Docsconz- The Blog

Urasawa Sans Bluefin

 

When I called to make my reservation at Urasawa, the tiny and ultra-exclusive Rodeo Drive Japanese kaiseki restaurant of Hiroyuki Urasawa during my recent visit to Los Angeles, I was asked if I had any allergies or if there was anything I wouldn't eat. I sighed and responded, “bluefin tuna.” Bluefin tuna is one of the most delicious foods on the planet and Urasawa has a reputation of getting some of the best and doing it extreme justice. The problem is that bluefin has been simply too delicious for its own good and by most credible accounts appears to be close to extinction due to overfishing from extreme demand and extreme value and slow reproduction. I sighed because bluefin is, or had been, one of my favorite things to eat. Because of its precarious state and a perhaps overly optimistic hope that by not eating what is left of it, the stock may rebound enough that my children and grandchildren may someday be able to enjoy it in good conscience, I choose to not eat it. Ordinarily, I would simply avoid a restaurant that serves it, but I was curious to experience Urasawa and to see whether it would still be a great experience even without this ultimate delicacy. The response on the other end of the phone showed a touch of surprise, but no condescension. I would hope not, because even though I would be forgoing the costliest items of the meal, the price I would be paying would not be any less.

The Best Chef of the Year 2011

According to the prestigious International Academy of Gastronomy the Best Chef of the Year for 2011 is Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. Chef Bottura learned of his selection during the second day of the recent Identitá Golose in Milan. It has yet to be formally announced though.

I happened to have dinner at the Osteria Francescana the night following his notification of the award.  I am thrilled for Chef Bottura, a desrving soul, if ever their was one. His work is truly amazing and he couldn't be a nicer person. Congratulations to an outstanding chef and artist! Watch for my report on this outstanding dinner. For those in the United States who wish to get a sense of what Chef Bottura is all about, he will be presenting at the next Starchefs International Chefs Congress in NYC in October.

Bars, Brasseries, Bistros and Bouchons of Lyon

During my last visit to Lyon, I ate at some of the more well known temples of haute cuisine including Restaurant Paul Bocuse and La Mere Braziere. They provided an indelible glimpse into the world of French fine dining of the region. This time I opted to explore some of the less haughty dining possibilities of the area, some of the food and the spirit of dining that helped give Lyon the reputation it has as one of France's and therefore the world's best dining destinations. I, along with some friends and my son, sampled some of the bars, brasseries, bistros and bouchons of Lyon.

On the evening of my arrival in Lyon, I joined a group dining at Paul Bocuse's Brasserie Le Nord. In addition to his famed Michelin three star eponymous restaurant Chef Bocuse also owns and operates 4 more casual dining spots around Lyon. Based on their location, they are conveniently named Nord, Sud, L'Est and L'Ouest with additional description based upon their specific style.

 

At Brasserie Le Nord, located near the Hotel de Ville in the old center of Presque Ile, the island in the center of Lyon divided by the Rhone River, the fare was decidedly classic. Our dinner consisted of a set menu that started with a tasty terrine of foie gras with fennel and gelee. I was clearly in the heart of France. This was followed by a Supreme de volaille de Bresse over basmati rice with a not-too-rich (yeah, right) mushroom cream sauce. I received a thigh and leg, which was juicy and tasty in the best anachronistically guilt-laden way. As if that was not enough cream and fat, lusciously ripe and decadent St. Marcellin cheese followed. A successful interpretation of a tart tatin finished the meal. This was classic French food in a classic French environment – a perfect reintroduction to the center of classic French cooking.

With a taste of Paul Bocuse from both his haute cuisine restaurant from my previous visit to Lyon and the more casual bistro, I thought it interesting to try the same with the cooking of Matthieu Viannay. On my previous visit I had an unforgettable meal with the Bocuse d'Or USA organization and supporters at La Mere Brazier, the Michelin three star restaurant with humble beginnings now run by him. Viannay has since expanded his reach. At M, a sleek modern bistro located on the east side of the river on Rue Foch, Viannay offers a sleek take on the classic Lyonnaise bistro. Dining with my friend Lucy Vanel who lives in Lyon with her French husband and son and who publishes the wonderful Lyon-centric blog Lucy's Kitchen Notebook, we arrived for a late lunch. With the kitchen ready to close and prepare for dinner service, we gladly took what they had to offer us. A hearty foie gras and veal sweetbread ballotine with pickled vegetables was followed by beef cheeks topped with a very generous piece of seared foie gras. Having finished the foie gras, the short ribs were just too much for me at the time. Given the time and our remaining itinerary, we did not have dessert there. Instead, we opted to have chocolate, but that is a subject for another post.

 

Brasserie L'Est, another Bocuse spot is located not far from the Gare du Lyon Part Dieu. A rollicking spot, located in the beautiful old Brotteaux train station, that history is reflected by the model trains running along the walls of this busy place. Some fantastic olives, a little Jamon Iberico de Bellota, local red wine, a salad with crisp green beans and sharp cheese, perfectly cooked steak frites and a saturated baba au rhum made for a totally fun and satisfying evening.

 

The Bouchon Lyonnais is a legendary beast. Generally small, personal and notoriously with surly waitstaff, these small restaurants serving the classic dishes of Lyon, have been the backbone of that city's cuisine for years. Located in the oldest part of the city on the west side of the river, Chez Louise evokes an earlier time when the world may have been less or perhaps more complicated, but when the food was simple and hearty. Irresistible lardons arrived on the table along with wonderfully crusty and rustic French bread. The charcuterie platter, though not made in house, was very good as was the Salad Lyonnais. My Quenelle made with local river fish and a sauce flavorful with crayfish was deeply satisfying and the saucisson hearty and warming on a winter's night. Though more contemporary the desserts were well crafted and tasty. As for the surly and unfriendly waiters, alas, not here. No, the service was warm, friendly and inviting. So much for old times!

 

Thomas is a contemporary bistro located in the vicinity of Bellecouer on Presque Ile. Part of a mini-empire on the same street, the bistro offers a fine seasonal menu that is well crafted and artfully presented. The tourte de legumes oublies with foie gras and truffles and the scallop carpaccio were particularly attractive and tasty. The scallops were also delicious as part of a main course of scallops, monkfish and langoustine, though unfortunately if there was langoustine on the plate it was exceedingly small and the monkfish was a tad overcooked. Other mains were more uniformly satisfying, especially the Supreme de poulet noir and the rumpsteak of genisse Charollaise. Genisse, the female equivalent of veal, which comes from male calves extraneous to the dairy industry, is rarely seen on menus, at least not in the US. This also happened to be from the famed Charollaise breed. The cheese platter, presented for the table consisted of a selection of local cheeses. The dessert specialty , pain perdu, may be worth a trip to the restaurant in itself.

 

No visit to Lyon is complete without a visit to the justly famed Les Halles de Paul Bocuse. Unlike the restaurants that bear his name, the market is not owned by Bocuse. It, like many other things in this city is simply named for him. The most famous of chefs in a city that values chefs and great food, it is no wonder that so many honors have been bestowed upon him. No doubt that even without Bocuse, Lyon would have been a city known for its fine local cuisine, but it was Bocuse who made the city world famous as a destination for food and elevated it to become synonymous with fine dining. Les Halles certainly does justice to the legacy of Paul Bocuse and is worthy of his name. Though not a gargantuan market, it offers extremely high quality product both for retail sale and also to be eaten on premises. Amongst the restaurants are a number specializing in oysters and other fruits de mar. Though the city of Lyon is located near the Jura and Alps not far from landlocked Switzerland, it has the luxury of obtaining the freshest seafood from the coasts of France. When it comes to quality product Les Halles de Paul Bocuse is second to none. At Maison Rousseau, a seafood bar in the market, we sampled a variety of large, briny oysters from the coasts of Normandy and Brittany. Can anything taste more of the sea than freshly shucked oysters? Perhaps, extremely fresh sea urchin right out from the body competes. The only place I can imagine oysters being better than here would be eating them direct from the ocean.

 

This visit just scratched the surface of what is available to eat in Lyon. From the most straightforward fresh seafood at Les Halles to the bouchons, brasseries and bistros scattered about the city to the temples of haute cuisine, the food in and of Lyon justifies its reputation as a great place to eat. The definition of a three star Michelin restaurant is one that is worth a special trip. On that basis Lyon is a three star city.

 

Fondue Fun in Geneva

I'm not surprised that in Geneva, Switzerland, arguably the orological capitol of the world, the trains, trams and busses operate with reliable precision. Though charming, beautiful and undoubtedly a wonderful place to live and work, Geneva, at least in winter, is not exactly what I would call an exciting city, but then it is also arguably the center of the vaunted Swiss private banking industry, a business that requires a certain conservative aloofness, and is the city from which sprung John Calvin and Calvinism. At less than half million of total population, Geneva lacks the energy buzz of cities like New York, London, Paris or Barcelona, but as the home of many international organizations, the birthplace of The Red Cross and The Geneva Convention it does possess a certain gravitas and worldliness. 

I wasn't in Geneva for long, but I made good use of my time there, walking all over the city. I stayed with young, well-traveled friends, who were able to give me an interesting perspective on living in the city. Their perspective on food was particularly interesting to me. They do not eat out much. Geneva is an expensive city. It has many restaurants, but dining out tends to be very expensive. They note, however, that the general quality of the food available in markets and even supermarkets is quite high. As such they tend to cook and either entertain or be entertained by friends. When I suggested that we dine out, they couldn't really point me to any truly "special" or creative restaurants, nor could I identify a specific restaurant in the city that screamed for me to try. That's not to say that French speaking Geneva doesn't have plenty of very good food and very good restaurants. I have no doubt that that is the case. With warm personal memories and associations with eating fondue in the 1980's at the restaurant La Fondue in New York City in the 1980's (my wife and I shared our first kiss there after our second date), I thought it would be fun to try that traditional dish at its source. The place they brought me was perhaps the most well known fondue restaurant in the city, Les Armures, located in the Hotel Les Armures in the old part of Geneva set high upon a bluff overlooking the lake on the left side of the source of the Rhone River. The first thing to register as we entered the restaurant through the revolving door was the unmistakable aroma of rich, ripe cheese that permeated  the place. I sensed that I would not be disappointed.

With a multilingual menu, the restaurant is certainly not unknown to tourists, but it was still full with French remaining the predominant language heard around the dining room. Though the menu had plenty of traditional dishes to choose from, we opted to share three different types of fondue.

A Fondue à la tomate incorporated a tomato sauce along with the cheese and other flavor components. This was to be spooned over boiled potatoes. I had never had a fondue like this before. It's not that it was particularly novel, but I think this style is more prominent here than elsewhere. It was certainly tasty. but my least favorite of the three that we had. It was, however, the favorite of one of my friends.

More attuned to my experience and taste was a Fondue aux bolets, which incorporated porcini mushrooms in with the molten cheese, wine and herbs. Though very rich, the mushroom flavors  came through. This fondue was eaten with the classic technique of spearing torn pieces of  bread with a long fondue fork and swirling it around the oozy mixture taking care not to lose the bread in the mix (that's how I won my first kiss from my future wife - she lost some bread in her fondue and according to the menu that required her to kiss me. Who was I to argue?). I had always understood fondue was best handled using slightly stale, day old bread cut up into cubes. Here, though, the bread was still pretty fresh and brought to the table sliced, leaving it to the diner to tear off pieces for the fondue. I liked tearing off slightly larger pieces to be able to snare some porcini along with the cheese and wine mixture. The bread and technique certainly worked as the pot was ultimately mopped clean. As the visitor, I was the fortunate one to get the wonderful crusty bits from the bottom of the pot known as la religieuse. 

The third fondue we had was the Fondue Chinoise, a Swiss interpretation of the Mongolian hot pot. The broth was a beefy bouillon fortified with wood-ear mushrooms and other vegetable components. The beef, as is typical came thinly shaved. It was accompanied by four sauces including a mustard, a tartar sauce, a Mayonnaise and a Russian dressing. I preferred mine without any of the sauces. The meat platter was replenished twice, by which time we were all quite full. Though the Chinoise came with frites (cooked in olive oil) and a nice salad, it was still rather expensive at 48 Swiss francs and considerably more-so than the other fondues.

Given how cold it was outside with a strong wind adding to the chill, the fondues were a fun, relatively economical and  ideal way to relax, warm up and get a taste of the area.

Our meal was ably washed down with a nice, crisp, local Aligoté. All in all, it was a fine, fun and appropriate way to begin a visit to Switzerland.

 

Daniel Patterson's Coi - Culinary Poetry

Daniel Patterson of San Francisco's Coi is the chef in North America, who most reminds me of Rene Redzepi of Copenhagen's noma. It is not that Patterson is recreating Redzepi's food or vice versa. Although he sources the bulk of his ingredients locally from the cornucopia of the San Francisco Bay Area, much like Redzepi does from Scandinavia, it is not that that makes me equate the two. Sean Brock of Charleston's Husk and McCrady's, is probably closer to Redzepi in that way with his determination to find and resurrect the ancestral ingredients of the Old American South to build a new cuisine truly representative of the region, much like what Redzepi has done in Scandinavia. Nor is it the way Patterson highlights a single vegetable like Redzepi does with carrots and other vegetables. Blue Hill at Stone Barns' Dan Barber and his roasted parsnips, amongst other dishes, are more reminiscent of that. Both Patterson and Redzepi have become known for using local, wild foraged plants with a special emphasis on coastal products including seaweeds and beach plants, but it is more the sensibility with which they are used that unites the two chefs in my mind, how they make emphatic, personal culinary statements about their own terroir and about how each of them creates a very personal poetry with food. 

My Top 25 Restaurant Meals of 2010

This is, of course, a subjective ranking. While great food is the single most important factor, the ranking is a reflection of the overall experience and the significance of that meal to me on a number of levels. The bottom line is that this was an exceptional year of dining for me with a number of meals that would have been top ten in many other years unable to be ranked so high this year. For my number one meal - noma - I am counting both the dinner and the lunch as one extended meal. I decided to not include special, guest chef or one-off dinners on this list, since they are special one-time events, not truly reflective of a specific restaurant or chef doing what he or she typically does. That is not to say, that they wouldn't have been on this list. Special mention goes to these special dinners: noma at Corton; The Alchemy of Taste & Smell Dinner; Aldea with Sam Mason, and Aldea with Pastry Chefs, each of which was simply sensational.

1. noma
2. Town House
3. Stella!
4. Restaurant AOC
5. The Oval Room
6. Providence
7. Roberta's
8. McCrady''s
9. Kiin Kiin
10. Elements
11. Blue Hill at Stone Barns
12. Wolves' Den
13. Coi
14. Urasawa
15. Ubuntu
16. Mathias Dahlgren Matsalen
17. Oaxen Krog
18. minibar
19. Herman
20. Hawk's
21. The Red Hen
22. Sorella
23. Recette
24. Jean-Georges
25. Pizzeria Mozza

The lack of reports on some of these restaurants is an indication of how backed up I am. I will post them as I can. 

A Look Back at My Top Restaurant Meals from Recent Years

In anticipation of a list of my top restaurant meals of 2010 that I plan on posting at the end of the year, I thought it would be fun and instructive to review my lists from the past few years including those that I posted on the eGullet Discussion Forums. My formats (and numbers) have varied over the years. Here they are as they were originally posted (in backwards chronological order)

2009

1. Senzone
2. Aldea
3. The Four Seasons
4. Ideas (in Food) in the Studio Kitchen
5. Corton
6. Per Se
7. Le Bernardin
8. Stella!
9. Eleven Madison Park
10. Kabuki Wellington
11. La Mere Brazier
12. Principe de Viana
13. Soto
14. Cafe Boulud
15. Momofuku Ssam Bar
16. Noca
17. Paul Bocuse
18. Los Asturianos
19. Toro by Ken Oringer
20. Taranta
21. Bayona
22. Falai
23. Gramercy Tavern
24. Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napolitana
25. Keste

 

2008

1. Corton - NYC
2. Ideas in Slow Food - Queensbury, N.Y.
3. Alinea - Chicago
4. Bartolotta - Las Vegas
5. Asturianos - Madrid
6. Europa Deco - Madrid
7. Cafe Atlantico/minibar - Washington, D.C.
8. Moto - Chicago
9. Soto - NYC
10. RM Seafood - Las Vegas
11. Astrid y Gaston - Madrid
12. Tailor - NYC
13. Noca - Scottsdale
14. Raku - Las Vegas
15. Frontera Grill - Chicago

 

 2007

1. elBulli Cala Montjol, Catalunya, Spain 4-May 
2. Ca Sento Valencia, Spain 2-May 
3. L'Esguard Sant Andreu de Llavanares, Spain 29-Apr 
4. Blue Hill at Stone Barns Tarrytown, N.Y. 30-Mar 
5. WD-50 N.Y., N.Y. 17-Sep 
6. Fiamma N.Y., N.Y. 23-Nov 
7. WD-50 N.Y., N.Y. 5-Jan 
8. Huaca Pucllana Lima, Peru 24-Feb Lunch
9. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Las Vegas, Nevada 23-Mar 
10. Binkley's Scottsdale, Arizona 27-Mar 
11. Wing Lei Las Vegas, Nevada 25-Mar 
12. Levante Benisanó, Valencia, Spain 30-Apr 
13. Bodegas Casa Montaña Valencia, Spain 30-Apr 
14. Monastrell Alicante, Spain 2-May 
15. Tailor N.Y., N.Y. 24-Nov 
16. Coi San Francisco, CA. 16-Oct 
17. Canteen San Francisco, CA. 18-Oct 
18. Kokkari Estiatorio San Francisco, CA. 15-Oct 
19. The Dining Room at the RC San Francisco, CA. 17-Oct 
20. El Celler de Can Roca Girona, Spain 3-May 
21. Las Machitas Cevicheria 20-Feb Cusco, Peru

2006

1. Studio Kitchen 3/17/2006. link to dinner description with photos. An amazing combination of delicious, beautiful, creative food in a comfortable and intimate atmosphere, served by the food's creator and shared with nine other fascinating people (including the late M.X. Hassett) all the while savoring excellent wines at a steal of a price - what could be better? Shola Olunloyo stopped doing Studio Kitchen very shortly after or else this would likely have popped up several more times in my top ten.
2.  Alinea 6/11/2006. link to dinner description with photos. The third time I have eaten at this restaurant and the only time (unfortunately) in 2006, it just keeps on getting better. Sharing this meal with Ronnie Suburban and Yellow Truffle added context, history and great companionship to the meal. It was also to be my last experience at Alinea with Alex Stupack and Jordan Kahn in the pastry kitchen and Joe Ziomeck in the FOH. They have moved on to other pursuits at which I have no doubt they will prove exceptional. Though their shoes are large, i have faith in Grant Achatz and the rest of the team at Alinea, my favorite restaurant in the United States.
3. Jose Andres' Minibar 5/16/2006. link to dinner description with photos. If one can't have fun eating at this restaurant, one can't have fun eating. The food was beautiful, creative, playful and of course delicious at this cozy interactive restaurant set within a restaurant. things can't get any better for those diners who enjoy watching food prepaaration as theater and interacting with the preparers at the same time. It also didn't hurt that my wife and I shared this experience with Ruben Garcia and Llorenc Petras and their wives. I subsequently had the pleasure to get to know both a little better at a couple of culinary conferences.
4. Jean-Georges 9/20/2006. link to lunch description with photos. Lunch at Jean-Georges is the most incredible value in fine dining (with the possible exception of dinner at El Bulli). The food is sensational and downright inexpensive ($12/course?). Sharing the meal with my great friend Joe Bavuso, his wife and a friend helped make this extra-special.
5. Chez Panisse Cafe 3/30/2006. link to lunch description with photos This lunch culminated my California spring culinary odyssey with Elliot Wexler aka Molto e. The cooking and ingredients are just so pure and so right. There is a reason that this restaurant has lasted so long in this day and age of ephemeral restaurant life - the food is simply perfectly prepared and satisfying.
6. The French Laundry 3/28/2006. link to dinner description with photos. My first of two visits to TFL in 2006, was all things considered the better overall experience. Though the second dinner was perhaps more uniform in quality from top to bottom, the highs were higher with this meal. My company was stellar both times, the first with Elliot and the second with my wife, the best man at our wedding and a friend of his. Ultimately, what probably made the difference in my enjoyment of the meals and my final ranking was the fact that the second time was the culmination of all day cross-country travel. In short, my wife and i were already exhausted by the time we arrived for dinner.
7. Perry Street 9/18/2006. Link to dinner description - unfortunately no photos.There was a time not too long ago that I was one of those who thought that Jean-Georges Vongerichten had "jumped the shark." That was before Perry Street and my most recent meals at J-G. The food was vibrant, creative, beautiful and full of flavor. I partook of this dinner with my brother and my sister. Bruce Willis was at a neighboring table. He also must like Jean-Georges' style as I ran into him again two days later at J-G. Well, if JGV has jumped the shark, I am happy to say that he did so unscathed.
8. Ame 3/26/2006. link to dinner description with photos.Sunday night dining is not supposed to be very good. I'm glad that nobody told that to the people cooking at this San Francisco star. Once again, this meal was with Elliott and was the first of our culinary tour together. A strong friendship rose from this.
9. Pujol 3/9/2006)My wife's and my Culinary Trip to Mexico in March was not only a highlight of 2006 for us, it was also one of the best trips of our lives. The food was fabulous, but much of it was not restaurant based. Of those that were, Pujol was outstanding; providing a modern touch overlaid on traditional Mexican cuisine. It was a fitting finale to an outstanding vacation.
10. El As de Oros 3/7/2006.Also from the Mexico trip, this was street food at its finest, though it was located in a market stall in Puebla. The cemita milanesa may have been the single best sandwich I have ever eaten. 

2005

1. El Bulli 28-Aug
2. Alinea 3-Dec
3. Alinea 21-May
4. Citronelle 22-Apr
5. WD-50 10-Dec
6. Erlowest 22-Jan
7. Jean Georges 9-Dec
8. Jaleo 20-Apr
9. Rafa's 29-Aug

Restaurant AOC is AOK

Earlier in the afternoon, as we finished an epic lunch at noma, the last thing I thought I wanted or needed that night was another epic meal. It has been awhile since I was in my twenties with an insatiable appetite, but that evening was the only chance I would have to dine at Restaurant AOC, a restaurant that had come highly recommended by a number of experienced diners. I would be joined by two fellow noma luncheoneers, Chef Scott Boswell and his lovely wife, Tanya. My wife and son opted out. In addition, we would be joined by the Copenhagen food blogger par excellence and the principal source of my Copenhagen dining info, Trine Lai of the blog verygoodfood. No, as much as I didn't need another big meal, I was still too curious about the restaurant and too excited to meet Trine. I would take this one for the team.

  

Wisely, I had made a late reservation (for Copenhagen) of 9PM. Scott, Tanya and I arrived right on time to find Trine waiting for us in the lounge drinking some bubbly. We quickly joined her and some lounge snacks soon followed, including potato crisps with summer truffles. As we started enjoying the snacks, I discovered a friend, Robert Millman and his wife sitting at a nearby table, already well into their meal. After a brief chat, we all resumed our respective meals.

  

The room at AOC, located in a vaulted cellar of a 300 year old building, is intimate and light with white walls graced by simple, but colorful artwork. The table settings were spare, but of elegant Danish design. The overall effect was surprisingly Mediterranean, light, elegant, intimate, romantic and extremely comfortable. The kitchen is open and visible from the entrance, but it is set out of direct sight from the bulk of the dining room.

Top 5 Dishes of 2010

I already posted my Top Pasta Dishes of the Year here. At this point, I'm pretty much done dining out for the year, so I think it is reasonable to post this now, even though the year is not quite over yet. I ate extremely well in 2010 with a number of exceptional dishes. Here are the most memorable. I did not select more than one dish from any particular meal.

1. Mackerel Pickled in Hay with Green Tomatoes - Restaurant AOC - Copenhagen, DK - this dish was simply stunning on every level. Mackerel is not my favorite fish, in general, but this was made with perfect specimens and treated in such a way that it achieved perfect balance, deep rich and wonderful flavor. In addition, the plating was spectacular, using a limited but pure color spectrum and subtle, but supremely beautiful plating.
2. Chilled Vegetable Minestrone - Town House - Chilhowie, Virginia: Another extraordinarily beautiful dish, Chef John Shields provided deep and total flavor, coaxing every last bit of wonderfulness from these gorgeous, multicolored vegetables. I wrote, "Consisting of 19 different vegetables sliced into thin ribbons, rolled into cylinders and stood on end in a bowl with a vegetable consommé poured around it table side, the dish was equally impressive on the palate combining a myriad of flavors playing off each other. This was a home run on the first pitch, one of the more spectacular courses I've had anywhere."
3. Beet Salad - The Oval Room - Washington, D.C.: How can a beet salad make my top 5 dishes of the year? When it is this beautiful, colorful, original and absolutely delicious it can. I wrote, Chef Tony "Conte's salad, 'roasted organic baby beets, passion fruit gelee, horseradish, Minus 8 (vinegar) shallot dressing & micro arugula,' blended brilliant color with brilliant flavor. The passion fruit and minus 8 provided a nice acid kick, while the horseradish added a bit of spice."
4. Walnut and Blackberries, Cream and Powder - noma/Corton- Copenhagen, DK/NY, NY: I had a slew of wonderful dishes at noma, but this one stood out the most for me, taking ingredients that I could normally not care less about and turning them into one of the most delicious desserts that I have ever had. I wrote, "I'm not sure that I have ever tasted a better dessert than Walnut and Blackberries, Cream and Powder, despite the fact that I am generally not terribly enthusiastic about either walnuts or blackberries. Walnut is incorporated into an ice cream and a powder. The powder is made using walnut oil and maltodextrin. The dish includes frozen cream and dried blackberry. Minimalist in appearance, the flavors are anything but, achieving great depth and perfect balance. I loved this when I had it in NY at the Corton dinner and I loved it no less here."
5. Roasted Parsnip - Blue Hill at Stone Barns - Pocantico Hills, N.Y. Sometimes, apparent simplicity can be deceptive. This dish was simply delicious, but all the more mind-boggling to come from an ordinarily non-descript parsnip. I wrote, "We were presented with an item that appeared to be some sort of meat or ham, though it was unlike any meat or ham I had ever seen before. Flattened and slightly elongated, clearly roasted with beautiful exterior browning, we were told that it was a parsnip, a very, very large parsnip that had just been harvested after having been planted the previous March. Almost one year in the ground, this massive parsnip was left in the cold ground to encourage the root to convert its natural starches into sugar to help prevent freezing. To assist even further development of the root's sugars and their caramelization, Barber roasted the parsnips under the weight of bricks. Once presented to us, the roasted parsnips were returned to the kitchen to emerge just a short time later fully transformed. Furthering their pork-like impression, the parsnips re-emerged in a form that, to me, resembled a strip of suckling pig meat under a rich porcine gravy. Served alongside the parsnip was a red cabbage ketchup. As sweet as the parsnip was, the dish, thanks largely to the "gravy" was very much a savory dish. Unfortunately, I never did get what the "gravy" was comprised of. It tasted of pork or even turkey, rich and meaty with plenty of umami, but could this dish really have been served with anything but vegetable components? To me, this dish was a sterling example of a trompe l'oiel style of cooking. It was a veritable faux pork dish. This parsnip was superlative in every way - delicious, beautiful and down right mind-boggling and fun. It was Barber at his absolute best, taking an ordinarily mundane ingredient and without any overt tricks transforming it into something truly remarkable. I could not imagine a parsnip being presented as a parsnip being any more enjoyable than this was." 

Next week, I'll be coming out with a listing of my Top 25 Restaurant Meals of 2010.

Wish List 2011

Since the year is not quite over I am holding off a bit on posting my top restaurant meals and dishes of the year. Those will come soon, but these are the restaurants that I have not yet been to and most wish to try in 2011. Unfortunately, my Spain trip with Gerry Dawes this fall didn't pan out, so a few of the restaurants are hold-overs from 2010. My wish list 2011:

1. Mugaritz - I can't believe that I still haven't been!
2. Restaurante Paco Morales - I must get back to try Paco Morales' cooking again, this time in Valencia at the Hotel Ferrero.
3. The Sportsman - I've been hearing and reading too many great things!
4. The Fat Duck - How have I not yet made it here?
5. Next - Grant Achatz provides another wonderful concept
6. Speck - I've ben waiting a long time for Shola Olunloyo (Studio Kitchen) to open a restaurant.
7. Husk - How is Sean Brock continuing to redefine southern food?
8. Avenues - I recently recommended it to family & friends & got back great reports. I need to experience what Chef Curtis Duffy is doing for myself. I have had a great meal at Avenues in the past, but it was under Chef Graham Elliot Bowles, not Chef Duffy.
9. Elkano - Recent raves have vaulted this Basque seafood palace higher on my list
10. Red Medicine - Jordan Kahn's food with Vietnamese flavors sounds awfully intriguing and delicious.

I'm also awaiting more information on new restaurants from Fabio Trabocchi (Fiola) in Washington, D.C. and Michael Voltaggio (Ink.) in Los Angeles. This list is only the tip of an iceberg of desire. I can easily think of another 20 restaurants I could add without batting an eyelash including Curaté, China Poblano, Jaleo-Las Vegas, Lincoln, Relae, Geranium, Etxebarri, Woodberry Kitchen, etc. It should be an interesting year!

Wish List 2010 - A Look Back

About a year ago, I listed a wish list for the restaurants that I hadn't yet been to, that I most wanted to visit in 2010. While I didn't think I could get to them all, I managed to make it to 50% of them and hit a number that I became excited about during the course of the year. Here is my list from a year ago with the ones I made in italicized bold. None was a disappointment. For those that I din't get to, I still want to, but they will have to wait until next year!

1. Mugaritz
2. Noma
3. The Fat Duck
4. Restaurante Ferrero
5. McCrady's
6. Elements
7. Marea
8. Town House
9. Etxebarri
10. Ubuntu

In a few weeks, I'll post my wish list for 2011 as well as my Top 25 Restaurant Meals of 2010.

Ooh La La - Los Angeles Food Now

 

It had been thirty years since I had lived in Los Angeles. I had been back a couple of times, but never spent any considerable time there and when I was there, food wasn't a major reason for being there. In recent years, though, the city had become more prominent on my food radar.

 

Even back when I lived there, L.A. Was a great city for ethnic cuisines, especially those from Asia and Mexico. With Hollywood and all it's wealth and fame, a ritzy fine dining scene had always been present, but the restaurants had always struck me as too expensive, too boring and too much about the scene. While there had always been a few restaurants that sounded interesting like Spago, Matsuhisa, and a few others, there were not enough of them to draw me back – until now. I spent four nights in Los Angeles packing in as many interesting and different culinary experiences as I could and I just touched the surface of what is available. While it may not have happened over night, I can affirm that Los Angeles has arrived as a major, world-class food city with a culinary life as exciting as anywhere in the United States right now.

More noma

Check out this video just put out on Vimeo by my friends at Pocketfork on their very recent dinner at noma. This is about as close as it can get to experiencing a meal at noma without actually eating it. Great job Aaron and Ligeia!

 

noma from pocketfork on Vimeo.

Check out the rest of their blog for some incredible restaurant experiences.

Red Medicine

One of my main inspirations for coming to Los Angeles was the hope of being able to try Jordan Kahn's exciting new restaurant, Red Medicine, a personal cuisine inspired by Vietnamese flavors. Alas, for me, restaurant openings can be very difficult to time. Having to deal with both Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills (it is located just inside the Beverly Hills border on Wilshire Blvd) beauracracies proved to much to get it open while I was there. The good news, though, for fans of Jordan Kahn and fans of good food in Los Angeles, is that with all but a few final inspections passed and under their belts, opening is within panting distance. With a little bit of luck, they just might be open by next weekend. Long a fan of Jordan's pastries, I'll just have to try to return to L.A. soon!

Oakland - A Bit of Brooklyn Out West

James Syhabout's newish restaurant, Commis, already has a Michelin star. It is a small, minimalist space with a central open kitchen, reasonable prices and intense, creative cooking. With the loss of Chez Panisse's star, Commis currently boasts the only Michelin star in the entire East Bay Area. That, however, doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of good cooking going on there.

With a noon arrival at the Oakland airport I was met by my host, one of my very best friends who goes all the way back to Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. and who was also the best man at my wedding. Now an Oakland resident for over twenty years, he is well versed in all aspects of that city. After loading my bags in his car, we made a beeline for Pho 84, located in downtown Oakland and named for the year it opened. I started with the Goi Cuon or shrimp rolls - shrimp with iceberg lettuce, bean sprouts and cilantro rolled in rice paper and served with peanut sauce, a refreshing and tasty welcome back to the Bay Area. With a name like Pho 84, the pho better be good and what I had was quite good and quite satisfying. The Pho 84 House Special was replete with rare done steak, well done flank, tendons and meatballs in a rich beef broth topped with cilantro and onions. My visit was off to a great start.

The Magic of minibar

Magic. Fun, awe-inspiring and belief-defying, magic delights the soul. The experience at Jose Andres' minibar, currently a restaurant within a restaurant with-in the Pan-Latin themed Cafe Atlantico, offers a magical experience that indeed delights the soul, but it also delights the palate, something few good magic shows provide. Though much magic is based on illusion, the food at minibar is quite real and quite good.

I'd been to minibar twice before (sort of) and each time had a wonderful experience. A recounting of my first minibar experience can be found here. Our second time wasn't a pure minibar experience, though it incorporated a lot of minibar dishes into a special anniversary meal at Cafe Atlantico at a table adjacent to the minibar and was just about as amgical.The food, the closest thing to an elBulli experience available outside of Spain, is playful and creative, but with more of an American reference point than one would find at elBulli or the other creative restaurants of Spain. When I saw a dinner for 6 - inclusive of wine pairings, tax and gratuity - pop up on an online auction to benefit the Culinary Institute of America last spring, I bid to win and succeeded.

The perfect opportunity to use my auction win presented itself this past September to celebrate my good friend, Tom Person's 50th birthday. We decided to celebrate with a weekend in DC along with our wives and our mutual good friends, Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa of Ideas in Food. We arrived on Friday in time for a fantastic lunch at Bread Line, followed by a truly inspiring dinner at The Oval Room. On Saturday, we visited another Jose Andres restaurant, the impressive Oyamel for a superb Mexican lunch, eating early enough so as to not spoil our appetites for our 8PM seating at minibar.

The auction was for 6 seats at minibar, which meant that we had that entire seating of minibar (there are two seatings per evening - at 6 and at 8:30PM) to ourselves since the restaurant only has 6 seats. Of course the upper parts of Cafe Atlantico blanket the small corner that is minibar, but the feeling is of a totally separate restaurant.

Hail to The Oval Room!

Chef Tony Conte of The Oval Room

Washington D.C.'s The Oval Room isn't really oval, nor does it house the Office of the President of the United States. No, that is the nearby Oval Office, perhaps a bit more well known than the Oval Room, which in some sense is a pity. It's not that the Oval Room is as important as the Oval Office in the grand scheme of things (though some might argue that it is). Rather, it is just that The Oval Room under Chef Tony Conte, really deserves much more attention than it appears to get. The Oval Room setting itself is nice and it is comfortable, though, as a restaurant space, it is nothing extraordinary. It neither accentuates nor detracts from the main reason for being there - the food. Conte's food, which somehow seems to fly under the critical radar, can be truly extraordinary. A recent meal hosted by my good friend, Amy Persons to celebrate her fabulous husband's 50th birthday provides an excellent illustration of just how special his cooking can be.

Spanish Food Tour with Gerry Dawes & Yours Truly

Gerry Dawes & Doc Sconzo

Taste of Spain Tour

Nov. 27-Dec. 5, 2010  

Tour Organized and Led by

Writer-Photographer & Spain Expert 

Gerry Dawes

Premio Nacional de Gastronómía 2003

Food Arts Silver Spoon Award (Dec. 2009) 

Gerry Dawes has been traveling the Food and Wine Roads of Spain for more than

40 years and is personally acquainted with hundreds of restaurateurs, chefs,

winemakers and food-and-wine personalities.   

Dawes writes and photographs:  

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel 
 
The Traveling Gastronomer: A Celebration of Food, Wine, Life, Photography & Quixotic Musings

 
Tour accompanied by Dr. John Sconzo,

food aficionado & photographer extraordinarío.

Author & photographer of  

Doc Sconz - The Blog: Musing on Food and Life 
 
 
 

Impressions of Eataly

The biggest problem with Eataly, the new omni-Italian food emporium on Madison Square park in NYC, is that it is too popular. I have now been there three times, A Sunday, a Thursday and most recently this past Saturday. The place that it most closely resembles in my experience is the Östermalms Saluhall in Stockholm, an amalgamation of retail ingredient stands and restaurants under one roof. Of course the food style is different and unlike the Saluhall, which is composed of a number of competing vendors, many of whom are selling variations of the same thing, Eataly has a variety of areas each focusing on a specific type of Italian product. While much of the product at Eataly is imported from Italy, most of the fresh produce such as the vegetables, meats, seafood and the raw ingredients for the freshly made cheeses, gelati, etc. come from the United States. The quality is by and large exceptional and the food in the restaurants is very, very good. The difficulty? Getting to it.

The only time in my experience that I was able to dine and shop unhindered by crowds was shortly after opening at 10AM on the Thursday I visited. By 11AM, I was hungry for pizza and pasta and had no trouble getting a table directly. Within a half hour or so, however, the lines had formed and the waits had started. While the service was , as one might expect in such a high volume place, a bit perfunctory (a busboy tried to clear a plate while I was still eating from it), the food, including a lovely pizza Margherita with mozzarella di bufala and San Marzano tomatoes was superb. The paccheri with frutte di mare was even better. For those interested in the pizze, a good strategy on busy days is to get one from the Eataly To Go window outside on 24th St. Though there isn't a place to sit, the lines are considerably shorter and the wait is reasonable. The wait inside on the Sunday around 12:30PM was described at about an hour. Sandwiches on the Sunday I was there, including prime rib and roast pork on Italian bread, were tasty, although a bit skimpy on meat and a bit pricey. I was tempted by the raw bar for oysters or clams, but I'm sorry, $30 for a dozen littlenecks on the half shell is a little too expensive. The same price applied to the oysters. While still expensive, I can understand the pricing a little more given the pressure on oyster pricing after the Gulf oil spill. Over all, the quality of the ready to eat food at Eataly is very good and would make a very worthwhile interlude while shopping if and when the crowds calm down a bit.

A bit more accessible, time and price wise, are the sweets and coffee located just off the entrance on Fifth Avenue. The gelati were particularly superb. The pistachio was simply extraordinary, while the fig tasted like I was eating them right off the tree. I was thrilled to discover that the milk for the dairy products made at Eataly, including the gelati and the mozzarella, actually come from the Dairy farm in Washington County, N.Y. where we get our milk from, Battenkill Valley Creamery.

The mozzarella, made continuously in the center hall, has improved in taste over the few weeks since I first visited the market. While never bad, it has ratcheted up in that time, to the point that it is now starting to rival some of the better mozzarelle in the City.

The pasta selection is extraordinary. From a wide variety of freshly made pastas to the cornucopia of imported Italian brands, including the original Italian Barilla, the quality is superb and the prices surprisingly reasonable. The only bafflement for me, was the relatively paltry selection of flat dry pastas such as tagliatelle, fettucine and pappardelle, some of my favorites. Most of the brands were previously unknown to me, but so far, I have tried a few different ones and each has been excellent. Most of the package sizes are in the 500g range, though some are full kilos and others are 250g.

The meat counter is truly beautiful with excellent quality meats including a variety of beef, pork, veal and lamb. I bought some Piemontese beefsteaks from Montana this past weekend, cooked them in the CVap to 125ºF and finished them in a cast-iron griddle pan. Very lean to start, they were surprisingly tender and amazingly flavorful. While not inexpensive, they were truly superb and worth every cent.

The seafood display is amongst the best that I have seen in the USA in terms of variety, however, the quality and freshness appeared to vary. nevertheless, an astute shopper can get some marvelous seafood here that may be otherwise difficult to procure. Of course, as with all quality seafood nowadays, the prices can sometimes leave one gasping for air. The Florida rock shrimp I bought this past weekend, however, were relatively reasonably priced, immaculate and perfect for a ceviche with mango, cilantro, lime, cipolline onion and diced red chile.

The produce section, which even includes its own "vegetable butcher" at no additional cost, maintains some beautiful produce and fruit. While a good portion of it is not particularly Italian, that did not keep me from drooling. The mushroom section with matsutakes, French bluefoot mushrooms, fresh porcini and fresh truffles amongst other varieties was particularly enticing. The mango I purchased to use in my ceviche was at the perfect stage of ripeness.

This incredible emporium has more than just food. It also includes some associated products such as kitchen ware by Italian design companies such as a personal favorite, Guzzini as well as Alessi and others, books and more. The selection of Italian beverages, alcoholic and non is also exceptional. In addition to all of the food, drink, wares and restaurants available, Eataly also intends to become something of a cultural icon in the city, hosting cooking classes and special events such as the upcoming Identita Golose in New York.

Eataly was originally founded in Turin, Italy by Oscar Farinetti in conjunction with Slow Food, the International food related organization started in Italy by Carlo Petrini (more on Carlo Petrini and Slow Food to come soon). Along with Farinetti and his group (Eatly NY is managed by Farinetti's son), partners in Eataly NY include Mario Batalli and Joe and Lidia Bastianich. The objective of the market and Slow Food is to highlight top quality food and make it as accessible as possible.  Though the market food isn't being given away, considering the quality, most of it is priced as accessibly as it reasonably could be. The restaurant fare, given that it is basically a glorified mall food court, is a bit of a different story. While the quality of the food itself is still good, the overall value of the experience, including the prices, service, the waits and the generally cramped nature is reduced and at the moment generally not worth it.

There is much to be said for this incredible market. As it stands now, with customers often times having to line up simply to get into the building, it is too crowded and busy to be fully enjoyable. Hopefully, as the novelty wears off, the crowds will dissipate to the point that it can be both a successful business and a totally enjoyable experience.As the dynamics of the place change, the value quotient likely will too, or so I hope. It clearly has a lot of potential to be a truly great one stop shop for dining and retail grocery purchases.

 

I hope you had a wonderful Columbus Day!

Pastry Chefs Cook Savory at Aldea

Johnny Iuzzini, Alex Stupak, George Mendes, Brooks Headley & Michael Laiskonis

Aldea is a special restaurant to me in so many ways. I love George Mendes' cooking. I love George Mendes - in addition to being a superb chef, he is just a really great guy. I love the space. I love Heather Laiskonis. I love the coziness and ambiance of the restaurant. Frankly, I just love everything about the restaurant. I even love Aldea when it is being something that is not quite Aldea, such as when they bring in guest chefs for special dinners. Unfortunately, I was unable to make the dinners with Charleston S.C. chefs Mike Lata and Sean Brock, but I was lucky enough to make the incredible Sam Mason retrospective as well as the most recent special dinner, "Pastry Chefs Cook Savory" featuring four of New York's (and the world's) finest pastry chefs, the kicker being that they would not be doing what they are most well known for, but instead would be switching roles and cooking savory. The roster included Alex Stupak of WD-50, Johnny Iuzzini of Jean-Georges, Brooks Headley of Del Posto and Michael Laiskonis of Le Bernardin. To complete the reversal, George Mendes would do the dessert. As an added attraction, Johnny Iuzzini would be doing cocktails along with Jamie Gordon of Pernod Richard. Wines were supplied by Nate Archibald of Bayfield, while George and the Aldea staff also supplied the canapes to start the evening.

Ah, the canapes, they would have been a satisfying meal in and of themselves. As much as I wanted to gorge on them,  I restrained myself from eating too many juicy Kusshi oysters on the half-shell with pickled ramp vinaigrette, foie gras with figs on toast, beet meringues, gougeres,and spoons of Anson Mills polenta with truffles, all washed down with plenty of Duval Leroy Brut NV Champagne.

One of the conceits of the evening was that the chefs cooking the savory courses would each do a plate inspired by the food of Aldea. Leading off was WD-50's Alex Stupak. Known as a brilliant, creative pastry chef, who enjoys incorporating savory elements in his cutting edge desserts, Chef Stupak started his career as a savory chef before becoming the first pastry chef at Boston's Clio. He was also the pastry chef at Alinea for the first two years of that restaurant's existence before moving on to WD-50 in New York. One of my favorite dishes at Aldea is the "Sea Urchin Toast, cauliflower cream, sea lettuce, lime." Chef Stupak used that as the inspiration for his dish. Titled "Sea Urchin, Mustard & Cauliflower," the dish consisted of beautiful Santa Barbara sea urchin on a bed of toasted bread crumbs, cauliflower streusel, mustard, whipped wasabi and sea urchin ice cream. The streusel and bread crumbs added the requisite textural contrast to the creaminess of the rest of the dish. The flavors of the wasabi, mustard and urchin blended together perfectly to provide a marvelous sensation of hot and cold flavors in the same bite. While incorporating the ice cream into the dish may have been "cheating" on Stupak's part, it was the kind of cheating that can only be welcomed. Besides, it's not as if full-time savory chefs haven't been using ice cream in savory dishes for some time now. Pulling a page from Ricky Henderson, the greatest lead-off hitter of all-time, Stupak started fast and hit a home run.

It was at this point of the dinner that I discovered that the diner sitting directly to my left, was someone who I had wanted to meet and break bread with since the halcyon days of eGullet, none other than the esteemed "Sneakeater." It is a small world! With my guest, the ever affable Joe Bavuso, sitting across the table and the lovely, Troy born, Lee Ann Wong to my right and Sneakeater's and Lee Ann's dining companions, we would be in for an evening as enjoyable socially as it would be delicious!

Johnny Iuzzini, pulling double duty as mixologist and savory chef, put up a dish that would have been equally at home as an outstanding breakfast as it was at this dinner. Paired with a 2007 Meursault 1er Genevrieres from Latour Giraud, the "Poached Egg & Smoked Bacon Biscuit, peas, lardons, chanterelle mushroom" was a riff on Mendes' "Slow-Poached Egg, Sweet Peas, Smoked Bacon green garlic broth, truffle."  Missing in my photo, but not the plate from which I ate, the chanterelle ice cream was lovely, subtly capturing the essence of the noble fungus and proving along with the chanterelles on the plate a worthy substitute for the truffle of Mendes' original dish. The egg, cooked at 65º was delicious on top of the bacony biscuit. I was surprised that Iuzzini chose that temperature to cook the egg, leaving a firmer yolk, but it worked never-the-less. The peas were done two ways, as a foam and also as frozen and shattered. Together with the chanterelles, they added a wonderful, earthy element to the dish.

Brooks Headley was the only chef that evening whose work I had not previously tried in any form. I have never formally dined at Del Posto, but after his incredible savory dish, I have to make a point to experience his desserts and the rest of the food there! Goat has been a popular meat at Aldea, though it is not a mainstay of the restaurant. Headley's interpretation was "Baby Goat Agnolotti, sweet carrot and spicy paprika." Perfectly paired with a rapturous 2006 Barbaresco from Nada, the agnolotti, filled with slow cooked kid, sang and hit all the high notes. Simply, but beautifully presented, the dish showed the epitome of balance and restraint.

Duck and rice - Mendes' most well known dish at Aldea is likely his "Arroz De Pato duck confit, chorizo, olive, duck cracklings" - Michael Laiskonis brought home the savory portion of the meal with his take on duck and rice. "Liberty Farms Duck, parsnip, hazelnut, vanilla, brown butter, black rice" proved a fabulous and perfect ending to the pastry chef driven savories. Though a nod to Mendes' dish, it was not a simple re-working. The rice was not rice as one might expect. It was pureed black rice, which was used as a base upon a cylinder of parsnip and the beautifully cooked duck breast lay along with hazelnut, brussel sprout leaves and hazelnut. A duck jus enriched with butter, chocolate, gingerbread spice and a port reduction was poured over the top to finish the dish. Once again, the pairing was spot on, this time with a 2006 Vosne Romanée from Hudelot-Noellat. The parsnip added just enough sweetness to balance the rich dish, while the vanilla provided depth and a lick your lips finish.

The savory courses from each of these outstanding pastry chefs were simply stunning and absolutely delicious. Knowing that most if not all of these pastry chefs had savory backgrounds, I was not in the least surprised. The precision and discipline of their craft really shined brightly in each of the dishes. That some of the tricks and ingredients from the pastry kitchen should also find their way int these savory offerings was also no surprise as the traditional barriers between the two disciplines have all but evaporated in recent years.

George Mendes showed himself to be no slouch either when it came to doing dessert. With such pastry talent inhabiting his kitchen, it must have been even more intimidating to do the desserts for their dinner. Fortunately, Mendes was more than up to the task. Starting with a palate cleanser of lime gelée in an eggshell, riffing off one of Laiskonis' desserts, Mendes and Aldea's Pastry Chef, Shelly Acuna hit their mark.

They hit it again with the principle dessert, "Butternut Squash Parfait, maple sponge, olive oil ice cream, caramelized pumpkin seeds" - delicious! It paired very well with a white port from Quinta de Santa Eufemia. To keep the boundaries suitably blurred, the dessert incorporated a number of traditionally savory items, putting them to very good use. The evening came to a wonderful end for at least one couple, as one of the desserts was served to a lady bearing an additional ingredient, a lovely diamond necklace!

Of course that was not quite the end of the evening. To complement a delicious "palate opener" cocktail served at the beginning of the meal (I never actually caught the name of the drink) that consisted of Absolut 100, Aperol, citrus, fino sherry, lavender and cinnamon, Iuzzini and Gordon provided a nightcap of a "Twentieth Century Foxy," Cacao infused Absolut 100, honey & vanilla syrup, lemon juice, Lillet Blanc and a touch of salt. The delicious cocktails made great bookends on a totally fun and delicious meal! Is it any wonder I love Aldea so much?