Elske is easily one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. It earned its Michelin star almost immediately after opening, and has retained it since then, which has been about 5 years or so. I have visited this restaurant probably about once a year since it’s been opened, and we came here to celebrate our first indoor dining experience after getting vaxxed after COVID. They literally opened up that weekend, and I’m pretty sure they opened just for us. At least, that’s how they make you feel!

Elske is cozy, Elske is hygge, Elske is hip, and that’s just the atmosphere! They always serve a smoked vegetable and/or fruit tea to start off their dining experience, and the tea literally warms your soul. The smoky flavor is liquid hygge, if there is such a thing.

Service at Elske is always well-paced and attentive. The servers are cool, but not TOO cool, and are kind and chatty. Service is definitely not pretentious here.

The food at Elske is almost never a miss. Snacks are always delicious. This time, they served brandade croquettes, which are basically my favorite. These were covered with smoked trout roe!

My favorite course for their New Year’s Eve tasting was easily the rye “longevity”noodles with maitake mushrooms, grains and caviar. The longevity noodles means it was literally one long giant noodle. This was a super umami course and the crunch of the grain offset the richness from the mushrooms. The noodles were literally covered with caviar. Yum!

Runner up for the savory courses was the golden beet stuffed with quark (a cheese), salted apple, puffed barley and dill. The beets were sliced down to a millimeter thin, and folded over the cheese like a ravioli. A brilliant combo. You will always find me putting beets at the top of any list of food, so I’m a bit biased.

One of the most brilliant things at Elske is their desserts. There is no such thing as a bad dessert here, and it’s always different, and almost never chocolate (yay!). This time, it was toasted yeast ice cream with date molasses and apples, alongside a chicory cruller. Honestly, the dessert always steals the show here, and I highly recommend that you save room because they are always seriously innovative, and like nothing you have had before, and always delicious.

If you live in Chicago and you haven’t visited Elske yet, you are really missing out, and I urge you to make a reservation immediately! If you are visiting, definitely put Elske at the top of your list for restaurants to try while you’re here!