LINCOLN PARK — Lincoln Park's newest restaurant dates back to the chef and owner's boyhood visits to Holland.
David de Quay, the namesake of de Quay, 2470 N Lincoln Ave., grew up making trips to visit his grandmother in the Netherlands, the country where his older brother and sister were born.
"My grandma was a great cook," he said.
After cooking in restaurants in Chicago and other U.S. cities for the past 31 years, de Quay wanted to return to his roots for the opening of his very first restaurant.
De Quay features 46 seats at tables and 15 along the bar. [All photos by DNAinfo/Paul Biasco]
He settled on a Dutch-Indonesian fusion that was crafted over the past two years during visits to Amsterdam and Indonesia.
"I started thinking about my family," de Quay said.
His father is Dutch, and over the centuries of trade, Indonesian cooking has become an important part of Dutch cuisine.
"It's kind of a play off east meets west," de Quay said.
The menu features items such as a grilled park chop with smoked rookworst, steamed mussels, tamarind and sweet soy barbecued duck breast and nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice).
The menu varies from nearby Rickshaw Republic, which focuses on Indonesian street food, in that is includes more "comfort fusion"-type plates.
Those flavors fit the Chicago palate, de Quay said.
"I want to capture the neighborhood first and foremost," he said.
Terry McNeese, who previously worked at Henri, the Gage and Le Lan Restaurant, is the wine director and general manager.
A few unique dessert dishes include a housemade stroopwafel, a thing wafer-like pastry made on a Dutch press, and an almond spekkoek with pandan ice cream, made fresh from pandan, a tropical Indonesian plant.
De Quay picked up the pandan ice cream recipe while spending a few nights cooking at Blauw Restaurant in Amsterdam.
De Quay opened Saturday and is open 5-10 p.m. Tuesdays to Thursdays, 5-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 5-9 p.m. Sundays.
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