Since I live for food and wine and spend a substantial
amount of my free time tinkering about the kitchen either creating new recipes
or tweaking old recipes, I occasionally will ponder my career choices and what
would have been if I selected the culinary arts instead of the health sciences.
Mind you, I fully realize that for every Thomas Keller, Alice Waters and Michael
Chiarello, there are hordes of culinary school graduates still workin' that
line never making it to Celebrity Chef or even Executive Chef. Add those
extremely long hours gettin' up at the crack of dawn to procure the freshest
seafood and bread then headin' off to the green grocers for the freshest
produce then spending hours prepping for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner service
only to spend another hour or two after meal service cleaning the kitchen...
WHEW! I KNOW it's hard work! But that doesn't stop me from occasionally
wonderin'...
Well, several months ago mon ami Monsieur K also pondered a venture into the culinary arts
(he's a contractor by trade) and what started as a semi-joke eventually
materialized into a full blown Pop-Up dinner. I refer to him as Monsieur K as
we often will converse with one another in our pseudo Francais accents (our
spouses and friends probably think we're simply imitating Maurice Chevalier and
would refer to it as BAD pseudo Francais accents). However, since Pop-Up
dinners are still the rage in the 50th, we figured "why not us"?
The Planning Stage
First and most importantly, where are we having this
dinner? The Tatsumoto abode cannot accommodate 30 or so diners. Ditto for the
K's unless diners will be seated on the floor. What about Hank's Haute Dogs?
The Pig and the Lady held their Pop-Up dinners there. Of course about half the
seating was at counter tables and the Le's bring all of their own plates and
silverware. Neither the K's or the Tatsumoto's planned on purchasing 30 sets of
dishes. Okay, how about Eat Cafe? They can seat up to 40 and will also provide
plates, silverware and wine glasses. Sounds like a plan beginning to gel.
The Menu
For some reason, we independently and immediately decided
on a 5 course meal. It might have been due to the fact that The Pig and the
Lady always did 5 course meals or that 5 course meals seem to be the standard
prix fixe menu in established restaurants and while 3 courses seemed too
little, 7 courses seemed overwhelming. Five courses was like that Baby Bear
compromise, "juuust right".
But now, what to serve? Monsieur K knew that he wanted to
do a cold soup as a starter and selected a chilled carrot soup served in either
coffee cups or demitasse. He also knew that he wanted to serve a tartare dish
and since Whole Foods occasionally had fresh bison in their meat department, he
pre-arranged purchasing fresh bison top round, sirloin and tenderloin for his
bison tartare. Finally he decided to end the meal with panna cotta and not just
any panna cotta but the buttermilk panna cotta from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc
restaurant in Yountville.
Big question, what am I serving? I initially thought of
some variation of Bacon and Eggs since every restaurant has a version of pork
and eggs like Bottega's soft boiled egg rolled in panko and deep fried served with house cured pork belly confit. I
envisioned the Gochiso Gourmet's Bacon and Eggs with slow braised shoyu pork belly (ala rafute or slow braised Okinawan shoyu pork belly) wrapped in a cilantro bao served with soft cooked quails egg with
green onion and ginger pesto steamed in a shumai
wrapper. Then reality hit. The first trial of my steamed cilantro bao was less than fluffy and the
steaming process left it an olive green hue even with the addition of Vitamin C
powder to inhibit color oxidation. And when I actually thought of the logistics
of soft boiling 30 plus (you have to account for breakage) quail eggs, it left
little to be desired. Plan B. A deconstructed BLT with slow braised pork belly
(again, ala rafute) but seasoned with
bourbon, maple syrup and smoked ham hocks (the "B") with salad greens
(the "L") and heirloom tomatoes (the "T") served with a
sun-dried tomato bread and 2 types of dressing - a bacon tomato mayonnaise and
a Green Goddess dressing. Sounds more like a do-able plan to me!
But what about my other course? A no brainer! I've always
wanted to make the Gochiso Gourmet's rendition of that local classic; the Loco
Moco. Traditionally, it's a hamburger patty served on white rice smothered with
brown gravy and topped with a sunny-side egg. My version started with a base of
mushroom risotto... WHAT?! Isn't risotto one of those difficult to time
starches that a lot of restaurants actually avoid since cooked rice takes at
least 20 minutes (and most diners aren't willing to wait 20 minutes between
courses). Well, I'm an amateur and that's why I'm "all in" even if I
only have a pair of deuces in my hand! In place of the hamburger patty I substitute
braised short rib and instead of brown gravy, I braise the short rib in
"gravy" of a different kind, sauce Perigueux with Madeira, beef stock
and truffles! And in place of a sunny-side egg, I add a slow scrambled egg (ala
Daniel Boulud) with loads of French butter and green onions.
T-Minus 2 Weeks
Two weeks before the Big Event, we had a trial run at the
K's that actually provided valuable information tweaking the menu. For
starters, we realized that the serving sizes were super sized (not that we
reduced them to proper portions at the Big Event). We also were able to suggest
wine pairings with each course as we uncorked at least a dozen bottles (okay,
we didn't finish every bottle) and since we plated each dish as it would be
served, we had an idea of the logistics involved for plating 30 dishes. I also
had an idea of how long my risotto could "rest" before it started
getting "gummy".
Ni French Brothers
Popup Dinner Menu
First Course: Carrot Soup
Second Course: Bison Tartare
Third Course: Deconstructed BLT
Fourth Course: Nocoeaux Mocoeaux (aka Loco Moco
Palaka-style)
Dessert Course: Buttermilk Panna Cotta
Invitees were also given potential wine pairings (it was
a BYOB dinner) and also informed that there was a $50 charge (we debated
whether to even charge a fee for the food portion but decided that if diners
actually paid for dinner, they would be truthful in their evaluation/criticism
of the meal). We did invite two local food writers (and their spouses) but
sadly, both couldn't make it that evening. However, Hank Adaniya of Hank's
Haute Dogs (and formerly of Trio in Chicago) did attend and provided valuable
feedback.
Monsieur K did serve an amuse bouche to start the meal
consisting of an corn custard served in the egg shell topped with duck fat sautéed
corn and red wine vinegar that was actually served in the egg cartons
themselves. And I ended the meal serving chilled Tsukasabotan Yamayuzu sake to
all of the diners since I enjoyed the pairing during our preliminary trial
dinner.
Final Thoughts
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