Holiday Sustenance At Afternoon Teas

Afternoon tea in a luxury hotel is a peaceful reward when you've worked through lunch or spent hours shopping: The atmosphere and service are genteel, the finger foods delightfully fussy. I checked out two traditional teas and one with a contemporary flourish.
Palmer House Hilton
17 E. Monroe St.
(312) 216-7500
2 to 4:30 p.m. daily
$35 per person; with champagne, $45; children under 12, $25
The 138-year-old hotel recently reintroduced tea service, which had been suspended during the renovation begun in 2005. Its French baroque lobby is a grand setting convenient to State Street shopping; beneath a soaring canopy of Grecian frescoes, Christmas trees twinkle alongside 24-karat gold and crystal Tiffany chandeliers.
The menu is more straightforward than I had hoped for, but quality and presentation are top-notch. It was the only tea offering seconds on food, and buffalo chicken salad the familiar goodies will appeal to young tastes.
Teas are basics such as English Breakfast and Earl Grey. Of the finger sandwiches, exquisite smoked salmon, on marble rye with crme frache, caught our fancy. Tarragon and brie dressed up chicken salad on wheat, but egg salad on brioche was ho-hum.
Properly crumbly, slightly sweet scones are served with traditional Devonshire cream, strawberry preserves and an odd, fluffy version of lemon curd. Chocolate appears in dipped strawberries, cheesecake crust and a cream-filled candy.
Ritz-Carlton
160 E. Pearson St.
(312) 573-5154
2:30 to 4:30 p.m. daily
$27 per person; $18 children
Less ornate than the Palmer House, the Ritz-Carlton's classic, European good looks are equally suited for self-indulgence.
Tea service here is polished and imaginative, and it's my favorite for food. It's the best choice if you have children along; the kids' version includes a ham and cheese sandwich, apples with caramel sauce and hot chocolate.
All are served at the Greenhouse on the 12th floor, beside the gushing fountain.
Handcrafted, global organic teas are offered, including strawberry white. Finger sandwiches are complex and unusual. In one, roast chicken meets Manchego cheese, Fuji apples, Dijon mayonnaise and rosemary on toasted onion bread; in another, olive bread holds smoked paprika cream cheese, roasted red pepper, cucumber and herbed feta cheese.
Melt-in-your-mouth scones included a lemon zest and prawn salad recipe a currant. Passion fruit curd stands in for lemon, a delightful surprise, next to Devonshire cream and strawberry preserves. Pastries draw happy sighs, too especially the almond financier (a tiny cake) and the tasting spoon of sour cream panna cotta with lime angel food cake.
NoMi
800 N. Michigan Ave.
(312) 239-4030
2:30 to 5 p.m. daily
$18 plus choice of teas, $6 to $15
Leave it to NoMi to create a 'contemporary tea' served in the urban-chic lounge of this top-rated restaurant.
Teas include unusual brews such as Competition Tieguanyin Oolong ($12) and calories in chicken cesar salad Royal Ceylon Platinum Tips ($15), but our server was not well-informed enough to guide our choices.
Most captivating of the savories was asparagus with truffled mayo on toast, capped by a soft-boiled quail's egg. In another, herbed ricotta softens dusky smoked salmon on toast.
Of the sweets, layered mango cheesecake held us rapt. Served in a shot glass, it alternates lime-mango filling with buttery crumble topping. Orange madeleines are textbook perfect, delicately spongyjust sweet enough.
2008 by Crain Communications Inc.

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