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Take a Not-So-Quick Break from Chicago's Art Institute at Terzo Piano

Where: 159 East Monroe [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60603
August 11, 2010 at 11:36 AM | by | Comments (0)

The Art Institute of Chicago was made famous in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" but its Terzo Piano restaurant on the museum's third floor is also famous in its own right, thanks to the popular Chef Tony Mantuano who recently appeared on "Top Chef Masters."

We did lunch at the restaurant in early June and we had an idea beforehand that this restaurant wouldn't be your typical museum cafe fare. After all, Chef Mantuano is the man behind one of Chicago's best restaurants, Spiaggia Restaurant, and he's also a James Beard Foundation winner for best chef in the Midwest. But we weren't prepared to want to devour everything on the menu.

Terzo Piano's cuisine is described as Italian-Mediterranean dishes so you will find flatbreads, antipasto and pasta on the menu, not to mention a selection of cheese from the on-site authentic cava di stagionatura (cheese cave.) But nearly all its ingredients are sourced from local family farms, farmers' markets and from artisan producers who use traditional and sustainable agricultural practices. These local sources even get shout-outs on the menu so you can know exactly where that fresh chevre came from.

Gallery: Terzo Piano at the Art Institute of Chicago

Because of this emphasis on local ingredients, the menu changes frequently. The day we ate there, we sampled the flatbread with pork belly and topped roasted cipollini, almond-herb pesto and California burrata cheese ($17) before moving onto a leek tart filled with mixed lettuces, roasted beets, toasted pine nuts and goat cheese (also $17.) And of course, we had to indulge in the Top Chef Masters Ravioletto, a dish prepared on the show, filled with mozzarella, wild mushrooms and topped with wild rosemary ($10).

Aside from the flatbreads, another great option to split with the table are the Une, Duo, Tre burgers ($19), gourmet sliders of a sort, that include a beef burger, lamb burger and a shrimp burger and are served with french fries and a creamy cilantro dip.

The menu also has a healthy selection of main courses/entrees with "healthy" prices upward of $20 like a strip loin with polenta, a lamb sausage spaghetti, and a chicken leg with tarragon dumplings.

The wine and cocktails list is extensive as well, so you're gonna want to stay a while. Thus, make sure you hit up Terzo after you've done your time at the museum. Or you go whenever you want as you don't need to pay $18 museum fare to eat here. Terzo Piano is open to the public. Now if only airport food could be as delicious as this.

Insider Tip: The tables near the windows overlooking Millennium Park and the front are the best. Otherwise, you're sort of relegated to near cafeteria-style seating in the back of the restaurant. Terzo piano is open for lunch everyday from 11am to 3pm and until 9pm on Thursdays when dinner is served either a la carte for with a presso fisso menu for $45 per person. But if you want just a quick refill in between exhibits the museum's Garden Cafe on the lower level is still the best spot.

Have you eaten at Terzo Piano before? Share your foodie thoughts in comments below. Better yet, know of another great museum restaurant? Tell us where!

Disclosure: We ate at Terzo Piano as a guest of the Intercontinental Chicago but all views expressed are our own.

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