Ted Cizma radiates calm. Never mind that carpenters are badgering him to decide how many holes to drill into the bar and maitre d’ station. Or that his understandably flustered designer almost took delivery of the wrong truckload of banquettes (they were for Blue Point, the restaurant next door). Or that the kitchen staff must devise a way to trim racks of rabbit and venison while keeping them clear of the sawdust flying everywhere (aluminum foil does the trick).
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Grace is the first restaurant Cizma has shaped from scratch. He built a strong following as executive chef at the Outpost in Wrigleyville, which managed to mix the informal welcome of a neighborhood restaurant with haughty fusion cuisine. There he was known for his penchant for exotic meats–he dished up medallions of wild boar, lion-tail osso buco, and zebra chops, which he says look like something the Flintstones might have eaten.
Cizma’s chef skills took shape in the family kitchen. On a dare, he once beat the instructor of one of the few chefs’ classes he took in a race to see who could tie a prime rib faster. He still uses the 100-year-old Swedish knives his grandfather used in his butcher shop.
At the Outpost, Cizma built up a full staff of assistant chefs, many of whom have followed him to Grace. “I left the Outpost in good shape and on good terms,” he says, “but I’m sure they’re probably upset that so much of the staff came to work with me.”
