Crazed food weekend on the way

[detlef]

My wife and I are off for a much needed getaway to visit her (conveniently food and wine obsessed) cousin + spouse in DC. Friday night we're going to Mini Bar which is one of those hyper modern 35 courses of exotic food places that only seats 6 at an open kitchen bar. Not sure what we'll be drinking.

 

Saturday night we're getting together with some of their friends at their place and throwing down. They just got back from Buenos Aires and brought back some fancy Malbecs that apparently aren't imported. We're building a meal around 5 of them with some Torrontes to start. One of the guests brought down a deer with his bow last weekend in Conn. so he's bringing the racks. I put up some duck confit and braised veal cheeks today for another. It's going to be a freaking cage match of food and wine! Fur will fly.

 

As I said, a report will follow

[georgemoe]

Hey Det. Welcome back and I look forward to this report!

[sundaynfl]

Sounds like a lot of fun!! I look forward to the culinary report!

[twiley]

I'm making coq au vin tonight.

[georgemoe]

I'm making coq au vin tonight.

 

 

And what is wrong with that?

 

Tonight is night out for me so I'll be woofing down a ham salad sammich after work then beer-30.

[Thunder Chicken]

Sounds Great

[detlef]

For starters, it was freaking awesome. A blow by blow account is on the way.

 

The highlights:

Mini bar is very cool, but no way that I'd want to eat on a regular basis. There were a number of whimsically deconstructed versions of classic dishes but, as one of the diners commented, "I'm not sure the next time I have clam chowder, I'll wish it was like this instead." That said, I did pick up a few thoughts that I'll try to work with in the future.

 

Wine of the night on Friday (and quite possibly the weekend), 2002 Nigl Privat Rielsing. Crazy nuance, decadent fruit, bracing acidity, essentially everything you'd want in a white wine.

 

The venison course on Saturday. Absolutely immaculate. More on this to come.

 

The cheese course on Saturday with Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg Vendage Tardives 2002. Humbolt Fog Goat, Epoisse, and a Spanish Blue that escapes me, fresh figs, and the aforementioned sweet white.

 

Well, hell, I just don't have time right now. Story at eleven.

[Bier Meister]

one of these days we shall meet..... and have a blast hanging in the kitchen cooking and drinking all day!

 

[Big Country]

one of these days we shall meet..... and have a blast hanging in the kitchen cooking and drinking all day!

 

 

 

I'd be down for that.....

[Seattle LawDawg]

one of these days we shall meet..... and have a blast hanging in the kitchen cooking and drinking all day!

 

 

 

I'd be happy to sit there and eat whatever you make.

[detlef]

Well, FWIW massive dinner part deux is in the works. As it turns out, the father of two of the malbec party participants has married into a family that owns the largerst single plot of land east of the mississippi, so a boar hunt is in the works. Not sure at this point whether that will be paired with Barolos or Syrahs but either will be top shelf and the bar has been set so the dinner will be otherworldly.

 

There's always room for another and all we ask is that you bring something cool.

 

The shindig will either go down in NC or DC...

[twiley]

Well, FWIW massive dinner part deux is in the works. As it turns out, the father of two of the malbec party participants has married into a family that owns the largerst single plot of land east of the mississippi, so a boar hunt is in the works. Not sure at this point whether that will be paired with Barolos or Syrahs but either will be top shelf and the bar has been set so the dinner will be otherworldly.

 

There's always room for another and all we ask is that you bring something cool.

 

The shindig will either go down in NC or DC...

 

"Uh honey, I'm driving out to DC with 3 cases of our best selection from the cellar.... Uh no, I've never met the guy but ..... uh....I'm sure he's a decent guy...uh, what's with the look?"

 

[detlef]

OK, so here's the menu from Friday with my thoughts...proceed at your own risk.

 

We did 4 wines with the meal. Starting with an Albarino, next a Vouvray, then an Aussie Grenache/Syrah Rose and then a Croze-Hermitage Blanc. The waiter suggested we start into reds but it never seemed like any of the dishes would work well with reds so I declined. The vouvray (Pichot) was probably the highlight and the Croze kind of sucked. I want to go Riesling here but someone at the table was really into white rhones. He later said he'd keep his mouth shut next time.

 

Olive Oil Bon-Bon

-Super nice olive oil suspended in a shell of carmelized sugar, sprinkled with a little fleur du sel. Very cool indeed.

 

Mojito

-This was the first of several dishes employing a popular trick with food science. Essentially they make a flavored solution with calcium carbonate and add drops of that into a sodium alginate solution. The two react in such a way that the drops form a very fragile shell so it's like a really soft gumdrop of sorts. You have to put the whole thing into your mouth before you bite because it kind of explodes when you do. At anyrate, it was a pretty tasty "cocktail"

 

Passion Fruit Whiskey Sour

Pork Rinds with Maple Syrup

-Reminded me of cracker jacks

 

Salmon Roe Cone

-Pretty cool bagel-tasting cone stuffed with samon roe and cream cheese. They called it bagels and lox

 

Beet Tumbleweed

-Very popular with most of us. Super thinly sliced beets deep fried in a tumbleweed shaped mass.

 

Saffron-Yogurt Meringue

-meh

Foie Gras Cotton Candy

-Actually tiny bites of foie gras on a wooded skewer fed through a cotton candy machine. Neat but for the fact that the foie was cold.

 

Ferran Adria "Olives"

-Another Carbonate/Alginate thing. This time with green and black olive purees. It was like olives on better. Lemon zest and orange segments made it taste nicely like tapenade.

 

Curry Chicken Wings

-Pretty cool de-boned wings stuffed with coconut cream and glazed with tamarind and curry.

 

Salmon-Pineapple Ravioli with crispy quinoa

-This didn't excite me.

 

Deconstructed glass of white wine

-Pretty interesting. They took a long plate and placed tiny bits of flavors often found in white wine in a row over a white grape gelatine. The intention was to try and attempt to indentify each. I think we got about 8 of 10.

 

"Ajo Blanco"

-I liked this more than most. Another deconstruction of a classic Spanish soup. There's had frozen almond "snow", parmesean cheese, and of course some garlic.

 

Organized Caesar Salad

-Pretty cool dish. Super thinly sliced sheets of daikon wrapped around dressed romaine like a spring roll. One had a quail egg yolk on it, the other had shaved parm.

 

Conch Fritter

-This was another "eat all at once" dish because it was basically conch chowder fried inside a thin pastry crust. Everyone liked this.

 

Smoked Oyster with apples

-This was less popular

 

Zucchini in textures

-meh

 

Guacamole

-This was one of those deconstructions that I don't think I liked as much as the real thing. Essentially thinly sliced avocado wrapped around spicy tomato sorbet. It was too cold and lacked the great texture that guac has.

 

Feta "Linguine"

-Likely my favorite dish. They took the salty water that feta is packed in and set it with agar agar before slicing it in little noodles. These were warmed and served with tomato jam and feta cheese. I'm going to mess around with this one.

 

Egg 63 degrees with caviar

-Quail eggs poached for a long time at 63 C so they were very soft. Served over caviar, passion fruit, and banana puree. Certainly the first, likely the last time I'll be eating caviar and banana together.

 

Lobster Americaine

-Not for the faint of heart. A chunk of lobster skewered on a pipette filled with tomally (basically lobster guts). You were to eat the lobster while you squeezed the contents of the pipette into your mouth. I liked it

 

New New England Clam Chowder

-Another cute deconstruction that wasn't as good as the real thing. I think my biggest issue was that it was served as a cold dish.

 

Breaded Cigala w. lemon

-Really tasty. It’s basically a tiny lobster tail with a super fine breading only along one side. The Lemon marmalade tied in well with an otherwise charmless Croze Hermitage Blanc that we were drinking.

 

Philly Cheese Steak

-Another successful dish. It was basically a hollow, very small baguette shaped roll stuffed with melted white cheddar inside, thinly sliced very rare beef layered along the outside of the roll and truffle oil drizzled over the meat. What can I say, very tasty.

 

Desserts

-By and large nobody was particularly thrilled with the desserts as a whole. That said, there were some winners.

 

Japanese baby peaches w. yogurt

-This would be one of them. These are actually peaches picked super young, before the pits even form and then candied. They look like large green olives but taste very floral. The sweetened yogurt was a nice touch.

 

Pistachio-Beets and berries

Thai dessert

Saffron Gumdrop in edible wrapper

Fruit cocktail injection

-Another pipette skewered dish. This time assorted fruits with a very concentrated fruit juice in the pipette. Tasty enough I suppose.

Maracuya marshmallows

Chocolate covered corn nuts

-Yes, you read it correctly. “Nuf said.

 

Halls Lollipop

[twiley]

 

I think I'd drop over 2 grand a month if this type of food was available in St. Louis.

 

Amazing, simply amazing.

 

Edit: Realized that I probably already spend a grand a month on eating out.

Edited September 26, 2006 by twiley

[Seattle LawDawg]

 

I think I'd drop over 2 grand a month if this type of food was available in St. Louis.

 

Amazing, simply amazing.

 

Edit: Realized that I probably already spend a grand a month on eating out.

 

 

You're not including the bar bill in that grand are you?

[twiley]

You're not including the bar bill in that grand are you?

Hell no.

[detlef]

OK, here's Saturday's meal...

 

Pre-dinner wines to ensure a happy prep crew

 

Domaine Weinbach Muscat d’Alsace 2002

-Bigger and richer than any other Muscat I’ve tried. Tons of nuance and texture. Pretty floral aromas. Bone dry.

 

Champalou Vouvray Brut NV

-Vibrant peach fruit, nice acid, soft bubbles, a touch of sweetness.

 

Txakolina Ametztoi 2005

-Super lemony, very clean slightly sparkling wine from the Basque region of Spain.

 

We tasted through the entire line-up of Malbecs prior to dinner for two reasons. To begin with, to get a chance to compare them while still remotely sober and also to determine where they should be served in the meal.

 

Malbecs-

Miguel Escorihuela Gascon 2002 –Chosen for meat course #3

-Floral hints on the nose, flavors of plum, black cherry, and black walnut. Firm tannins.

 

Vina el Cerno 2000 – Chosen for meat course #2

-Obviously unfiltered. Accessible and chewy showing stewed fruit and anise.

 

Bodegas Tikal 2003- Chosen for meat course #3

-On first tasting, herbaceous, wound tight with a short finish and very firm tannins. Fleshed out by dinner time.

 

Palo Domingo 2001 – Chosen for meat course #1

-Brilliant blood red color. Very meaty flavors with white pepper hints. One remarked that it tasted like blood (in a good way)

 

First Course

 

Seared large scallops with marinated peppers, zebra tomatoes, and basil.

-The scallops themselves were beautiful and the dish matched well with the wine.

 

Zolo Torrontes 2006

-Bright, high toned flavors of citrus and nectarine with generous enough texture. A very pretty wine.

 

Second Course

 

Five Spice Duck Confit and Chinese Bacon with Pear Jasmine Coulis and Pear Arugula Salad.

-The confit was, admittedly cooked a bit hard but the bacon was very nice and the coulis (enhanced with Poire William) was very sultry and tied the wine in nicely. It also, as it turns out, made some pretty nice baby food.

 

Crios Torrontes 2005

-Richer in style but lacking the acid of the Zolo. None the less, flattering texture and deep honied pear fruit.

 

Meat Course #1 (You know it’s hard core when the duck confit/bacon course doesn’t even get referred to as a “meat course”)

 

Braised Kurabuta pork cheek with kury squash and braised chard

-I braised the cheeks in Malbec and ginger.

 

Meat Course #2

 

Grilled hanger steak with Thai eggplant and sauce bordelaise

-Kudos to Alex for the grill and sauce work. The sauce was built from some of his demi-glace as well as some Malbec and fresh thyme. God I love hanger steak and the sauce was glorious.

 

Meat Course #3

 

Grilled Venison Rack with mashed potatoes and chocolate infused red wine demi

-Alex not only cooked but shot this particular deer with crossbow no less. Based on his explanation of the difference between gun-killed and bow-killed meats, I can only imagine that had something to do with the tender and mild flavor of the venison. It was, after all, the finest tasting I’d ever had. The inclusion of some duck fat in the potatoes didn’t suck either.

 

Cheese course of Humbolt Fog Goat, Epoisse, and Spanish Blue (sorry we lost the label) with fresh figs

-Really too bad about losing the label on the Spanish blue because it was awesome. Amazing selection that went incredibly with the wine.

 

Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg V.T. 2002

-Enormously concentrated fig, citrus, and oily flavors. Solid acidity holds the whole thing together. An extraordinary wine.

 

Chocolate cake and raspberry, marzipan tasties

-Someone needs to help me out on the names here. Really great desserts that deserve a better description but because I was pretty much loaded by the time they came out and I didn’t make them so I can’t fake an approximate description, I’ll need to ask for help from the peanut gallery. I recall being particularly enamored with the raspberry marzipan treats.

 

Banyuls- I don’t recall the producer

-Certainly a nice compliment to the chocolate cake, Not remarkable outside of that which, frankly was just fine.

 

Barolo Chinato

-Very exotic digestif. Essentially sweetened Barolo steeped with herbs include anise and wormwood.

Edited September 27, 2006 by detlef

[Bier Meister]

sounds like a fun menu.

 

- i am a sucker for duck. almost always order it when offered. plus, i love asian accents. only thing that would turn me off from that dish would have been the 5 spice (just a personal preference).

 

- i also am a fan of bordalaise.

 

- make chocolate, red wine reductions and finish with demi.... great for the fall/winter.

 

- i am currently running a wonton filled with ganache, raspberries, and marscapone. tell me more about them... might be able to help you with that.

[detlef]

sounds like a fun menu.

 

- i am a sucker for duck. almost always order it when offered. plus, i love asian accents. only thing that would turn me off from that dish would have been the 5 spice (just a personal preference).

 

- i also am a fan of bordalaise.

 

- make chocolate, red wine reductions and finish with demi.... great for the fall/winter.

 

- i am currently running a wonton filled with ganache, raspberries, and marscapone. tell me more about them... might be able to help you with that.

 

For the fall menu, I'm basically going to do the same confit dish but serve it with the breast instead.

 

We're going to then serve the shredded confit (an inevitable by product of the ducks) tossed with watercress served over a sriracha timbale. I want to go with something without any sweetness for that dish because I find myself always defaulting to salty meats with fruit especially in apps.

 

You've got to get involved with the Chinese Bacon. We take pork bellies and cut them into thick strips (about 1 inch or so). Then we marinate them for a few days in Hoisin, sherry, soy sauce, brown sugar. To roast them, we put a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven and place the bellies directly on the top rack so they roast on all sides. Of course in chinese restaurants, they have big pork roasters that look like smokers where they can roast them suspended from hooks. We just have to make do. At any rate, I like to cook them for about 1.5 hours at low heat (around 300)

 

Your chocolate demi sounds basically like what he made.

 

The wonton thing you're doing sounds cool. These were simply little tarts filled with marscapone, a bit of whipped cream and topped with a raspberry. Certainly tasty. I was just guessing that there was some cool little angle that the woman who made the desserts would likely have mentioned if she was writing the re-cap rather than me. I'm not sure I was even comprehending english at the time, so I never got around to asking her.

[Bier Meister]

just an idea...... flame off some creme de cocoa and chambord. use a little gelatin to whip it all together.. or go cherry and call it a black forrest tartlette.

 

 

edit:

 

or.... can add a hint of espresso and go with a "raspberry mocha mouse tartlette" etc.

Edited September 27, 2006 by Bier Meister

[sundaynfl]

THIS IS BY FAR THE GHEYIST POST EVER!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, had I been there or actually sampled some of this fair, it would have been the best post ever! At least the post that made me the hungriest! <<<< is that a word??? The art of cooking in it's highest form!!

[MojoMan]

Detlef,

 

Sounds yumpin awesome.

 

How hard was it to get reservations?

 

Cost?

 

Thanks.

[detlef]

Detlef,

 

Sounds yumpin awesome.

 

How hard was it to get reservations?

 

Cost?

 

Thanks.

 

Reservations are really hard. It's actually a small section of another larger restaurant (Cafe Atlantico). They only have 6 seats and they serve two seatings per night 6:00 and 8:30. I didn't actually make them but our hosts said it took them a long time to swing them. Dinner is $95 per person.

[MojoMan]

Reservations are really hard. It's actually a small section of another larger restaurant (Cafe Atlantico). They only have 6 seats and they serve two seatings per night 6:00 and 8:30. I didn't actually make them but our hosts said it took them a long time to swing them. Dinner is $95 per person.

 

 

Thanks detlef. Good info here.

[Mojo Rising]

Reservations are really hard. It's actually a small section of another larger restaurant (Cafe Atlantico). They only have 6 seats and they serve two seatings per night 6:00 and 8:30. I didn't actually make them but our hosts said it took them a long time to swing them. Dinner is $95 per person.

 

It seemed so interesting I looked it up.....the clam chowder does look pretty different (images page).

 

Heres the website: http://www.cafeatlantico.com/miniBar/miniBar.htm