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You know how a wine pairing can make you go back for another bite? Hebru Brantley’s art pairing at Esmé might have you putting down your fork to take another look around the room. A miniature milk crate under the first course leads you back to a piece featuring Flyboy. A plate shaped like a cloud calls to mind one of the artist’s recurring images. And just before dessert, a framed portrait arrives with the rare invitation to break it.
Photo Credit: Esmé
For Esmé’s latest artist collaboration, chef Jenner Tomaska and creative director Katrina Bravo have paired a selection of Brantley’s paintings and sculptures with a tasting menu that revisits some of the restaurant’s favorite dishes from its first five years. The interesting part is how specifically the work translates to dinner. Sometimes the connection is in the plate itself. Sometimes it’s in what you’re asked to do with it.
The first pairing is easy to miss if you’re distracted by the smoked trout roe. Esmé’s egg, layered with fermented white asparagus custard, chamomile beurre blanc, roe, and orange sabayon, arrives atop a miniature milk crate. The reference is Brantley’s The Red Milk Crate, which depicts Flyboy sitting on one. Raised on Chicago’s South Side, Brantley drew inspiration for the goggle-wearing character from the Tuskegee Airmen. Flyboy appears in several of the works around the dining room, but here the kitchen gives a supporting prop its own moment.
Photo Credit: Esmé
Other pairings make their point with the plate. For the rouget, Esmé picks up Brantley’s recurring Girl on Cloud image with cloud-shaped tableware, setting the fish against Jimmy Nardello pepper sauce, plum, basil, and beef tongue rillette. For dessert, Brantley designed a sunflower plate himself. The flower, a symbol of hope and optimism in his work, finds its way into the petit gâteau too, in a sunflower and vanilla Bavarian cream layered with apricot and chèvre crémeux. A scoop of chèvre ice cream finishes it.
Then there’s the most literal pairing of the evening. A Flyboy portrait arrives in a picture frame made by Frame Chicago, with a ceramic dish by the city’s DTK Ceramics. The portrait is edible, and cracking through it reveals passion fruit sorbet with fennel brittle, black sesame praline, and clementine meringue. It’s a cheeky bit of choreography. After an evening spent spotting bits of Brantley’s work around the room and on the table, you get to put your spoon straight through it.
Esmé serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. The tasting menu is $265 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and $295 on Friday and Saturday.
Photo Credit: EsméPhoto Credit: Esmé
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Hebru Brantley tasting menu at Esmé?
Esmé in Chicago has paired a tasting menu revisiting favorite dishes from its first five years with paintings and sculptures by Chicago-born artist Hebru Brantley, with several courses referencing specific works through their plating or presentation.
Who is Hebru Brantley?
Hebru Brantley is a Chicago-born artist raised on the South Side, best known for Flyboy, a goggle-wearing character inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen. His recurring imagery includes Girl on Cloud and sunflowers, a symbol of hope and optimism in his work.
Is Esmé Michelin-starred?
Yes. Esmé, which opened in Chicago’s Lincoln Park in 2021, is a Michelin-starred restaurant led by chef Jenner Tomaska and Katrina Bravo.
What is the edible portrait at Esmé?
Before dessert, Esmé serves an edible Flyboy portrait in a frame made by Frame Chicago, with a ceramic dish by DTK Ceramics. Breaking through it reveals passion fruit sorbet with fennel brittle, black sesame praline and clementine meringue.