Inovasi: Far From Tried and True

“We cook by taste and touch and feel and emotion and all the things that really matter to food. Recipes are useless,” Chef John des Rosiers, Inovasi, Lake Bluff.

There is a reason why people pilgrimage to the northern most point of Chicago suburbs to visit one of the busiest restaurants on the North Shore - and it’s not because its chef-owner toes the line.

“I don’t like very many restaurants on the North Shore,” said John des Rosiers, the mercurial heart and soul of Inovasi in Lake Bluff who readily admits that if he never sees another Cobb salad it will be too soon. “People who live here are very well cultured but the restaurants don’t reflect that.”

Des Rosiers looked at 65 other spaces before choosing an establishment built in 1906. “It’s important to remember history and foundation before you destroy it.” 

But though the foundation for his dishes is steeped in tradition, destroy it he does. The menu at Inovasi, a play on the word “innovation,” changes not seasonally but weekly based on the availability of just-ripened ingredients from neighboring farms.

Working closely with local purveyors to bring ingredients like sustainable free-range chicken from Indiana and beef farmed in Wisconsin to the table, des Rosiers and Inovasi’s four main chefs approach each dish using all five of their senses to build on the foundationally-correct methods within the world of cuisine.

But this is where similarity to other restaurants ends. Inovasi’s menu is not organized by the three pillars of ‘appetizer, dinner and dessert’ but rather by the inspiration that created each dish: Music, Dreams + Thoughts, Childhood + Family or the Ingredients Themselves. Dishes are small plate; many invented on the spot to create a fluid approach to consumption with no beginning and no end.

“You eat however you want to eat,” says des Rosiers calling the experience an ‘open architecture,’ and the hardest thing a guest has to do is simply to relinquish control and enjoy the ride.

Someone Else’s (menu suggestion) presented seared Becker Lane Pork belly surrounded by traditional sauces like Escoffier and soubise tomatee in a psychedelic pallet of edible dots and flowers ($12). Pair with Riff from winegrower Alois Lageder ($8). Each bite leaves the plate appearing painted by Marc Chagall and your mind just as inspired.

Improvising on the Tradition of Cookery, des Rosiers placed a dollop of goat cheese topped with chervil, parsley and tarragon, topped it with a crispy chicken leg with duck confit atop of white wine-sautéed arugula and aromatic summer truffles ($13).

Desserts are chef-driven, too, savory and quintessentially Inovasi. Try the aged Oolong tea and hibiscus flower sorbet with a hard coat of blanched and pureed spearmint. Makes for a simple and elegant ending to a quest of gastronomic proportions ($7-$10).

For anyone who finds all this freedom of choice intimidating, just tell your waiter to have John cook for you. “It’s the best way, for sure,” said des Rosiers.