Red Snapper in citrus-rum sauce at Hemmingway’s
Chef Chris Ala’s Oak Park eatery Hemmingway’s Bistro is a long way from Key West, Florida, but the Ernest Hemingway enthusiast and Caribbean-fish-grilling guru cooks with the kind of flare even the Pulitzer-winning novelist could appreciate. Ala orders fresh fish daily from places like Bimini, an island where glimmering pink Red Snapper is typical catch-of-the-day fare. He complements the snapper with a sauce cooked over a flaming stovetop with rum, butter and chunks of mango, grapefruits, oranges, lemons and limes. After grilling the snapper, Ala flips it in cornstarch so it stands, silvery pink skin, fins, tail and all, in the yellowy, creamy sauce.
Hemmingway’s Bistro, 211 North Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park, (708)524-0806, hemmingwaysbistro.com/
Best of Chicago 2012
