Cosmos

Rating:

Ask me what I want to eat at this very moment, and my answer would definitely be the sea bass at Cosmos.

What a beauty. The succulent fish is prepared confit-style and served over what appears to be risotto but turns out to be shaved cauliflower, slow-simmered in vegetable stock until it mimics the form and mouth feel of risotto. Caper berries and olives add a piquant accent, and then the server adds a finishing touch, pouring out a pristine tomato broth with a practiced flourish. I'm sighing as I think about it.

The dish is a Cosmos staple, although by the time I write this chef Stephen Trojahn and chef de cuisine Håkan Lundberg will have replaced the sea bass with a more seasonal halibut, keeping all other elements equal. Why change a good thing? That would seem to be the lietmotif of Trojahn's tenure. A vet of the Ritz-Carlton chain, Trojahn has been running the food operations at the Graves 601 hotel for about 18 months, and during that time the restaurant has continued on the trajectory set by opening chef Seth Bixty Daugherty, one of unadulterated and unapologetic luxury.

It's also a lot of fun, particularly at dinner, where Trojahn allows Lundberg to flex his molecular gastronomy (MG) muscles. Chicago is the epicenter of the country's MG craze, but aspects of this fascinating kitchen-as-chemistry-lab trend have trickled north to the Twin Cities. Lundberg is probably the region's most overt local convert, but, borrowing a page from the Lutheran Minnesotan playbook, his is a reserved form of mad-scientist cooking.

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