Avec in River North, Chicago

Avec is a sunny Mediterranean restaurant with many Basque-inspired dishes.  Portions are large!  The large plates certainly need to be shared.  We ended up with several days worth of food.  

Many of the dishes included some fresh fruit - a refreshing summer touch.  I had the roasted pork shoulder which included chorizo, clams and apricots.  This created a very rich dish full of complex flavors.  The dessert selection was very interesting!  We chose the basque cake and also the frozen chocolate souffle.  

Given the amount of food, this was a very affordable meal.  There is a special rooftop bar area that requires reservations.  There is also an extensive wine list with Spanish sherries and also digestives with a generous selection of Amari.

This place is an unusual combination of refined cooking, but very hearty fare.