We start off with Cecile's sexy salad. It celebrates the emergence of spring, a meet and greet of ingredients local to our coast:
a taste of spring | compressed kumquats, tendrils, & flowers from our garden - edible soil - stinging nettle puree
OTHER COMPONENTS
- coke farms artichoke
- delta asparagus
- wild nettles & fiddleheads from oregon
- pineapple mint oil from our garden
The amuse was a continuation of our inspired trip to New York. It's a straight rip-off of Daniel Humm's celery root at Eleven Madison Park. I'm not really sure how they achieved that perfect sphere, but here's our version, in cube form.
celery root | celery root puree - black truffle puree - truffle demi
Following was pork belly that has been cured, smoked, then sous-vide at 140 F for 36 hours. We then dusted it with turbinado sugar and torched it to form a crust similar to a creme brulee. I found that spraying the sugar with water just prior to torching yields the most even crust.
The rice pudding was cooked like a risotto with wine and onions, only milk and sugar replaced the traditional stock. We used Carolina gold rice which has a nice bite and cooks almost like grits.
The passion fruit is from the garden of a family friend.
pork belly brulee | passion fruit - flowers from the garden - carolina gold rice pudding
True Grass Farms is located in Valley Ford, California that specializes in raising Waygu on pasture. Guido Frosini, the farm's steward, gave us a tour and tasting of the farm when we visited this past summer. We were so impressed with the quality of meat that we decided to purchase a whole cow and hog.
They have a great quote that embodies their philosophy, which we proudly share:
“ The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. ”
— Masanobu Fukuoka, 'The One Straw Revolution'
Here's a dish made from the ribeye cut of the beef. It's not as marbled as Wagyu fed on a corn diet, but it's extremely tender and beefy; a thick rib cut jiggled like jell-o after being sous-vide at 120 F--just warm. We then proceeded to sear it in duck fat and butter. It was a bad day to be a vegetarian...
We also received these awesome wild onion flowers, which I've never seen before, but taste amazing, like a Chinese chive, but more subtle. These were brought to us by our forager, Todd, from King of Mushrooms.
true grass farms waygu | pan-fried onion - leeks, arugula leaves, & flowers from our garden - duck jus
OTHER COMPONENTS
- charred pearl onions
- wild onion flowers
- filipino sea salt
- pineapple mint oil from our garden
- duck fat potato
Chef came up with a quick intermezzo just moments before service when we realized we didn't have one:
yuzu margherita | with prickly pear sphere