Anniversary Dinner at Craigie on Main

Dining Date: July 25, 2010
Occassion: 1st Wedding Anniversary

Sunday night Chef’s Whim tasting menu at Craigie on Main makes a gorgeous meal. I had planned a trip with some girlfriends for that weekend forgetting that the trip would coincide with my first wedding anniversary. (Oops.) Thankfully my super understanding husband kept himself entertained and geniusly arranged for our celebratory dinner to take place at Craigie, straight from picking me up at the airport on Sunday night.

This was the third time in 6 months dining at Craigie for us and the experience just gets better and better. First time we sat at the bar and gobbled up what has to be the best burger in Boston alongside some very satisfying charcuterie (We LOVE charcuterie!) plus imaginative cocktails. Second visit with parents included foie gras and the incredible roasted half Pig’s Head. We got a little greedy in our ordering and ended up with a meal of heavenly fat on top of fat, coated in more fat. It is possible to be a little bit fat-out but it was sooo worth it.

My aging point-and-shoot camera does not do justice to the glorious food and therefore I will only share one photo — my favorite dish of the night.

Hamachi (yellow tail) happens to my all-time favorite sashimi fish. Paired up with creamy avocado? That’s crazy and delicious. Drizzled in an oil infusion that sneaks in a little heat and topped with — wait for it — wait for it — micro shiso leaves!!! I was so blown away by the subtle homage to classical sushi profile that I had our waiter confirm with the chef that it was, in fact, shiso leaves on top. This was an absolutely beautiful, delectable, and inspired dish. I can still taste the flavors and emotions in my head. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Craigie on Main is the embodiment of understated mastery. Underneath the comfortable setting, whimsical decor, and friendly service is pure badass. Since starting culinary school, I’ve become more and more in-tuned with flavor combinations and technique and Craigie’s got it all. It’s so awesome and yet so humble that diners at all levels can find satisfaction and surprises during each visit. I am channeling all my energy to praying for an opportunity to train under Chef Tony Maws.

If a connection to the food doesn’t sufficiently convey interest, read the following excerpt from their job description and you will appreciate just how deeply attracted I am to this establishment. I am a total sucker for hardasses.

The chef is committed to your training and advancement – which means you will have a chance to do everything and have a great learning experience. New cooks call their experience a “boot camp” and senior cooks call it a PhD program.

A Delicious Recount – Dinner at Momofuku Ko

Finally took the hubby to Momofuku Ko for dinner! Last year my dear foodie friend Lily took me there for lunch. It turned out to be the best meal of my life, trumping even the turbo-charged romantic dinner post-engagement at the 5th Floor in San Francisco in the Fall of 2007. I haven’t stopped talking about how good Ko is for a whole year and finally I was able to snag a dinner reservation and quickly put together a NYC trip with the hubby. Forget 4th of July fireworks. An incredible meal at this 12-seat restaurant marks a more significant moment in my personal history than that of our great nation. Sorry, America, celebrations for you will just have to be a footnote this year.

I was determined to remember every morsel of this meal. Dinner has fewer courses than lunch and I have a little bit more vocabulary this year, so I thought I would be able to pull it off. But with wine pairing, recounting a 12-course meal (with no printed menus) inevitably became a more challenging endeavour. But excuses aside, here’s the best we could do.

1. Amuse Bouche Trio
Cucumber square slice with a dot of black garlic and dried turnip powder
Saute julienne summer squash on carrot purée and summer squash (green) purée, topped with sauteed chanterelle mushroom
Black pepper biscuit with mirin glaze, chicharron with Japanese specialty salt

2. Cold Fish Course
Long Island fluke sashimi on a salmon-colored mayonnaise, poppy seed sprinkles, and chives segments and chives blossom

3. Cold Meat Course
Beef carpaccio, freshly grated horse radish, horse radish aioli, microgreens, cheese crisps

4. Soup Course
Ham consommé poured over a quenelle of fresh English peas, faux peas of melon balls (green and orange) arranged in one pea pod half shell, Maine uni and raw peashoot leaves

5. Warm Fish Course
Grilled trout on Benton bacon purée, grilled asparagus slices, asparagus dice

6. Egg Course
Slow poached egg, onion soubise, fingerling potato chips, caviar, chervil

7. Pasta Course
Handmade orrechiette pasta in tomato sauce with chicken sausage, crawfish, buffalo ricotta salata cheese, and green herbs garnish (chervil, chives, shiso leaves)

8. Foie Gras Course
Shaved foie gras, lychee quarters, Riesling gelee, pine nut brittle

9. Meat Entree
Lamb ribs (butterflied, sous vided 24-hrs, meat glued back together, marinated in 6-spice dry rub), seared then slow roasted (2 hrs), pickled kohlrabi layered cake with cucumber thin slices and Thai basil, roasted leeks stuffed with yellow chives, some pork product, and Greek yogurt

10. Dessert Course 1
Apricot sorbet (single-spoon quenlle!), pie crust crumble, and bourbon syrup

11. Dessert Course 2
Root beer sorbet (large single-spoon quenelle), pretzel panna cotta half-dusted in pretzel crumbs, yellow mustard jelly squares

12. Dessert Course 3
Half dome of butter milk jelly with mint and basil filling

Each course was paired with a different alcoholic beverage, including chamgpane, 2 different beers, 2 roses (1 bubbly), sake, bourbon cocktail, red and white wines, and at least one dessert wine. I loved the theatrically of bar seating and the very friendly and attentive interaction with the chefs. I was eager to learn about each ingredient and sometime mutter questions under my breath. They were fantastically generous in knowledge sharing. At one point, as I wondered out loud what the Benton in Benton bacon puree was, the chef closest to us quickly but gently let me know that Benton was the name of the bacon guy. Hehee, not every single word uttered was an edible element after all. This amazing range of influences and techniques is the level I want to be at. There were 3 chefs working the 12-seat arena and one CIA extern timidly taking it all in. 2 front of the house hosts/servers and 1 behind-the-scene kitchen guy (unobtrusively restocking the chef’s arsenal). What a wonderful meal. Keep up the good work, Team David Chang!

ps. the slow poached egg, and shaved foie gra dishes were probably signatures of Ko. With 4 seasonal changes each year, at least one of these  will likely appear on the menu during your particular visit. My lunch last year included the exact same foie gras dish. It is a dish one looks forward to. Other key players such as fluke and uni are also regularly featured, although with very different preparations each time. And of course the omnipresent pork in the least suspecting corner.