erick Williams's Hyde Park Southern American restaurant on East 53rd Street whose fried catfish, oxtail, and specific African-American Southern culinary tradition communicate what Chicago fine dining looks like when its most serious available Southern culinary practitioner applies himself to the neighbourhood that surrounds one of America's most intellectually concentrated available university campuses. The fried catfish programme whose specific preparation communicates genuine knowledge of what the African-American Southern tradition requires; the oxtail whose specific slow-cooked preparation communicates the accumulated knowledge of what the Southern braised tradition specifies; and the Hyde Park setting whose university neighbourhood creates the most intellectually sophisticated available Chicago audience for a Southern restaurant.
The Southern American menu at Virtue reflects Williams's accumulated fine dining knowledge applied through the African-American Southern culinary tradition: the fried catfish and oxtail programme whose quality communicates genuine mastery of the Southern tradition; the seasonal Midwest ingredient applications that communicate genuine engagement with the local ingredient environment; and the Hyde Park neighbourhood setting whose intellectual community creates the audience for a Southern restaurant whose culinary intelligence matches the cultural sophistication of its surroundings.
Why It Works for Closing a Deal
Virtue's Hyde Park Southern American programme and Williams's fine dining-rooted culinary authority — the fried catfish, the oxtail, the intellectually sophisticated University of Chicago neighbourhood — creates the deal-closing dinner that communicates the most culturally specific available Chicago Southern culinary experience.
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