BOKA

Photo: Martha Williams

Giuseppe Tentori has taken over for Giuseppe Scurato as executive chef at BOKA, which sounds a little fishy to me. It’s almost too convenient, isn’t it? As if the owners wanted to make the transition between chefs that much easier by not making the staff learn any new names.

But it only takes a few meals here to realize this was a well-planned hire. If the first Giuseppe was a BMW SUV—high-end and rich (his signature crème fraîche potatoes come to mind)—Tentori (pictured), who most recently was chef de cuisine at Charlie Trotter’s, is more of a Lexus sedan—lithe, slick, more understated—the kind of luxury that purrs along gently.

Tentori’s food typically has many elements, and the synergy between everything on the plate has a tendency to sneak up on you. The Yukon potato soup, for example, is almost quizzically subtle. It’s not until you catch a bit of intensely smoky sturgeon and a sweet cube of Fuji apple on your spoon, or break the yolk of the perfectly poached egg and stir it around, that you realize how beautifully the soup holds everything together. In the eggplant appetizer, the thick-skinned vegetable is immersed in ashes to cook, pureed with lemon and flanked by crispy rectangles of white polenta and a swirl of thinned-down Laura Chenel chèvre goat cheese. The dish could be as simple as baba ghanoush on pita, but in Tentori’s hands the flavors are bright and  nuanced. His stuffed squid (pictured being plated, above) squeezes spinach, spiced pineapple and black tapioca (it’s darkened with squid ink) on to the plate, and the elements come together so harmoniously you may never want squid without tapioca again.  

There are times when Tentori indulges a simpler, bolder side—after all, what’s a restaurant without braised meats? The veal cheeks fill this niche, and they’re so tender you’ll need your knife only to spread on the pungent, grainy, housemade mustard. His hamachi (which on later visits was replaced by sable fish) is cooked beautifully to a firm, meaty texture, and here Tentori plays with big flavors again, pairing the fish with a kalamata olive puree. But it’s too much—too pungent, too briny—and it ceases being pleasant after only a few bites. When it comes to seafood, Tentori’s Tasmanian salmon is the clear winner. The luscious, buttery fish is paired with green tea–infused soba noodles and topped with a soy emulsion; the result is almost frighteningly addictive.

Pastry chef Leticia Zenteno has been known to create addicts of her own—her cookie plate and pineapple upside-down cake are good examples of dishes that inspire compulsive eating. The pineapple cake is loaded with coconut (a coconut gelée and sorbet on the side; coconut meat on top), but it’s the curry sauce, its spiciness playing off the sweet pineapple, that makes the dish. There were less successful desserts, such as a chocolate-mint cake that tasted like something you would get at a primary school’s bake sale. When I returned for a second visit, however, it had been taken off the menu, reinforcing my theory that BOKA has mastered the art of changing for the better.—David Tamarkin

1729 N Halsted St between North Ave and Willow St (312-337-6070). El: Red to North/Clybourn. Bus: 8 Halsted, 72 North. Dinner. Average main course: $24.