Observing their pre-shift meeting, it was clear that ILIS operates as a cohesive unit—a unified team committed to delivering excellence. Adopting a “one house” approach, roles are fluid among chefs, who alternate between guiding guests through their dining experience and preparing meals, giving a unique sense of equality and camaraderie throughout the restaurant’s staff.

On this particular Saturday night, Mads Refslund was an ocean away from his restaurant but, in that period of preparation before service, his presence seemed to be everywhere. Chefs worked together to set up their stations, humming along to the music filling the space, patting one another on the shoulder as if to say I’m right here with you.

Our evening began at the bar, where we were presented with beautiful leather bound menus showcasing seasonal cocktails that have been carefully designed. ILIS’ Bar Director, Bobby Murphy, has excelled at creating an innovative list highlighting seasonal flavors in unexpected ways. Rather than reproducing classic cocktails with standard components, Murphy has designed beverages to include dew drop garnishes and fermented honey.

The Nasturtium, a vodka-based drink infused with horseradish, mandarin, yellow genepy, and celery bitters was a refreshing reprieve from the day’s humidity. We also tried the Orchard Ave, ILIS’ signature cocktail, featuring plum brandy, gin, vermouth, and chartreuse, a sophisticated and spirit-forward drink that was understandably an enduring, appreciated component of the cocktail menu.

As dinner service began, we made our way to our seats, passing fellow patrons who shared our excitement for the meal to come. We watched chefs move gracefully around the open kitchen, as if following choreography, arriving tableside with whole zucchinis in trays of ice, and fellow guests begin their meals as the space started to fill.

Once seated, we began ILIS’ flagship experience–the Field Guide: twelve carefully crafted courses showcasing the breadth of the restaurant’s seasonal ingredients. One of the chefs guiding us through the meal brought a sundial of ingredients to our table, a visual aid highlighting each ingredient in the courses to come. The meal was separated into two sections: Ice–showcasing ingredients carefully selected to be served cold, unadulterated by chemical reactions from cooking over heat, and paired to create unique flavor profiles that were exciting, and so very fresh–and Fire, where cold components were preserved and brought back to the table with a new wood-fired iteration focusing on the richness and depth of flavors brought by introducing fats, oils, and heat to each ingredient.

We began the Ice portion with bright bites of an elevated crudité—a thoughtfully composed selection of pickled, smoked, and fresh vegetables arranged among edible flowers–followed by a second course in the form of a squash drink presented in a hollowed-out zucchini, served with a squash stalk straw. The presentation, while a bit silly, was belied by a complex, salty, green juice-like concoction that was delicious, rejuvenating, and unexpected. Duxbury oysters arrived as the third course—half topped with caviar, half topped with shallot, chives, and a whole cherry tomato to be squeezed, by hand, onto the oyster.  

Among the highlights were the sea whelks—large snails served with handmade wooden spoons atop beeswax-sealed shells. A creamy potato foam made a simultaneously rich, yet airy bite. Following courses included dishes such as sea bream carpaccio with blood orange, lobster poached in rosewater with an emulsified sauce made from the lobster’s head, and a lavish portion of caviar served with fresh cheese and young almonds.

We transitioned into the Fire portion of the meal with a revisiting of many of the previously presented ingredients prepared in new ways–including the lobster’s claw with a smoky, nduja style seasoning–a rich, savory, and smoky presentation of a dish previously presented alongside lemon wedges and rose petals. This was followed by my personal favorite–kombu with thinly sliced king trumpet mushrooms served with black garlic and spinach–a buttery and rich approach to an often overlooked vegetable.

We received freshly baked bread with cultured, salted butter, followed by a course of squid seared a la plancha with yuzu kosho, purslane, garlic scape, cabbage, and stuffed with a fresh tomato puree. The remaining half of our sea bream reappeared, this time presented simply to highlight the fatty fish and crispy skin, served with lemon– a celebration of how beautiful a simple ingredient can be when prepared with intention.

The final savory dish was a truly remarkable piece of chicken–a mark of a talented kitchen when a familiar ingredient can feel so new. Tender and fatty, the cut of chicken was paired with a rich and savory chicken sausage, with a bit of pickled rhubarb and a ramp leaf to cut the richness.

While every dish felt special, and every course had such intentional presentation, the best part of the meal was knowing that behind each dish was a team striving for excellence, aiming to make the city of New York aware of new presentations, reimagined ingredients, and the value of living off the land.