xraytheenforcer: (soylent green)
[personal profile] xraytheenforcer
So here's what we ate last night, with a rating for each course.

Sepia (cuttlefish), cauliflower puree, woodear mushrooms, orange soil
(medicore; orange soil and kumquat chip were good)

Pizza pebbles, pepperoni, shiitake, cheese puree
(beyond gross. Dry, dry, dry pebbles of pizza "powder" plus what tasted like slim jims)

Foie gras ribbon, kimchee puree, golden raisin puree, cilantro stems
(Meh. kimchee puree tasted like sriracha, which is not bad, but that ain't kimchee, and it overpowered the inexplicably bland foie gras)

Hamachi tartare, sea beans, sake lees tahini, grapefruit-shallot jam
(middling. good fish, but the other elements were hit/miss and didn't pair well. Also, served in bowl and thus a pain in the ass to eat)

Pickled beef tongue, fried mayo, tomato molasses, dried onion
(Decent. Fried mayo is great. Dried onion is not.)

French onion soup (deconstructed)
(Terrible. Broth tasted like the chef spent a lot of time extracting the beef flavor from bones, etc...and then left all the flavor in the kitchen instead of putting it into the food. Broth was basically colored water. Chef also managed to suck all the flavor out of Gruyere cheese when he turned it into little perfect floaty spheres -- which happily looked just like eyeballs -- in the soup. How the fuck does one ruin cheese? Dish was undersalted -- in fact, I don't think it had any salt in it. Dufresne would have been better served if his deconstructed soup (with eyeballs) had come with a little mound of salt next to the onion puree. At least that would show a sense of humor about the whole exercise, since it clearly wasn't about taste.)

Surf clam, watermelon, pickled watermelon rind, garlic chive fermented black bean
(Very good. Well balanced, and the clams had good flavor.)

Lamb bacon, black chickpeas, black chickpea "hummus", cherried cucumber
(Hit/Miss. Lamb Bacon = totally awesome. Black chickpea hummus = tasteless poo)

Plum sorbet, plum leaf, feta, marjoram, red wine vinegar jelly
(Very good. Loved the feta and plum leaf)

Fried butterscotch pudding, shaved mango, dried slivers of taro, taro ice cream, smoked macadamia nuts
(Decent. I liked the taro ice cream; others did not. Fried pudding is also a winner.)

Soft chocolate ribbon, sweet avocado puree, licorice syrup, mint jelly, lime ice cream, lime bark
(Very Good. Loved the pairing of the flavors -- very surprising that it all came together.)

Passionfruit and brown butter marshmallow and peanut butter&jelly balls
(Hit/Miss. Marshmallow = Good. PB&J Balls = Peanut butter was too dry; ruined the whole enterprise)

Date: 2007-09-19 05:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] d-arte.livejournal.com
Thanks, I was quite curious. This was at wd-50, I take it?

Date: 2007-09-19 05:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
de nada. and yes, it was wd-50.

Date: 2007-09-19 06:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blanchemains.livejournal.com
Okay, so I'm not an adventurous eater in even the best of times. And I have to say, that menu sounds appalling.

I guess my palate is unrefined?

Date: 2007-09-19 09:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
we'll just say it's "focused"

Date: 2007-09-20 04:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blanchemains.livejournal.com
Indeed.

I'm not a complicated food kind of person, I guess.

Date: 2007-09-19 06:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sermelt.livejournal.com
I just don't get how one fucks up hummous - black chick pea or not .

Apply above comment also to onion soup .

Some of the other dishes sound interresting - plum sorbet , feta mmmm

Date: 2007-09-19 06:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catrionamacnair.livejournal.com
Entirely agreed - I thought hummous was one of the never-fail dishes; and even I can make onion soup (although I usually don't, but that's not the point).

And I'd definitively try to make the plum sorbet with feta if I knew what plum leaf was, exactly. Also, yay for alcoholic jelly. Must make that in abundance again once my parties stop being attended by a pregnant majority :)

The entire menue sounds like a certain case of 'excuse me, but do you mind if we go grab some hideous fast-food on the way home, I need to reboot my tongue'

Date: 2007-09-19 09:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
plum leaf is just plum puree that's been treated with something and then dehydrated into a cracker.

Date: 2007-09-20 04:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] blanchemains.livejournal.com
That sounds like the fruit roll ups my daughter gets in her lunch box. You know- when she doesn't finish it all and the leftover bits get dried up and hard?

Date: 2007-09-19 06:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] regina-of-york.livejournal.com
You lost me at deconstructed soup with eyeballs.*


*Although, cheese eyeballs could be useful for a Halloween themed menu, if one left the tasty goodness of the Gruyere cheese alone. I have a friend who would love this idea for her annual bash, lol.

Date: 2007-09-19 09:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
yeah, it was only after I imagined them as eyeballs that I enjoyed that dish even a little bit.

Date: 2007-09-19 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] yagathai.livejournal.com
What bothers me most about a lot of this molecular gastronomy stuff is that it requires you to be good at food in order to appreciate it. I'm not saying that they do that at, say, El Bulli, but certainly the menu above is only going to appeal to people that already have substantial gourmet experience. Personally, I think that good food should be accessible above all things.

Date: 2007-09-19 08:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
this is one of my main complaints as well -- and I say that as someone who pretty much would fall into the "substantial gourmet experience" crowd. I think it's entirely possible to expand the horizons and still cleave to the basic tenet: it's gotta taste good.

(one example of this was a seared foie gras I had in Montreal. I mean, how many times have I eaten seared foie gras in my life, and yet that one time just blew the fucking roof off. It was prepared simply -- searing, beurre monte, sea salt. But it was paired with a vanilla infusion and a very dark gingerbread. Holy shit, it was revelation.)

Date: 2007-09-19 07:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bassmike.livejournal.com
You had me at Fried Butterscotch Pudding.

Date: 2007-09-20 02:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misunderstruck.livejournal.com
Indeed. I think it was my favorite thing of the whole meal. And I usually am not a huge fan of butterscotch.

Date: 2007-09-19 08:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] terraprime.livejournal.com
Molecular gastronomy strikes me as something for people bored with regular cuisine to find some challenges. But to each his/her own.

I'm looking at the menu and going "another puree"? I'll never dissociate puree food with hospital chow.

Date: 2007-09-19 09:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
admittedly, I probably overused the word "puree" -- I am sure they have better names for it, like "foam" or "veloute."

Date: 2007-09-20 01:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fenryng.livejournal.com
Heh. You can tell the extent of my diet by the fact that I have never even heard of molecular gastronomy.

Some of what you listed sounds good, in theory. Others, bleah. Even when I know what you are talking about, it still sounds bleah.

Mostly confused about the things that, in theory, you would have to work to screw up. Like, pb&j. How hard is that?

Of course, you were asking the same question about cheese, so it only goes to show.

I am starting to get the impression that many more things can be fried, and usually taste better when they are.

Usually, I said.

Date: 2007-09-20 12:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
I usually don't like fried foods, but I can make an exception for some things. Like chicken. And pudding.

Date: 2007-09-20 01:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] guppyur.livejournal.com
Okay, I'm sorry, but this entry combined with Current mood: hungry made me laugh. A lot.

Date: 2007-09-20 02:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misunderstruck.livejournal.com
I missed that, but I'm laughing now.

Date: 2007-09-20 12:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
hahaha I noticed that later. It was right before lunch when I posted the entry, and I was starving!! Righteous indignation is hungry work.

Date: 2007-09-20 12:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] meh-of-munich.livejournal.com
molecular gastronomy: just say no.

Date: 2007-09-20 01:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com
"I'd rather stuff an onion."

hah.
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