First Look: Nellcôte, Now Open in the West Loop

[Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger]

When I ran into chef Jared Van Camp on Wednesday at Nellcôte, he had a whole black truffle in his hand and a smile on his face. Straight off the plane from Italy, the truffles were one of the last missing pieces before the massive new West Loop restaurant opens, officially at least, today.

Though named after the French villa were The Rolling Stones recorded their 1972 masterpiece, Exile on Main Street, Van Camp is adamant that the idea is not to cook literally like the band. Instead, he hopes that Nellcôte serves the kind of food that the band could have actually eaten while staying there.

Obviously, that means that there is a lot pasta and pizza on the menu. But as we learned previously, the two will be made using flour that has been milled in-house—a first for a restaurant in Chicago. Van Camp talked us through three of the dishes you'll be able to find using that flour. Click through the slideshow to take a look.

Nellcôte

833 W. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60607 (map)
312-432-0500
nellcoterestaurant.com