On the last day of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival when the Grand Finale, $1000 per head dinner is held at the Halekulani, we opted for something "off the menu" so to speak. Chef Ed Kenney of Mud Hen Water arranged a collaborative dinner with the High Priest of Offal, Chef Chris Cosentino of Cockscomb and Boccalone in San Francisco since Chef Cosentino participated in a couple of Food and Wine Festival events. And the collaborative dinner featured those less desired cuts to most dinner but ADORED by our informal wine group.
As usual, we arrived a little early so we sampled a couple of cocktails, the Sandinista with Zacapa 23 year old rum, tangerine vodka and cardamaro for me...
And the Chopin's Last Word with Tres Agave reposado tequila, Chareau aloe liqueur, pandan syrup and Meyer lemon for the Mrs...
Since we were celebrating our 23rd anniversary, I carted a bottle of Egly Ouriet Blanc de Noir NV champagne.
The menu and beverage pairings for the evening looked like this...
Crispy Tripe with creme fraiche and caviar
Oxtail on toast with ginger and scallion
Chiccharones
House made compote
Vishnu's Vice with gin, olelo honey, lime, orange blossom water, peppercorn and turmeric
The crispy tripe was a first, I've had long simmered tripe on multiple occasions but never deep fried and the caviar gave it a nice salty hit. Long braised oxtail is always good and it's not really considered "offal" in the 50th as oxtail soup is a local fave. The chiccharones were the best I've sampled as they were very crisp without a hint of greasiness. The trio of appetizers were a GREAT start to the meal!
"Surf and Turf"
beef heart and oyster tartare with shaved foie gras and oyster crackers
Maison Fortant Rose Brut
Again, I've sampled beef heart before, usually grilled but having it diced raw was a totally new preparation and I enjoyed it even more so with this preparation!
Grilled Beef Tongue Ho'io Salad
ume-shiso vinaigrette and tendon
Delirium Tremens Belgian strong ale
Grilled beef tongue is always good (I always order it at yakiniku restaurants) but the epiphany here was the tendons. I thought the ho'io (fiddlehead fern shoots) salad was graced with cooked onions but they were the silky beef tendons!
Spaghettini with Cured Tuna Heart
egg yolk and Aleppo chile
Tenuta Sant'Antonio Scaia Corvina 2015
This dish goes back to the days of Incanto - because it was my brother's favorite pasta dish and because I never sampled it at Incanto, I eagerly anticipated this dish. And you know what? Expectations were met and exceeded! Umami from the tuna heart mixed with the rich egg yolk with just enough chile to warm the back of the throat. HOME RUN!
Pork Belly, Blood Sausage and Stuffed Trotter
daikon, sprouted lentil and salsa verde
Elena Walch Lagrein 2015
Now this is a main course! Blood sausage with just a hint of five spice(?), rich belly and trotters with their different textures! Another HOME RUN!
Fresh Bay Laurel Pannacotta
lilikoi and grappa
A nice palate cleanser with bracing acidity of passion fruit...
Cardamaro and Lard Cookie
A little sweet, a little savory and a little bitter.. Also a little bitter as this signaled the end of the meal...
We do know that we have to make a visit to the Bay Area to secure a seat at Chef Cosentino's Cockscomb... he did tell us to give him a call several days in advance as he still creates the Leg of Beast beef shank meal popularized at Incanto though it does take 3 days to create so you can't simply walk in to Cockscomb and order it... And BTW, the cost of the dinner also a signed copy of Chef' Cosentino's Offal Good cookbook...
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