Technique Restaurant

I went to Technique at the Le Cordon Bleu school last night with my hubby and 2 friends for a complimentary (oh yes, we were treated like VIPs!) dinner that we received from attending a cooking class at the school. We had been to the Kendall College cooking classes and restaurant before and so my review is based on a comparison of the two. I will say that Technique’s food was much better than our experience at Kendall, as well as the service. However, Kendall’s dining room is much nicer and has a better atmosphere like a real restaurant as opposed to Technique’s restaurant which feels like you’re in a cooking school. I care much more about the food than anything else though, so I would def recommend Technique over Kendall’s restaurant. We will be eating here again. Even if our dinner wasn’t free, $ 22 for a 5-​course meal is crazy inexpensive, especially considering the assortment of wonderful food that you can choose from.
Our group had the steak, lamb chops, salmon and pasta carbonara for entrees and everyone was happy. Only gripe is the quality of the meat, not the preparation, but that is what we were expecting. Apps included individual lamb sausage pizza, roasted beet salad and caesar salad and all were crowd pleasers (espec the beets!). We tried all of the desserts offered except the fruit and cheese plates and all were delicious and probably the «fanciest» part of the meal as far as prep is concerned. They looked like desserts I have had at Zealous, which is a top-​notch restaurant in the city. Overall, this is a great value and it’s fun to talk to the student chefs that are the wait staff to hear about an interesting industry. Apparently every 3 weeks they do a rotation from front of the house to back of the house and the menu changes. We will be back next month to see what the next group of students can bring… maybe 4 stars!

They’re students and it’s a learning process — I’m keeping that in mind. Our dining experience was disappointing over all. Service was rough, but everyone was friendly. Our food was pretty much over cooked (sent the first steak back) across the board and lacked seasoning — plus there was no salt and pepper on the table and I felt bad asking for it. Notable was the grilled pizza we had for an appetizer and the chocolate cake we had for dessert — tasty and enjoyable. Everyone who cooks puts out a bad meal occasionally — I have plenty of times. Keep working at perfecting your skills!

First things first, this is not a French restaurant. So if that’s what you’re looking for… keep looking.
I feel bad leaving this place a mediocre review, because I know the intentions were good… but I definitely wouldn’t have paid more than the $ 16 for our 5-​course (we were charged for the 3-​course) meal.
The service was very nice, but awkward. Being an ex-​service industry girl, if you lack personality and are shaky refilling water glasses… this is not the industry for you. Just sayin’…however, our water glasses stayed full the entire evening, so he was on the ball there and after each dish, our silverware was replaced in a timely fashion. BUT… never asked us if we wanted another drink at all, wine, soft drink, coffee… just assumed everyone was having water.
So a 5-​course meal consists of one entrée and your choice of 4 other items, from either appetizers or desserts.
To start, an amuse bouche. Which was indication of how the rest of the meal would go down. It was a tomato three way. A fried green tomato (cold), a tomato gel (awkward and spicy, think cube of jello) on a tomato paste. Very uninventive and lacking any fresh flavors.
My first two appetizers were a Caesar salad (delicious) and the oysters rockefellar. The oysters were unedible. Buried and breadcrumbs (I think they were store-​bought breadcrumbs at that), dry, fishy tasting and lukewarm. Just gross.
My husband had the risotto, which for lack of a better word, was pungent. I’m not sure what kind of cheese they used in it, but it was strong and just not hitting the flavor palate on a good note.
My salmon entrée was delicious. The salmon was perfectly cooked and was accompanied by fingerling potatoes and green beans. A great entrée. My husband had the steak, ordered MR and his came out well done and was barely cuttable. He did say he loved the scalloped potatoes tho.
The desserts, also were lacking. I had a pound cake with cherry and a vanilla crème. The pound cake reminded me out of something from a box at the grocery store. Dry and boring. The crème and cherries were nice though.
My husband had a chocolate cake, which too was just strange. The top layer of frosting was like a black jello, with subtle chocolate flavoring. The accompanying mousse was delicious though.
Then we each had a cheese platter, which was nice… but would’ve been nicer with a glass of wine!
At the end of the evening, we didn’t complain. This is a school and the chefs are students, after all. Which was why I was surprised when they took the price down for our meals…
I was really hoping for more of a Hell’s Kitchen type of evening… or even a comment card to let the students know what they nailed and what they didn’t…so they could learn from people visiting.
If you’re a foodie, I’d skip this place. We’re too critical of what we eat and taste… I feel like these people deserve another chance, but they won’t get it from me.

I was very much disappointed by the quality of this meal after a fantastic meal the first time around. They had made drastic changes to the menu, as well as a price increase ($ 16 for 3 courses, which is still okay).
Appetizers:
–Risotto: It was HUGE and tasteless. I had to put steal some salt from my bf’s plate (holding his oysters) to make it taste like something. On the plus side, the veggies were nice and crunchy!
–Oysters: They were prepared very well but again, lacked salt.
Entrees:
–Chicken with Hand-​cut noodles: I got a huge, juicy chicken breast with lots of flavor in the crispy skin. The «sauce» was merely the water used to soak the porcini mushrooms and there were a TON of porcinis in the bowl… it was overwhelming. I was expecting much better noodles; they were clumpy and hard and did not seem very fresh.
–Steak and Potato Gratin: We ordered the steak medium-​rare but it came out more on the rare side. The lady sitting behind us actually sent hers back in for further cooking because it was completely raw. Potatos were good!
Dessert:
–Chocolate brown butter cake = AMAZING
–Grilled pound cake with cherries = GREAT
The servers were still very nice. I noticed that one couple behind us took over 10 minutes to order their meal, asking questions about how things were cooked and the components of each dish. The servers seemed to know exactly how to answer and tantalize with words.
The bread they served that night was delicious — olive loaf, sourdough, or cherry-​walnut (yum).
I will definitely be back, but my expectations are lower now :(

Technique is a great place for high quality food with a low, low price tag. First time I was there, a group of us when there for dinner… and you can choose either a 3 course meal for $ 10 or 4 course meal for $ 15!!! The quality of the food is great too. Large shrimp, great portions, and great service. Yes, everything was prepared by students, but all the food were inspected by instructors before they were actually served.
The night we were there, their computer was down, therefore, they couldn’t take credit cards for payment. Although we all had cash on us, the instructor comped us on the food. We even tried to leave a tip which they do not accept. Instead, we told them that we would like to «donate» to the school.
Before we headed out, we found out that they also serve breakfast in the morning. The next morning, we headed over there again to try their breakfast menu. The selection was great and everything was around $ 2-​$ 4. We expected that portion would be small, but when we got our food, we were surprised that the portions are normal portions. I ordered french toast for $ 2. The school had a instructor who trained in Japan, so we also tried the beef noodle soup. All the food came out amazing and I would highly recommend their food!

This place is FANTASTIC. And I do mean that in caps. Like so many others have said, it’s a win-​win. Food is amazing — made by budding chefs — and the price cannot be beat. My only quibble is it’s not open on a Friday. If you want to have a good time with your sweetie, get high quality food and pay next to nothing, this is your place.

Technique is a win-​win. The restaurant is part of Le Cordon Bleu’s educational program — students get restaurant experience (front of house, serving, and cooking the actual meal), and diners get ridiculously cheap, good looking/​tasting meals!
I never knew about this place, but was introduced to it by a Technique aficionado who raved about the place, food & prices, and I’d have to agree with her.
Everyone was super friendly and professional, from the hostess (an instructor, I think?) to the several waiters that were keeping an eye on the tables. The dining room is small, so reservations are encouraged. The restaurant serves wine, but they also function as a byob if you prefer (no corkage fee).
Hold onto your hats, people.
The prices:
3-​course lunch: $ 10
3-​course dinner: $ 10
4-​course diner: $ 15
Seriously? yes — seriously. WOWZ Kabowz!
I started with a small bowl of shrimp risotto — the two shrimp were large and perfectly cooked. The risotto had great texture, just wished there was a little cheese or more flavor there.
My entrée was the halibut with corn and fava bean succotash, tomatoes + peas. The veggies were a nice compliment to the fish, but unfortunately, my fillet was undercooked (not edible) in the middle. Otherwise the dish was quite good. If I was paying $ 20 – 30 for this entrée, I would have sent it back to the kitchen, but I let it slide here and just picked around it…
Dessert was a cute, delicious little cheesecake with a strawberry-​rhubarb compote, choco sauce and a cookie. Perfect! Yummy.
I’ll definitely go back here for lunch or dinner. It was nice to sample the students’ cooking and support the school, and of course, you gotta love the small bill!
Note: tips are not accepted either b/​c it’s a school operation, however, you can donate to the school if you like.

Best kept secret in Chicago. $ 10 3 course lunch $ 15 Four course dinner. Fresh ingredients, superb service. There’s really nothing else to say…

I don’t know about you ladies, but when I get an invite to a Bridal Shower, it makes me cringe. You spend the evening oohing and aahing over that «adorable set of pot holders» or those «darling wine glasses». Bleh! Not my scene. So you can imagine my horror when I received the invite to the bridal shower of my longtime family friend. Horror, because I can’t just send a gift to this one — I actually had to show up. Then I opened the invite and saw that it would be held at Technique. That totally changed my outlook on this whole shindig.
From the moment I arrived to the moment I left, the service was impeccable. Someone was there opening the door, offering libations, filling water glasses — I never had to ask for a thing, and trust me, I can knock back a few glasses of wine. My grandma would’ve been in heaven here, everything answered with a «you’re very welcome», «thank you so much», etc. She also would’ve dug her knuckles into my arm several times and reminded me that that’s how I should conduct myself and not to be so crass. Luckily, grams wasn’t invited.
Finally, the food. We started with an amuse bouche that consisted of a lemon granita with a cucumber and celery broth that was poured over top (by the student chefs). Delicious way to cleanse the palate and begin the meal. Then onto one of the most velvety pea soups I’ve ever had, topped with bacon powder and pickled chili’s. A deconstructed caesar salad with toasted brioche croutons and white anchovy. Let me just say that when a caesar salad is done properly — it’s one of my favorite things on the planet. This was no exception. The entrée consisted of pan roasted chicken on a carrot purée with buttered beets and braised beet greens and a natural jus. That jus was so insanely rich that I wanted a roll to mop it up with. The chicken was perfectly roasted and those beets were to die for. I loved everything about this dish.
During every course, the Culinary Instructor (Austin Yancey) gave us a brief description of what we were about to eat. After we finished the entire meal, he brought out all of the students that prepared our meal. The students are part of a team to travel to various culinary competitions. They are entirely self funded — so events such as this one help with those costs. I encourage all of you to consider Technique for your next event. Not only will you have an amazing meal at an amazing price — you will be helping some bright, young, talented chefs on the way to their dreams. Who knows — maybe the next Top Chef just made your dinner. Fancy.

$ 10 3-​course lunch
$ 12 3-​course dinner
$ 15 5-​course dinner
If this doesn’t get you to Technique, I don’t know what else will, in addition to the fact that it belongs to Le Cordon Bleu. The husband and I were looking at lunch options via OpenTable and that was how we found out about Technique. It’s a teaching restaurant that is part of Le Cordon Bleu and therefore the chefs and servers are culinary students.
We requested to be seated at the table that was right next to the glass window of the kitchen. It was quite interesting and amusing watching the culinary students in action and then seeing the chef instructor coming over, giving feedback on the food they made.
For my 3-​course lunch, I got the braised pork belly salad, seared miso salmon, and poached pear with butter pecan ice-​cream. For $ 10! No way! But it’s true. Soda is $ 1, wine by the glass is $ 6, espresso drinks are $ 2.
Since we sat by the kitchen glass window, I saw one of the students preparing my miso salmon. I guess her first attempt wasn’t up to standards because after that two chef instructors walked over to her station, commented something, and then the next thing I knew it, the student took out a brand new uncooked salmon from the fridge and prepared my dish all over again. Woah! At least the chef instructors made sure that the food presented was up to standards. This place may be a student-​run restaurant but the instructors are in the kitchen with the supervising the culinary students.
My salmon turned out really well and it sat on a bed of pineapple salsa. My braised pork salad was also good and the portion was almost like a meal in itself. Service was good as well. Given that the prices are so cheap, it’s very possible that Le Cordon Bleu did not set up this restaurant to make a profit but rather to give an opportunity to students to train. And, of course, diners like us benefit from very very affordable meals prepared by culinary students who someday might be someone famous.