I’ve used up a lot of words describing the dissatisfying state of ramen in this city. So it’s somewhat disgruntling to admit that I think I met the best ramen broth around at the newly revamped Boka—and it’s not employed in a soup. It’s in a grilled Spanish octopus appetizer. The precisely arranged tentacles rest in a shallow pool of roasted-pork broth that so effectively apes the collagen-rich sumptuousness of a proper tonkotsu broth it’s a shame chef Lee Wolen hasn’t thrown his hat in with the legions of ramen pretenders that have proliferated in the city these past few years. He could teach them a thing or two.
Still, it leads to some powerfully delicious food. The artful plating of a salad of roasted broccoli florets, preserved lemon, ham, and Marcona almonds is fattened with yogurt and a snow shower of Parmesan. Served with a large flaky cracker that tastes like a Parmesan Cheez-It, the dish tastes simultaneously virtuous and debauched, the same way hearty greens and a poached egg are mined with iron-rich deposits of blood sausage, or ribbons of smoked arctic char are draped over roasted potatoes lightened by the sweetness of pears and acidified by Meyer lemon.
This isn’t the case with the desserts by pastry chef Genie Kwon, also a veteran of Eleven Madison Park, who presents abstract arrangements like shreds of moist black sesame cake among gobs of soft yuzu custard, candied buckwheat grains, and diced pineapple, or cheesecake filling smashed across the plate, piles of crumbled crust scattered haphazardly among an apricot sorbet and a pistachio-crusted marshmallow.
1729 N. Halsted 312-337-6070bokachicago.com
