On September 1, famed chef de minutiae Charles Palling will try again – re-opening his much-ballyhooed Corktown restaurant, VOMIT.
Accustomed to great success – he ran Nitpick in Chicago – Palling was mystified at the restaurant’s forced closing in July of last year, due to lack of customers. But after careful consideration, he says, he finally figured out what happened.
“It was absolutely the tablecloths,” says Palling. “Today’s high end diner tends to be very picky and we didn’t meet their expectations.” So last November, he enlisted the services of New York designer Tom Askins, who’s spent the past year creating a silk-gauze-persimmon blended fabric, twice rolled.
“I don’t want to give any more away,” says Palling. “But I’m pretty sure people will talk as much about the tablecloths as they do about the food.”
Menu items, most retained from the first VOMIT, include Palling’s signature Flagged Mallard a la Pouf, a braised and semi-garnished tartare grande, a relegated pasta manipulate, and a creation he’s especially proud of: Re-roasted puff-backed hyper salmon.
In addition, new menu fonts are being curated by local denizen June B Lister. And – a true innovation, says Palling – every table will have an individual salt shaker. (Pepper shakers will still be shared.)
“I can’t see anything stopping us this time,” says Palling. “I expect lines out the door when VOMIT is open again.”
