Eat this: Sweetbreads at The Trenchermen

<b>Bacon-cured sweetbreads</b>: Scanning the menu at The Trenchermen, I had no idea how most of the dishes would taste. Tell me tomato-basil-mozzarella, at least I could approximate the flavor ballpark. But there are ingredient combinations here I've seen nowhere else — smoked paddlefish + green bean + cherry + chicory + chocolate malt granola = ?! These dishes come from the fanciful imaginations of brothers Pat (Signature Room at the 95th) and Mike Sheerin (<a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLENT000309" title="Blackbird" href="/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/chicago-restaurants/blackbird-PLENT000309.topic">Blackbird,</a> wd-50), who recently opened their <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLGEO100100501259600" title="Wicker Park" href="/topic/us/illinois/cook-county/chicago/wicker-park-PLGEO100100501259600.topic">Wicker Park</a> restaurant in a former Turkish bathhouse. Their sweetbreads are unlike any I've seen: cured with brown sugar, smoked with applewood, then pan-fried. <i> </i>A seafood-less XO sauce between limed carrot slivers is an earthy paste of black garlic, nori seaweed and buds of coriander that surprise with bright, crunchy bursts. <i>2039 W. North Ave., 773-661-1540</i><br>
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<i>— <a href="http://bio.tribune.com/KevinPang">Kevin Pang</a> </i>

( Kevin Pang/Chicago Tribune )

Bacon-cured sweetbreads: Scanning the menu at The Trenchermen, I had no idea how most of the dishes would taste. Tell me tomato-basil-mozzarella, at least I could approximate the flavor ballpark. But there are ingredient combinations here I've seen nowhere else — smoked paddlefish + green bean + cherry + chicory + chocolate malt granola = ?! These dishes come from the fanciful imaginations of brothers Pat (Signature Room at the 95th) and Mike Sheerin (Blackbird, wd-50), who recently opened their Wicker Park restaurant in a former Turkish bathhouse. Their sweetbreads are unlike any I've seen: cured with brown sugar, smoked with applewood, then pan-fried. A seafood-less XO sauce between limed carrot slivers is an earthy paste of black garlic, nori seaweed and buds of coriander that surprise with bright, crunchy bursts. 2039 W. North Ave., 773-661-1540

— Kevin Pang

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