Schwa - Chicago

All food snobs should dine once at Schwa, because notions of fine dining get turned upside down the moment you approach this highly acclaimed, Michelin-starred restaurant. It is a spectacular experience?jarring at times?from beginning to end. Indeed,Chef Michael Carlson is the Jean-Michel Basquiat of haute cuisine. When you drive up to this restaurant, it looks like it isclosed. No lights at all. You pull open the blackened door and walk into a tiny, dark space. Just seven tables of lucky dinersin a tiny room with blacked walls. You are assaulted with overly-loud rap music. There are no waiters, just the heavily-tattooedchefs who cook your food and bring it to you in person. They serve you with wild, creative combinations of unusual foods,intense flavors, artful presentations. This restaurant offers no wine list at all. It is BYOB because at Schwa 100 percent ofthe emphasis is on food prepared at its highest level. The young chefs that deliver sensational course after course representthe impressive future talent pool of Chicago cuisine. Indeed, many talented chefs? careers are launched from this creativespace. You shake your head and smile. Who knew eating could be so much fun?! Lots of raw energy paired with the finest culinaryingredients. Totally irreverent and completely sublime.

Schwa had been on my to go list for a while and it did not disappoint. Each course was well presented and tasted fantastic. The interior is small but has a nice intimate feeling, dimly lit and with art that makes you feel underwater. Highly recommend atrip, make sure to check regularly for openings as reservations fill up quickly!

This was an amazing meal by a a few very talented and creative chefs. The concepts and the flavors they put together are mind blowing. And while you look at such small plates you can see their passion and enthusiasm in every dish. There is a reason theyare a Michigan star restaurant and while reservations were a challenge the experience is worth every penny. You do not leavehungry

The presentation is great and that?s about it. The food looked far better than it tasted, not a single course was memorable. The ambiance is non existent and the music is so loud I couldn?t hear the waiter or the person across the table from me.

My roommates and I had the pleasure of treating ourselves to Schwa and it blew our minds! I had read a lot of things about Schwa beforehand about how the restaurant had a very untraditional vibe and id seen complaints that the music was too loud, the chefswere drinking and/or smoking, etc? Makes me feel bad for those people for not appreciating how unique Schwa really is. Thatbeing said, when I walked in, I almost thought I?d been punk?d. The restaurant is one of the smallest I?ve ever seen filled with4 spray-painted graffiti art walls and oddly nostalgic informal black dining chairs and tables. The whole restaurant can seatprobably 20 in max capacity. The chefs also dress relatively informally and handle most of the serving themselves, which isunique and cool to see! I loved that the chefs came out each time and described the dishes. It definitely added to theexperience. An important thing to note is that the restaurant is BYOB style. We brought 3 reds and 1 white which paired wellwith the experience, however hard liquor is definitely acceptable too. Also, you pay for the entire meal when you book thereservation, which is great, since you don?t have to deal with the bill after you?re 4 bottles in. The restaurant?s decor, theBYOB aspect, and the informality of the environment made it clear to me right away that the focus here is on the food. As itshould be. The food itself absolutely blew my mind. I found myself licking many of the dishes clean. Each of the 11 dishes isabout the size of a big bite: I recommend breaking them down into tiny pieces to fully enjoy them. There was not one dish that Ididn?t utterly savor, but I thought the squab was the weakest of the bunch. Nothing against the preparation, just that theanimal tastes rather dirty which is hard to overcome. My favorite dish of the whole night was the truffle raviolo? I haven?tstopped thinking about it since. We asked to have a repeat of that course but they said we?d have to make another r