tartare

Grant Achatz Describes His Stage at El Bulli

Very clever of Adria and Soler to close El Bulli, never allowing it to become anything less than what it had been.  The New York Times ran a great piece by Grant Achatz and his stage experience at El Bulli.

Foie. Gras. Jelly. Donut

Scott Gold confronts a gastronomic Godzilla and survives to tell the tale:

"Foie gras jelly donut, $16

No way…could it really be?  I spoke the words aloud, just to make sure something in my cranium wasn’t all tangled up like an Oliver Sacks patient, causing me to see things that weren’t actually there.  ”Foie.  Gras.  Jelly.  Donut,”  I said.  And then, “Holy shit.”  Now, I normally try not to swear in front of my parents, but some things just have to be said.  I needed to order it - the decision was made as soon as I saw the words.  I wasn’t really even in the mood for it, but when confronted with something so outrageous, all will power is lost.  It’s as though the menu had performed the Jedi mind-trick on me: “You will have the foie gras jelly donut.”  ”I will have the foie gras jelly donut.”  When the server came to take our orders, I pointed at the menu and asked, simply, “Seriously?”  ”Oh, yes,” he said.  Oh well, I thought.  I guess we’re going to do this."

El Bulli Changes Seasons

Ferran Adria changes the brief season that El Bulli is open...just to keep people on their toes.

Great Rant On Bad Restaurant Trends

Timothy Taylor unloads on restaurant and food trends in an extremely well-written and fun rant. For me, the money quote:

"Ban foam except that found on beer and cappuccino. It is clear that block of sponge that tastes like corn chowder is innovative. It is not clear in which way it is better than the corn chowder from which it is derived. And what did corn chowder ever do that required renovation anyway?"

This piece made me think back to this Frank Bruni piece from last year, "You May Kiss The Chef's Napkin Ring". Bruni talks about the attitude that diners get at a number of the "must go" restaurants in New York. It makes a nice companion piece to the Taylor rant.

Bourdain's Overrated Menu

Guess I am on a Bourdain kick this week. In this installment, gastronomy's garrulous curmudgeon, never hesitant nor reticent, rails about overrated menu items.

Money quote:

Be sure to sample our selection of flavored salts, and please await the water sommelier:
A chef who offers anything other than sea salt probably refers to himself in the third person. When the water sommelier comes over, I reach for my gun.

Hot Doug's

Going to Alinea was on the mind blowing side. My friend Pat gave me Alex Kapronos' book Sound Bites: Eating On Tour With Franz Ferdinand and something Karponos says rings true. Talking about his experience eating at La Broche in Madrid, he writes:

"As a spoonful of chestnut soup with bacon ice cream passes my lips, I want to laugh, because I can't believe what's happening in my mouth. I've never experienced this before. After early childhood, there are few opportunities to experience a completely novel sensation, so when you come across one, you're not quite sure what to do."

Needing to ground ourselves, what would be more natural than some sausage? Off to Hot Doug's we went. Hot Doug's is Doug Sohn's Chicago charcuterie (or as he prefers "encased meat") palace.

He makes his own sausage and while his standard offerings (thuringer, bratwurst, Polish) are great, it is the weekly specials that give the place a real twist. Ever had an Alsatian tart, the estimable tart flambée? They are wonderful: onions, bacon, and crème fraîche on a thin pizza-like crust. One of Doug Sohn's specials that day was a reconstructed Alsatian tart, made of bacon sausage with crème fraîche, caramelized onions and Chaumes cheese. Other specials included a saucisse de toulouse with black truffle butter and orange pistachio duck pâté and the celebrity sausage, The Teuben, a corned beef sausage with Russian dressing, sauerkraut and swiss cheese (most properly dedicated to the recently deceased breakfast sausage king, Bob Evans).

We ordered two standards, namely a Chicago-style hot dog (had to) and a bratwurst (pork-only, not pork and veal). I also had to have one of the specials, the bleu cheese pork sausage with a creamy pear sauce and smoked almonds. On Fridays and Saturdays, Doug fries his french fries in duck fat. I had duck fat french fries once before at The Butcher Shop in Boston and have been craving them ever since. Anyway, we engorged ourselves -- these are really well done sausages and the duck fat fries...mmmm, duck fat. They were delicious.

Quick notes:
1) If you have the occasion to go, do. However, allow time for the line. We queued for about twenty minutes. We did not have any trouble finding a place to sit once inside.
2) This is a fun place to go to. Doug is obviously passionate about his work and as a bonus, is also pretty funny.
3) I felt we had to go to Hot Doug's not only for the sausage, but also as a sign of respect for Doug who openly defied Chicago's ridiculous foie gras ban.

Dinner at Alinea

My wife and I went to Alinea last Friday for our fifteenth wedding anniversary. It is hard to describe the anticipation we had for the event. We ordered the twelve-course tasting with the wine pairings. My only challenge was being able to get decent pictures without distracting from the dinner experience. I missed photographing a few courses; a few I simply forgot and one dish required two hands, rendering me physically unable to take a picture (see #2 Octopus, Shiso, Shittake, Toasted Soy). A number of pictures came out decently. While we intended to take detailed notes, we became so involved in the meal that the notebook went by the wayside. I will do my best from recollection. The first three dishes set the pace beautifully.

1. Croquette, Smoked Steelhead Roe, Several Garnishes
paired with: René Geoffrey Brut Champagne with Pineau des Charentes

Amazing. Eaten in one bite, it plays on your expectations about a croquette and then, the tastes of the ocean, crème fraiche, and a delicate chive come up individually. It really gets you wondering what is next. BTW, sorry for the blurred pic, but the 1/6 second shutter exposure felt a little long to hold a camera still – I had to get busy eating this. 


2. Octopus, Shiso, Shittake, Toasted Soy

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This was presented in a rounded cup with a fork balanced across it. The cup does not have a flat bottom and resultantly, cannot be set down until you had finished it. Interesting idea for setting the pace of a meal – you will not likely sit there very long just chatting with this in your hand. An octopus salad sits on the fork above the very delicate shitake/toasted soy broth below. C does not typically eat octopus; she loved this.

3. Sturgeon, Curry, Onion, Lime

paired with: Paul Hobbs "Richard Dinner Vineyard" Chardonnay, Sonoma Mountain, 2005

The sturgeon was presented two ways: one deep-fried and the other probably poached or sous vide, with a monkfish liver mousse and onion "paper". This was insanely fun to eat and repeatedly delightful as we put different ingredient combinations on our forks.


4. Porcini Mushroom, Cherry, Ham, Toasted Garlic
paired with: Marco De Bartoli Vecchio Samperi "Ventennale", Marsala, Sicily

A beautifully stacked dish waits inside what appears to be a large shot glass in the middle of a large bowl. The glass, (apparently bottomless and thus, actually, a tube) is lifted up and the thick-but-not-too thick porcini purée and garnishes spread out, contrasted with cherry ice cream on top. We loved this dish. It works so very well.

5. Apple, Horseradish, Celery
This was such a great palate refresher. Celery juice with ball of apple juice/horseradish makes a bracing change of pace, so that we would be ready to lead into the duck. Lovely.

6. Duck, Mango, Yogurt, Pillow of Lavender Air
paired with: Rudi Pichler Grüner Veltliner Smaragd "Kollmutz", Wachau, Austria, 2000
Served on a pillow that slowly emitted lavender-scented air was duck cooked four ways, with mango below and a yogurt foam on top. This dish was perfect -- really outstanding.

7. Short Rib, Guinness, Peanut, Fried Broccoli
paired with: Braida di Giacomo Bologna Barbera d'Asti "Bricco dell'Uccellone" 2001
Truly interesting dish. Perfectly cooked short rib, peanut purée, and broccoli purée sit underneath a Guinness gelatin sheet, garnished with shaved strips of broccoli and toasted mustard seed. We had big smiles on our faces. A great send up of a beer-braised short rib with unexpected twists.

8. Hot Potato, Cold Potato, Black Truffle, Butter
This is a well-known dish and I was happy to see it on the menu that night. Our mission, should we choose to accept it: remove the Alinea pin from the suspended hot potato and black truffle slice, which then drop into the cold potato soup. Heavenly. We both laughed aloud.


9. Lamb, Peas, Consommé, Morels
pairing listed on menu: La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino 1999
Rather, I believe this was an Australian Grenache, though I did not record exact provenance and vintage

This was the only dish that did not knock either one of us over, though I think it is one of the most beautiful plates of the evening. A thick pea sauce, with dollops of yogurt underneath, stripes the plate. In front of the stripe, a jelled consommé with peas and lamb angles off to the left while a single bite of lamb tenderloin sits off to the right. This dish is garnished beautifully, including a mint granité, some nice morels, edible flowers, and dollops of tangy yogurt; it was full of little surprises and gosh, it was really, really pretty. However, we both found the tenderloin to be a bit chewy and the consommé seemed a bit over-gelled in consistency.

10. Bacon, Butterscotch, Apple, Thyme
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A strip of bacon, with butterscotch apple leather and thyme, hanging from a pilcrow-shaped serving piece. Very nice.

11. Rhubarb, Goat Milk, Beet, Long Pepper
paired with: Muller-Catoir Haardter Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese, Pfalz, 2005

Of all the dishes, a strong competitor for number one. We ate this left to right, starting with the rhubarb juice/beet juice. What a combination -- it sets you up beautifully for the rest of the plate. This is one I wish I had notes on, but a few I recall: caramelized rhubarb (second from left); compressed rhubarb (third from left); and rhubarb foam with grapefruit (fourth from left). Everything on this plate played well together. We loved this so much. Very well executed.


12. Guava, Avocado, Brie, Key Lime Juice
paired with: Hans Tschida Samling Trockenbeerenauslese, Neusiedlersee, Austria, 1998

This dish features cheesecake-like avocado and Brie mousses served with Brie foam and lime ice. A key lime is juiced over the bowl tableside and then a carbonated mango juice poured over that (fizzy-lifting drinks, anyone?). Loved this.

13. Chocolate, Chilies, Lemongrass, Soy

paired with: Abbazia di Novaclla Moscato Rosa "Praepsitus", Alto Adige 2005
What is to not like about chocolate, very rich chocolate, with some soy powder, a marshmallow, some citrus and mango? Very nice. In addition, the Moscato Rosa with its rose petal bouquet was a brilliant match with this.

14. Caramel, Meyer Lemon, Cinnamon Perfume
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Tempura caramel and Meyer lemon on a long cinnamon stick. This is a great way to end this 3½ hour journey.

A few quick postscripts:
1. I want to thank Chuck from Chuckeats.com for his restaurant photo advice, which will prove most helpful someday should I ever get better at taking restaurant photos. Also, the format for this post is based on the way Chuck does his restaurant entries. If you are not familiar with his site, take a spin. He catalogs numerous meals at the interesting restaurants both here and abroad. Frank and informed, Chuckeats is worthy of being on your short-list of bookmarks.

2. I was most impressed with the way the dishes were altered to accommodate my cucumber/melon/banana/papaya/passionfruit allergies. I never felt the dishes lacking or compromised -- very skillful substitutions.

3. If you do go to Alinea, consider doing the wine pairings. They were very well chosen.

Going to Alinea in a Couple Weeks

Very, very excited. This will make for a memorable 15th wedding anniversery for C and me. Definitely taking a camera and will post the pics and notes shortly after we get back.