Last Night's Chef's Table...

Last night's chef's table was a bit different than others. It is supposed to be. But to be honest, there are stretches in time that we are onto a great technique or ingredient or style that we want to explore more than just one dish on one night and cast it aside. How can one learn from that? We always try quite hard to not replicate a menu fro the chef's table. In my 8 years of hosting chef's tables at the club, we have not repeated a chef's table in it's entirety at all. Sure, we have done dishes as part of a whole, or flavor profiles as the night before, but not as a sum of it's parts. Even from night to night, the moods change, the guests are different, the season changing, the emotional level altered from personal influences, stress at home, angst from the world, challenges with the business or just simply down or high on whatever it is that is on our minds at that moment. All of this has a long-lasting effect on the food. Last night though, we had some special guests in that had been at the table many times and in the dining room as well. I wanted to go about it differently. A new approach with the same level of quality and emphasis of style and sophistication, although one can not tell by the just menu verbage alone. No worries. And although I left my camera at home (a common thing these days) there were some very cool flavors and presentations. Here are a few nuances of the dishes...

black bass tartare, cucumber-mango composure, golden caviar, tangerine oil
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scrambled eggs, lobster, truffles, lobster roe, truffle oil
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honey bunches of oats-cacao nib-hazelnut crusted foie gras, kumquats, cherries, pickled cherry caramel
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seared diver scallop & sweetbread salad, poached duck egg drops, frisee, truffles
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pan roasted arctic char, salsify, butternut squash, duck confit-pear-lentil "crisp roll", grated marcona almonds, aioli emulsion
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quince slushy, pummelo filaments, heather honey-fennel pollen-yopol frozen "lozenge"
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spice crusted moularde duck "ravioli", parsnip puree, yellowfoot chanterelles, beet cooked endive, caramelized garlic and huckleberry essence
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cardamom creme brulee, pistachio ladyfingers, valrhona manjari, caramel sauce, creme fraiche ice cream, fruits of the moment
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hazelnut-chocolate macaroons, strawberry pates de fruits, salted caramels