Mixology Monday Announcement! MxMo LXVI: Bein' Green

Mixology Monday took a sabbatical for a spell earlier this year, but last month Frederic from Cocktail Virgin Slut revived our monthly online cocktail party, relieving our esteemed captain Paul Clarke by both manning the helm and hosting the first MxMo since Feb with his "Equal Parts" theme. It's now October, and I've enlisted to host this month's MxMo, with the theme: (it's not easy) "Bein' Green."

With the warm days of summer now fading off into the distance in our rear view mirrors, let's pay one last tribute to the greens of summer before the frosts come and our outdoor herb gardens give up the ghost for the winter. For our theme for this month, I have chosen: (it's not easy) "Bein' Green." (Perchance due in no small part to my predilection for Green Chartreuse.) I'm giving you a wide berth on this one, anything using a green ingredient is fair play. There's not only the aforementioned Chartreuse; how about Absinthe Verte, aka the green fairy. Or Midori, that stuff is pretty damn green. Crème de menthe? Why not? Douglas Fir eau de vie? Bring it! Apple schnapps? Uh...well...it is green. I suppose if you want to try to convince me it makes something good you can have at it. But it doesn't have to be the liquor. Limes are green. So is green tea. Don't forget the herb garden: mint, basil, cilantro, you name it - all fair game. There's also the veritable cornucopia from the farmers market: green apples, grapes, peppers, olives, celery, cucumbers...you get the idea. Like I said, wide berth. Base, mixer, and or garnish; if it's green it's good. Surprise me. Use at least one, but the more the merrier.

As usual, here's how to play:

• Find or concoct a drink recipe that uses at least one green ingredient or significant garnish
• Make the drink, and post a photo, the recipe, and any thoughts or commentary you have on your blog, or alternatively to this thread on eGullet's Spirits and Cocktails forum (if you have no blog)
• Include in your post the above MxMo logo, as well as a link back to both the Mixology Monday site and this post on Wordsmithing Pantagruel. Once I post the roundup of all submissions, a link to that post as well is always appreciated.
• Let me know about your submission (by Monday Oct 15th) by posting a link to your post in the comment section on this post (preferred), or by gmail to wordsmithingpantagruel.
• Most importantly, have fun.

Do all that by midnight Monday Oct 15th and then check back here for a roundup post including all submissions. (As long as you get it in by the time I get around to finishing the roundup post, I'll try to include any stragglers.)

Remember, it's not easy bein' green, take Kermit's word for it:

ps Did you know that "Bein' Green" was covered by Sinatra?

UPDATE: I've finished the roundup post, check out all 37 contributors there; we got some great drinks!

MxMo LXV: Equal Parts - Swan Song

Mixology Monday has been on hiatus for the better part of a year, the most recent event being Feb's Tiki theme, but now Frederic Yarm from Cocktail Virgin Slut (and more recently cocktail book author) has taken up both gauntlet and reins in an effort to get our monthly online cocktail confab going again. Fred has chosen as theme for the reboot "Equal Parts":

I have chosen the theme of equal part cocktails -- those simple drinks where only one jigger is needed despite how many ingredients are added. These recipes have gained a lot of popularity as classics like the Negroni and Last Word have resurfaced, and variations of these equal part wonders have become abundant. Besides these three and four equal parts recipes, I have had delightful two, five, and six part drinks, and I have definitely spotted seven and more part Pousse-cafés in the literature.

There is something special about the simplicity of equal parts drinks; they are easy to remember and make, trivial to make the pours a little bigger or smaller depending on mood, and hell, if your lime is a little stingy and doesn't quite give a full ¾ oz, just fill the jigger to the same level with the other ingredients and balance is maintained - no need to try to convert and measure 90% of 1 oz, let alone some fraction of ½ or ¼ oz. You don't even need a jigger, that "1 part" can be eyeballed to the level of the third ridge on a red solo cup, an empty tic-tac box, or whatever else you can grab within reach.
I've fished these waters before (see my "=" tag to the right), eg the 4 ingredient Last Word variation Last Straw, or my 5 constituant Corpse Reviver riff dubbed Blood Infusion, or even the (somewhat absurd) 10 equal factor Einbahnstraße.
My Mixology Monday, I give you another (loose) interpretation of the classic Last Word. I've swapped the gin for rum and the maraschino for orange liqueur. However, I wanted to keep some of the funk that the maraschino usually contributes, so I reached for the hogo-rich Smith&Cross rum. For the orange I'm going with the relatively new Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao, mostly because I prefer my drinks a bit dryer than the Last Word, but also because my bottle a shiny, er tasty, new toy. I'd meant to do a review when I first got it, but that didn't happen and that ship has now sailed, but here the gist: it's good stuff.

Swan Song

• 1 part Smith&Cross Traditional Jamaican Rum
• 1 part Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
• 1 part Green Chartreuse
• 1 part lime

Shake and strain into cocktail glass

Since some parts are bigger than others, having a sidecar handy for overflow can be a good idea:

I'm not sure how legit it is to call it a Last Word variant when it has no Maraschino, but that drink is where I started tinkering. The Swan Song still has some bold flavors that I think meld well, and if anything has some rougher edges than it's predecessor, due to the brawny rum demanding it's share of the attention, as opposed to the gin mediating the flavors in the background in the Last Word. But sometimes you're in the mood for a pointy flavor profile.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think if you give 'er a try. And Cheers to Frederic for braving the wrangling to get us going again.

UPDATE: Fred's got the roundup post up, check it out to see all 29 submissions this month.

For reference, here's the drink this one was based on:

Last Word

• ¾ oz Gin
• ¾ oz Maraschino
• ¾ oz Green Chartreuse
• ¾ oz lime

Shake and strain into cocktail glass

Blanca, new home of Mirarchi's tastings at Roberta's

I'd read about Roberta's Pizza Chef Carlo Mirarchi's elusive tasting menu quite a while back, and I spent too much time dragging my feet and didn't get on the waiting list to partake until last November, and it turns out that was a bit too late, for at that point demand was such that my wait would be longer than 6 months. In any case the wait was well worth it (and should be much less of an issue in a month or so going forward, see below).

Course 20: aged lamb,fresh coriander, mint jelly - oh dear lord the delicious fat!

For a couple weeks ago, I finally received the long awaited email granting me a spot to sample Mirarchi's higher end fare. Being well aware of the awesomeness of the stuff from the menu at Roberta's proper (as well as their specials), I booked at spot for six, choosing from several available nights, which confused me, as I had thought that the limit was four persons and that I would not have the luxury of choosing from several dates. It turns out that the logjam has begun to break ever so slowly over the last month or so due to the opening of a new space called Blanca, named after Mirarchi's mother, dedicated to serving the tasting menu at a chef's counter seating 12, whereas previously they served a maximum of eight diners per week, four on each of two nights. Blanca is open four nights a week (but currently only when the Chef is in town and able to cook), with potential to eventually open five nights a week and do two turns per night. Granted, a max of 120 spots a week hardly qualifies, in NY terms, as eminently accesible, but it's a damn sight easier to get into than at most eight people per week.

Plating the (outrageous) beef carpaccio for course 14

Of course, I had no idea about the new Blanca space until literally the day before when I read Sifton's article breaking the news. (I call it a space, but I'm unclear if it is a part of Roberta's or a separate restaurant, not that the distinction really matters. We entered through the normal Roberta's entrance and snaked our way through the dining rooms, past the bars, through the garden and event space to arrive, but I think there may be a separate street entrance they will eventually use.

the resting Poulet Rouge (Course 21)

(Oh, it just occurred to me that with a little math, knowing the current and previous run rates I can roughly figure how much longer I'd have under the old system. I figure I'd waited more than 6 months, and I'd have another 6 months or so the wait had they not expanded, since it took me ~ a month to get into Blanca (not counting the month of friends and family) and they are doing 6x the diners per week.)

Charring the Pen Clam (Course 11)

Truth be told, I'm of two minds about the new space. I definitely like the interaction with the chefs and getting a front row seat for the action, but with more than 2 or 3 people it can be hard to talk whilst sitting at a counter, and we were 6. And I do quite enjoy the casual conviviality in the main Roberta's dining room where the tasting was formerly served. But beggars can't be choosers, and in any case in the old format they limited the party size to 4 anyway, and I may have never gotten off the wait list without the expansion. When it comes down to it, I think it was just a matter of having to quickly shift my expectations and it will be a non-issue in the future. We swapped around a bit and our party of 6 worked out great.

Course 1: Golden Osetra Caviar, Goat Milk Granita

But enough blathering, onto the food! By my count, we got 27 courses, which roughly speaking ranged from really good to freaking awesome. As Sifton noted, Blanca is right at home in the company of Momofuku Ko or Brooklyn Fare in spirit and quality of food, though obviously one difference is that photography is allowed at Blanca. Take this with a grain of salt, because I've only been to Brooklyn Fare once (when I may have gone a bit overboard on the BYO) and though I've been to Ko many times, it's been quite a while, but I think Brooklyn Fare _might_ have a very slight overall edge on the seafood courses, and Ko _might_ have a bit more flair, if only for its inventive Asian twists, but Blanca at least holds its own on those fronts, but utterly blows away anywhere else on the planet with its meat courses. I know that sounds (and feels as I type it) like absurd hyperbole, but a week later it still feels true to me.

I'll spare you photos of all 27 courses, but if you want to see them they are all on flickr, as well as picasa (also embedded below). Please forgive me if I misdescribe a course or two, I didn't take notes so I'm relying on memory and hints from the web, but it should be mostly right. The first course was Russian Golden Osetra, which I'm actually not sure if I've ever had before, here served with goat milk granita. In case you are wondering it's damn good.

Course 2 was a highlight of the evening: Glass Shrimp, Celery flower and juice, poppy seed. Exquisite balance with the shrimp sweetness, celery's subtle tartness, and textural contrast provided by the poppy. The poppy reminded me of Ko's excellent but richer scallop, buttermilk, sriracha and poppy course. (Interesting, just discovered that Chang got the poppy&seafood idea from the langoustine carpaccio at (soon to close) L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. The glass shrimp bite was every bit as good as Robuchon's carpaccio, which I now recall was my favorite dish there.) Oh, I noticed that the glass shrimp dich (or a similar variation) has been part of the tasting menu for quite a while; it very deservedly continues to remain in his repertoire.  

Course 2: Glass shrimp, poppy, celery flower and juice

Course 4: Soft Shell Crab Claw

Course 4 was a singular expertly tempura'd soft shell crab claw. One wonders what became of all those bodies and legs; family meal treat perhaps?

Course 6: Sweetbread

6th course was an excellent sweetbread, I'm not sure if the preparation is the same as is available a la carte at Roberta's but it was similar. If anything I might prefer the plate at Roberta's,but that's probably only because there are more.

Course 7: Bonito

I have to mention the next course of Bonito, as it was every bit as good as I've had at sushi places both in NY and Tokyo.

Course 8: Sea Perch, Rhubarb

Alas, I must also mention the next course of Grilled Sea Perch with Rhubarb, another course that would find itself at home, if not lording over, an excellent Robata in Japan:

Skipping a bit, course 12 was my beloved Uni:

Course 12: uni, tofu, ash leaf

Mirarchi eased us into the later courses with a mind blowing beef carpaccio. Carpaccio is often a quite pleasant but mild dish, and I don't know what they did to this beef (though I assume aging was involved), but it had the complexity of fine ham. Truly excellent; I yearn for another taste.

Course 14: beef carpaccio, egg yolk, arugula

Next came 3 small pasta courses:

Course 15: wheat pasta, razor clam

Course 16: garganelli w/ ragu

Course 17: nduja raviolo

Followed by a spot prawn with aleppo pepper & tarragon

Course 19: spot prawn, aleppo, tarragon

Course 20 was my absolute favorite of the night, and the aged roasted meat I'd heard so much about and had been waiting for. Chef Mirarchi's aged rack of lamb (pictured at top) was truly a thing a of beauty, I can't do justice with words. I barely have a reference point to start to describe it. Suffice it to say that evan a bite of pure fat was heavenly. Luckily he was judicious with the serving size, for I surely would have eaten any and all that was put in front of me; I would not have been able to stop. And there was more goodness to come.

We were walked back from the brink with an excellent but less lustily rich whole roasted poulet rouge:

Course 21: plated poulet rouge, porcini

Then after a palate breather of Strawberry Buttermilk Gelato, he came at us hard again with the aged beef.

Course 23: aged (wagyu?), hearts of palm, vin cotto

Though surpassed by the lamb in my opinion, the same superlatives apply. Fair warning: you are at risk of ruining yourself for other meats by dining here.
After the last several courses of such power, a cool down was in order. Not a dead stop mind you, but a bridge, yet powerful in its own right, leading to a softer landing. The well conceived choice was a stinky cheese, I believe Époisses, tempered with freshly scraped honeycomb and garnished with radish.

scraping the honeycomb to plate cheese course

Course 24: stinky (Époisses?) cheese, radish, honeycomb

There remained three dessert courses, I'm sorry to say the details of which elude me after the stupor of happiness the aged beef haymaker left me in, with the Époisses jab landing even as I was falling towards the mat for the count. I direct you to the full picture set for the desserts and other courses I left out, thoguh I will mention that memorable elements included in the various desserts were of herbs from Roberta's garden, quinoa, and an hempseed crumble.

l if you'd like to see accounts of similar meals on other days, Eater has one, here is another, and one more.

Blanca Tasting at Roberta's

winding down after service

Location of ibérico secreto cut of Pork

There still seems to be much confusion out there about the exact location of the pork secreto cut. Count me still as one of the confused. I'm still not sure exactly where the cut comes from, I guess I just don't have a good enough working knowledge of porcine anatomy. But in response to some recent interest in the comments of my earlier post about secreto, I decide to do some more sleuthing. I've heard multiple descriptions of the location: hidden beneath belly fat, skirt steak, under the shoulder blade next to the ribs, between the shoulder, ribs and fatback,  and more. I don't know if they are describing the same thing, if some are wrong, or alternatively if there are two different cuts both referred to as the same name, eg sweetbreads can be either thymus or pancreas. My guess is that it's just difficult to describe and most are talking about the same thing. I did find this chart (in flash) which provides another clue, and I believe that since pork belly does wrap up the side of the hog to cover the ribs, that describing it as under the belly and behind the rib might both be correct.

In any case, by pure coincidence of timing, Florence Fabricant just put out a story about where to get your hands on some of this exquisite fresh ibérico, either shipped to your home or dining out in NY, although she calls it skirt steak and not secreto. You can buy it at la tienda, Wagshal's, or NickyUSA. I've got some in my freezer waiting for weekend BBQ weather to grace us.

If you want to dine out chef Chris DeLuna at la fonda del sol is currently offering three different cuts (pdf) of fresh ibérico, including the secreto. I'll probably try to get over there to check them out.

ibérico secreto at Tertulia

Seamus Mullen was also running it frequently as a blackboard special at his restaurant Tertulia, but it was a while back when I was last there.

http://www.embutidosfermin.com/pdfs/despiece.pdf

http://www.embutidosfermin.com/en/despiece.html

Wherein the NYPost pokes fun at me re my Atera post (but gives me a photo credit)

Must be a slow news day. Today the NYPost published a story by Steve Cuozzo (punny title and all) whining about "wishful thinking, deception and outright lies" concerning "food phenomena that, after tons of buzz, failed to show up."

His top example? None other than a photo I included in my blog post describing my excellent meal at Atera, Chef Matt Lightner's new restaurant in Tribeca. Oh, he also felt the need to poke fun at me by referring to me only as "an obscure blogger," even after I graciously gave them permission to use my photo. Of course the online story chose to not link to my original post, yet I afford them the courtesy to link to their story. I wear it as a badge of honor that I was made fun of by the Post. And any press is good press, right?

According to Cuozzo, my photo of the squab dish, after being displayed on Eater.com when they picked up my blog post, was the "item which did more to put Atera on the map than anything." If only I could take credit for doing the most important thing to call attention to Atera, I'd be ecstatic. Hell, even if that statement qualified as a gross exaggeration I'd find it to be pretty cool. (Remember, I'm obscure.) However, I'm quite sure Chef Lightner didn't need my help for his highly anticipated new NY restaurant to be noticed. His food speaks for itself. And after all, I had read about it plenty for months before it opened; that's why I was excited to go try it out soon after opening. [Eater also picked up the Cuozzo piece.]

Cuozzo apparently was upset that while he was also served squab, his was served sans claw. Whereas the squab I got, served weeks earlier (on the second night they were open no less) did have a claw as appendage. They were both aged, his 21 days, I assume mine was the same but I don't recall the specific number. The aged aspect of the fowl was to me the most interesting aspect of the dish, thus it is what I discussed. For the record, the "menacing" and "claw" quotes Cuozzo uses are Eater's words, not mine. I didn't even mention or refer to the claw in any way. In fact, the squab wasn't even among my favorite dishes of the night. I didn't even think it was one of the more interesting pictures from the meal, as evidenced by the fact I selected several others to feature near the top of the post, and the squab picture was the 22nd image to be found in the post, simply falling into the order that the restaurant presented the dishes.

He doesn't seem to care that mine was served with pear skin chips and tarragon, while his was accompanied by pickled wild onion. But the absent foot, oh the travesty! How dare Lightner retool a dish from time to time. It's not like he has claimed that he'd like to change the menu daily depending on what treasures he finds in his foragers' baskets that day. Oh, wait! He has said that, and told me as much when I dined there. One wonders if Cuozzo bothered to even read my post where I wrote:

They both could be legitimate signature dishes, if it is even their intention to have signatures on the menu which should change from week to week as the peak seasons for ingredients ebb and flow.

n.b. that neither of the two dishes I refer to in the above sentence was the squab, about which I made no such claim. I guess he doesn't have to worry about writing a sensical story since I'm so "obscure"; surely no one will notice. Though in his defense, referring to me as an "obscure blogger" is about the only thing he got right in the story. [As an aside: hey Stevie, you really find it necessary to put on your bully hat and call me out because my ad free hobby blog gets 10 hits on a good day? Really? Congratulations, you have more readers than I. Does that make you feel like a big man? I really couldn't care less, but it still strikes me as petty.]

Oh, I guess he also got it correct that my post was gushing, but the reason for that is that I have neither the time nor the inclination to post about any middling meals I have. I post about special meals I want to remember myself, and perhaps share with anyone interested out there.  And I don't even have time to do that for more than a fraction of the special meals. Precisely because I'm hardly a professional reviewer, and because I rarely post about meals, I can cherry pick the most interesting ones and not spend time panning meals I didn't enjoy as much. Moreover, I know the restaurant biz is tough, so I don't want to make it harder by trashing a place based on one visit, especially if it's new, so I stay my pen. But if a place is great, why not share?

Don't go to Atera for the squab. Or the beets. They may or may not be on the menu. Go because the food and overall experience is great. You'll probably get some of the dishes I got, and you'll surely get others I did not. Which is how it should be, it makes for an exciting meal. Next time I go, I hope to get many new tastes, though I won't complain if some of the highlights are revisited. But if any particular dish is no longer offered, it would be no travesty. No one presented the squab dish as a must get signature dish. More importantly, he got the squab! He just didn't get a non edible visual kicker, which, while kinda cool, hardly affects the overall meal. If you go to Minetta Tavern and they don't offer the Black Label Burger, another restaurant I gushed about, now THAT would be worth writing about as a hype that didn't pan out.

So Steve, which sin am I guilty of? Regarding my photo factually reporting one aspect of one dish out of twenty, at a meal served weeks ago, never publicized by the restaurant (they publish only the wine list online), and with my disclaimer that the menu would change often -- was it wishful thinking, a deception, or an outright lie?

Atera - Matt Lightner's season and place cooking

"Razor Clam"

As sad as I was to see Compose close last year, I have to admit much of the sting was taken out of the news when I learned that Matt Lightner was to move from Portland to NYC to open Atera in the same Tribeca space, only a few blocks from our apartment. Lightner's résumé includes a stage at Noma in Denmark and time as a sous chef at Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain, as well as being named one of Food & Wine's 2010 Best New Chefs, plus a couple Beard nominations for Rising Star Chef. But most recently he took Portland by storm as the chef at Castagna, for which he received the award and nominations, and I had read rave reviews from reputable sources about his work there, though I was not able to sample it the one time I was there.

Lightner is billed as a forager, known for using local and seasonal wild plants extensively. Foraging is perhaps the most exciting vanguard of the last few years in the world of cooking, but as I learned at my meal at Atera last week, describing Lightner only as a forager to my mind focuses too narrowly on that (admittedly superlative) aspect of his cooking and overlooks his not unsubstantial other skills. I didn't realize until my dinner, but Lightner is quite skilled in modernist cuisine, but not to the extent that he might eclipse the integrity of the ingredients or let it become a distraction. Here is one claim regarding modernist cuisine that Atera is "easily the best place in the city to experience the genre, and there is a good argument to make that it is only a matter of time until in becomes the best in the country."

But back to the foraging. Lightner enlisted to supply Atera Evan Strusinski, a forager from Maine who has supplied other NYC kitchens such as Gramercy Tavern, Torrisi, Del Posto, and the Momofukus. In addition to Mr. Strusinski, he also works with forager Kate Galassi; check out a short video of her and Chef Lightner discussing his philosophy on a visit to explore the bounty of Well Sweep Farm in New Jersey.

Given that my dinner there was on only the second night of official opening to the public, I would normally be loathe to post a review, but in this particular instance there were so few kinks and the service was so smooth that I hardly think it a disservice to do so.

I've seen the menu billed many places as 10 courses, but we got 13 named courses on the printed menu, not counting the bread, as well as 8 amuses, or "snacks". On top of that we were asked if we wanted to add an additional optional savory course, and we were enjoying everything up to that point so much our yes could not have been decided more quickly. I believe this additional course was the glazed sweetbread with wild onion, as that is the one not printed on the menus we received. As an added pleasant touch, the beverage pairings were also included in the envelope containing the our menus. As a side note, I've seen it reported as 12-seat bar, but I think there were 13. See here or here for better pictures of the of the space and the wall of herbs.

1st Course: "Yogurt" - Beet, Freeze Dried Fruit, Herbs

As the details of some of the dishes are best discovered first hand and not described beforehand by me, I'll keep my comments brief or omit them entirely for many dishes, for instance this one from the fourth course:

4th Course

To begin the meal, my dining companion and I each ordered a cocktail. They have a full bar, but were featuring three cocktails for the night and we chose to sample two of them. I had a variation on a Jack Rose cocktail topped off with an apple cider, and I sampled my friend's blanco tequila cocktail with three grapefruit components: grapefruit oleo saccharum, (clarified?) juice, and (I think) bitters. The glasses got the liquid nitrogen treatment, and both drinks were top notch (the tequila was our favorite).

Contra a report by Grub Street, Eamon Rockey informed me that unfortunately they are not in fact adding a downstairs bar. However they will in the future consider the possibility of other ways to make their excellent cocktails available as the restaurant evolves. This would be a welcome development, judging from the drinks tonight and my fond memories of Compose's cocktail program.

After (actually while still) enjoying our cocktails we left ourselves in the very capable hands of Alex LaPratt and opted for the beverage pairings. The meal started out strong with a series of "snacks" perfectly accompanied with a beer. I very much enjoy the small amuses before a meal, as they are often playful, packed with flavor, and more interesting than larger courses. Of course the extra variety of tastes and textures also endears them to me. The starting bites offered to us at Atera were as good as any I've had.

First up was a crispy sunchoke, where the skin of the sunchoke was rolled and crisped, then stuffed with herbs and a bit of creamy filling. It resembled a cannoli, but bursted with the earthy flavors of a toothsome sunchoke that had been hammered in the oven, brightened by the herbs and the filling, rather than the sunchoke flesh, supplying creaminess. (I don't recall the filling, goat cheese perhaps?)

Crispy Sunchoke

While I had very few expectations coming into my meal, I probably would have guessed, from items such as a Lightner comment I read saying that it would be "an almost herbal-based cuisine", that there would be many more light and subtle flavors driven mainly by greenery at the restaurant. What I quickly discovered however, that there would be just as many deeply concentrated, bold flavors, ranging from earthy root vegetables (sunchokes, beets, sweet potato), to a surprisingly powerful and rich crustacean emulsion or a duck stock reduced all the way down to a chip. This was a pleasant discovery, and we were just starting our journey through a wide range of experiences in tastes and textures this night would provide for us.

But back to the food. This delicious slab of weathered slate was actually a savory granola covered with sesame butter:

Savory Granola and Sesame Butter

Next up were a trio of "malt flatbread", "pickled quail egg", and "foie gras peanuts":

Foie Gras Peanuts

Malt Flatbread

"Quail Egg"

I loved the "razor clam" (pictured above) that followed, razor clam sliced (and another creamy preparation) with ice lettuce on an air baguette, cleverly painted to resemble a razor clam shell. These few bites reminded me somewhat of a lighter, brinier lobster roll, but that description probably doesn't do it justice. Excellent.

Lichen

The last two snacks were a puffy lichen cracker and a duck chip. The duck chip was made by reducing duck stock down until all that remained was a thin crispy sheet, and was garnished with herbs and pickled onions whose acidity cut the richness of the chip.

Duck Chip

The chip left a thin but lip smacking remnant of gelatin reminding us of the intense concentration of flavor the reduction produced.




Only now do we arrive at the 1st course: "Yogurt" with Beet ice, freeze dried fruit, and a plethora of herbs (pictured earlier above). In contrast to both the previous duck chip and an upcoming beet dish, this was a light and elegant course more along the lines of what I imagined when Lightner spoke of herbal-based food. Again, this is not a complaint, the wide range of the meal was a virtue I truly enjoyed. The pairing of beet and yogurt is not a novel one, but this preparation certainly was. The flavors were familiar, but the textures were a new twist, and it just all came together with perfect balance. What a way to start the main event. The paired beverage was also spot on with perhaps the most interesting sake I've tried. It was a light straw colored and came across with fresh wine notes in addition to more typical sake flavors.

Sorrel juice, honey

The 1st course seemed hard to follow, but the 2nd did not disappoint. They both could be legitimate signature dishes, if it is even their intention to have signatures on the menu which should change from week to week as the peak seasons for ingredients ebb and flow. These scallops were cured in the gin mash leftover from distilling a local gin, slightly aromatizing them with the spirits botanicals. Atop the scallops were alternating shards of citrus ice and thin meringue. (I believe the ice contained Yuzu and Meyer Lemon, and perhaps grapefruit.) One of my favorite aspects about this dish was that each bite was different depending upon which of the three components hit your tongue and which hit the roof of your mouth; some bites had relatively more subtle gin botanicals, some more citrus-y. The beverage pairing for this course was non-alcoholic, but that didn't stop it from being one of the most excellent (of many) pairings. The drink was fresh Sorrel juice slightly sweetened with wildflower honey.

2nd Course: "Diver Scallops" - Citrus Ice, Gin Botanicals

The 3rd course was a delicate fluke tartare topped with barbecued onion and a veritable garden of herbs and flowers. The onion was deeply caramelized (as you can gather from the picture) and I think stabilized with some neutral gelling agent (tapioca starch was our guess). Among the flavors the herbs and flowers provided were anise and pepper. The dish hit many of the same notes that eel sushi might express.

3rd Course: "Fluke" - BBQ'd Onion, herbs

4th Course being sauced

This dish, as presented (pictured earlier above) and sauced table side as shown to the right, I won't say much about, as they deliberately chose to not describe it in order to allow the diner to guess it's components. I got one, but couldn't place the other main component. The sauce is another example of the powerfully concentrated flavors which I was surprised, very happily, to discover in many of Lightner's dishes. Suffice it to say that this dish is a triumph. (Note the dish is revealed on the menu I included at the end of the post, if you want to remain surprised don't look too closely.)

5th Course: "Sweet Potato" - Brown Butter solids

As I mentioned, this beet dish for the 6th course contrasted with the delicate flavor of the beet and yogurt from the first course. The beet was roasted for something like 18 hours, yielding intense beet flavor yet leaving surprising (to me) moistness and firm yet fork tender texture.  The crustacean emulsion on the side was yet another example of a flavor bomb; had this been in a bowl it would have been a mind (and perhaps palate) blowing soup. The surf and turf flavor combination of intense beet and intense seafood was so surprising to me I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

6th Course: "Beet Ember" - trout roe, black bread, crustacean emulsion

Salted Rye

The bread here was a hearty rye with salted crust, accompanied by butter layered with fresh herbs. Later we were offered more bread, or the option of trying one of two other breads. We went with the pork roll, a small bun I presume made with lard.

7th Course: "Skate" - beef tendon,hearty greens, chicken bouillon

We opted to add this additional savory course of glazed sweetbread with wild onion. The flavors here were great, as was the lusciously creamy organ; were I to nitpick I might have preferred an additional texture to contrast the the soft sweetbread, but still a very nice dish.

8th (supplemental) Course: Sweetbread, wild onion

9th Course: "Squab" - pear skin chips, tarragon

The 9th course was squab, aged in house for quite a number of days (though I don't recall the precise number). It was beautifully cooked, and the aging lent a marked gaminess to the meat. So much so, in fact, that it was hard for me to relate to. It was unfamilier, pulling even an adventurous eater as myself out of my comfort zone. I did like it, but I had hoped to LOVE it. I'd been wanting to try such exotic fare since reading about similar dishes at Saison in San Fran. (I'm still trying to finagle a Roberta's tasting menu where they have served aged fowl. I've had their aged steak and it is a thing of beauty.) I fully believe my inability to fully appreciate this dish is a personal shortcoming, and the fault lies entirely on me. Now that I've had it and have a frame of reference, I do expect and look forward to loving it next time I have the pleasure to try some.

10th Course: "Lamb Collar" - root beer foam, hickory nuts

I'll leave you to discover "Rock", but it was a pleasant palate cleanser that stuck me as having a somewhat Japanese aesthetic.

11th Course: "Rock"

The "Charcoal" dessert, which arrived in one frozen chuck before being smashed to rubble in front of you, was a frozen cocoa preparation (I want to say meringue again but I don't remember) with a side of smooth as butter (goat's milk's?) ice cream. A grown up Oreo with two fantastic textures.

12th Course: "Charcoal"

Another play on a childhood treat was the "Parsley Root Split" with bananna ice cream, marshmallows, and meringue.

13th Course: Parsley Root Split

Lastly, "Oak" was a light finish; the most memorable part for me was the pure and refreshing "wintergreen snow".

14th Course: "Oak" - wintergreen snow, brown butter cake

Among the petite fours to end the night was this beautiful walnut truffle, with with was poured a dram of Nocino.

Walnut Truffle

Interior of Walnut Truffle

For the curious, here is our menu for the night, including the beverage pairings. Warning, there is at least one dish that you might not want revealed before dining, so click with caution.

Menu and Beverage Pairings

I very much look forward to returning to Atera to see how the menu has evolved for another season. Chef Lightner spoke of yet more delights to come with summer's umami laden bounty and winter's roots. Plus I can only imagine that with time he will become even more familiar with locally foraged items and discover new treasures to shower upon his diners.