Happy WIAW!

 

In lieu of telling you what I ate this week, I’m going share my dinner from last Wednesday night.  (You’ll understand when you see this deliciousness.)

 

My foodie friend, Corinne, and I attended another installment of the Summer Chef Series @ ONE Midtown Kitchen.  (Remember the 1st one with Chef Hugh Acheson and the 2nd with Chef Bruce Logue?) 

 

This was a special edition, as it was Corinne’s birthday!  Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…

 

This night we brought along friends to help celebrate.  Including my hard-core friend Kathleen who miss my b-day due to breaking her writst via rollerblades.  Hi Kathleen! 🙂

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Chef Ford Fry from JCT Kitchen was the guest tonight.

Sadly, he did not bring his guitar.

 

The night began with a crisp Chenin Blanc.  Actually, it began with a couple of glasses and bread basket since the kitchen was running behind.   We didn’t complain.

 

They print out the menus – one of my favorite parts of the night is the menu reveal.

My inner fat kid spends the day dreaming about what might be on the night’s menu.

 

Amuse:

Crispy Pork Trotter with fois gras and beatrice eggplant caponata

It was heavy for an amuse, but good.  Trotter still creeps me out though.

 

 

1st Course:

Heirloom Tomato Ceviche with lemon verbena, white chocolate, & horseradish granita

Love, loved the ceviche.  The granita wasn’t bad, but there was a lot of it and chef Drew has done that granita a lot lately.

.

2nd Course:

Maine Lobster with Carolina gold rice “risotto” and buttered pullman toast

…or if you are allergic to shellfish (or think the alternative sounds good), you were presented with a mushroom risotto.

Really, really good; however, my bad because it didn’t get as well with the Pinot Gris pairing.  The lobster risotto was amazing (Corinne gave me a taste).

.

3rd Course:

Roast Black Bass with tiny tomatoes, tomato water, and herb salad

This was probably my favorite course of the night.  The fish was perfectly cooked – meaty rather than fishy.  The tomato water was a little much but that herb salad was fantastic with the fish.

The red wine pairing was surprising.  It was a nice Merlot, but didn’t wow.

.

4th Course:

Housemade Heritage Pork Sausage with crisp belly, Benton’s bacon-wrapped fig, and brown butter jus

The pork belly was some of the best I’ve ever had.  The texture was melt-in-your-mouth good.  The bacon wrapped fig was also delicious.  Perfectly crisped bacon!

The only thing keeping this from being my favorite was the sausage – it was so salty I couldn’t eat more than a small bite!

A South African wine paired with this was our favorite of the evening – it was a bigger, more complex red, my palate’s sweet-spot.

.

5th Course:

Warm 70% Chocolate with almond crisp, raspberry pate, and vanilla lime sorbet

Wellll… chef’s aren’t bakers.  That warm 70% chocolate hardened before it made it out of the kitchen and the almond crisp was more rocky that crispy.   I could have taken a bowl of that sorbet though!

The sherry pairing was too thick and rich for the dessert.  On it’s own I really enjoyed it.  It would have been a great one to serve between 4 and 5 courses or in lieu of the dessert.

.

Overall, we left sated and happy.  Most importantly, Corinne had a happy birthday!

***

Of course, I have another supper club-like even this Friday.  It should be epic!

Are you sick of hearing about these things yet?

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten as of late?