Precision Tooled
IT WAS DURING THE SIXTH course at Claudia, the new West Loop restaurant from former pop-up darling Trevor Teich, that the meal hit Peak Precious. A line of shaved truffles, tempura escargots, pine meringues, nasturtium leaves, flowers, and spongy green moss fashioned into some kind of biscuit stretched across a plate grooved with concentric rings. It looked like a curated procession of found art on a bisected tree that had been painted white. “Snails in the Woods,” our server declared. “The snails have eaten nothing but basil.”
Normally, I’d laugh at such a pronouncement, or at
