The Last Vegetable Dish

I was reading an article on Roger Ebert’s struggle with cancer of the jaw. After being diagnosed with the disease a few years ago his course of treatment led to the eventual removal of his lower jaw bone. Ebert has not been able to speak, drink, or eat solid food since operation.

I can’t imagine how lonely it must feel to not be able share dinner with family and friends, let alone not be able to speak. For me dinner is a major highlight of my day. While I enjoy great food, I find that even good or mediocre food is made so much better with great conversation and laughter. Hell, if you give me good enough drink I’ll spend the night laughing with friends and making fun of bad food. While I think one can be good independent of the other, when you get both it can be so much fun.

In the article they ask Mr. Ebert what his last meal was; after thinking for a little while he said he really didn’t remember. I can imagine the amount of pain in his jaw limited him considerably in what he could eat. As a food fanatic I think I can safely say that if it were me I would be (to use a Jersey Shore reference), creepin’ on the most memorable dish I was able to comfortably consume.

I can say that any last meal for me would have to include the Pea Soup with Parmesan Foam from Jean Georges. My memory of the whole thing is pretty vivid even to this day. (I won’t bore you with the details but if you really want to read about the best lunch in New York City read here.) When you taste a dish like this, it’s a sensory experience that seems to indelibly burn itself on your memory forever.

Chef's Garden Carrots

The folks at The Culinary Vegetable Institute have generously offered two seats at this Saturday’s February Earth to Table Dinner with Beej Flamholz and Erica Wides, valued at $55 a person. If you haven’t been to the CVI you’re in for a real treat (see here). What do you have to do to win these prized seats? In the comment section I want you to tell me what your favorite vegetable dish from a restaurant is. Unless your grandmother or mother owns a restaurant, I don’t want to here about it. Hopefully the restaurant is still open so we can all sample it for ourselves, but if it’s not that’s okay, too. The winner will be picked randomly on Wednesday night (giving you enough time to line up a babysitter). Good Luck!

Make sure you check out next month's Mangalitsa Pork dinner. Half of the tables are already sold for what will surely be a steel cage match between a very rare breed of pig and equally high end Chef's Garden vegetable.

CVI Earth to Table Dinner with Craig Deihl

A few weeks ago I received an invitation from the folks at Culinary Vegetable Institute to attend their January “Earth to Table” dinner featuring Chef Craig Deihl (as in “The Real Deihl” of Cypress Lowcountry Grille, in Charleston, SC. If you read this blog with any regularity then you’re probably well aware of my affection for southern food.

Since I was allowed to bring a guest, and my wife was unavailable, I brought Stuart Spivack along (both dinners were graciously provided by CVI). From the east side of Cleveland, it takes about an hour or so to make it out to the compound.

The Culinary Vegetable Institute is an impressive place in its own right. The 11,000 sq ft facility houses an incredible two story kitchen (it even has an Anti-Griddle), a dining room with 22’ ceilings and a lodge-like atmosphere (seats 90), accommodations for visiting chefs and their teams, a culinary library, a root cellar, and a wine cellar. Just outside the impressive structure are experimental vegetable, forest, and herb gardens. (I’m not sure what a forest garden is, but I’ll make sure I ask the next time I’m there.) In all honesty, this is probably the most impressive thing I’ve seen since I was at Stonebarns, in Pocantico Hills, NY. (If you’re ever in the NYC area anytime other than winter, it’s a must see.)

As we walked into the CVI, were immediately greeted by both Lee and Mary Jones. Once we checked in they encouraged us to take a look at what was going on in the kitchen. I’m guessing I made three or four steps before it hit me – a pungent smell of cured meat. People were painstakingly loading up a table covered with plates filled with charcuterie that had been brought up from their own “Salami Room” which I’m assuming is at Cypress. (Video of Chef Diehl and his sous chef making salami, here.)


Here are my highlights for the dinner:

Candied Lamb Bacon with gnocchi
For me this was a serious punch of flavor to start the dinner. This was actually my favorite item of the night. This was salty and sweet at its finest. Stuart said that Doug Katz at Fire used to have this on the menu. In talking to Chef Deihl, this is just a throw away cut of meat. It's one thing to do something with nothing, but do this with nothing was just awesome. I absolutely loved this dish.


Ice Spinach with Maytag blue cheese
Ice spinach? What's ice spinach? It's actually a patented Chef's Garden process that is very similar to that of ice wine. While I didn't eat enough of it to be able to say exactly what it was that made it so different, I can say that the dressing, blue cheese, and spinach epitomized the word harmony. Deihl will be getting a recipe request from me, and The Chef's Garden can count on a call about a more detailed explanation on this curious process. (I smell a future post.)


Cumin and Orange with Pecorino Tortufo
There wasn't anything outrageously clever about this dish; it just tasted really, really good. You know a vegetable dish is good when people have their eye on what's left in the carrot bowl, with a plate of short ribs and chuck still sitting on the table. I singled this one out, but believe me when I say every single one of the vegetable bowls left the table empty.


Chocolate Beet Brownie with Homemade Ice Cream, Candied Ginger Jam
Chef Deihl actually used something like five pounds of beets as the "sugar" in the brownie batter. A little skeptical at first, I was pleasantly surprised that the beets hadn't been totally masked by the chocolate. When you bit into the brownie you could feel small bits of beets in your mouth. I thought this was a very creative way to incorporate a vegetable. (Also pictured is the Goat Cheesecake with Lemon-Fennel Confit and Anise Hyssop.)


I can’t tell you enough how much I enjoyed this dinner. What made it such a special event was that the chef did such job of putting his signature on the each and every dish, while not overshadowing the tremendous quality of the Chef's Garden vegetables. If the drive out to CVI is discouraging you, just know that at the end of that trek awaits a very special dinner.

For information on upcoming dinners, click here. I have already booked our spot at the Mosefund Mangalitsa dinner on March 27 with Chopped winner Chef James Briscionne.

Earth to Table Dinner with Chef Craig Deihl complete menu:

Appetizers

• Chef's Garden Ice Root Spinach Salad with House Smoked Bacon, Maytag Blue Cheese
• House Cured Salami, Mixed Root Vegetable Salad
• Ricotta Gnocchi, Tomato-Mint Jam, Candied Lamb Bacon
• Ham and Bean Soup with Mixed Winter Kale

Entrees

• Duo of Certified Angus Natural Chuck Eye and Braised Short Ribs

Chef's Garden Vegetables

• Cumin and Orange Glazed Carrots
• Sweet Potato Gratin with Glazed Carrots
• Sweet Potato Gratin with Pecorino Tortufo
• Confit Potatoes
• Celery Root Infused Anson Mills Grits
• Braised Collard Greens

Desserts

• Goat Cheesecake with Lemon-Fennel Confit, Anise Hyssop
• Chocolate Beet Brownie with Homemade Ice Cream, Candied Ginger Jam
  

Veggie U Benefit at Chef's Garden

I have been absolutely swamped with work for a while now (not that I’m complaining). Between that, my Facebook obsession, and the paint stripping project on the incredible molting house, there really hasn’t been a lot of posting on the old blog.

I’m here to tell you that those days are over. We’re pooling all the stray scraps of paper, unfinished drafts, and the numerous food related things we’ve been sitting on for what seems like an eternity.

I am going on record as saying that there will be one post per day until we get caught up. So without anymore dilly dallying let’s crank it up.

Last week we had reservations all set up to attend the Chez Francois Bastille Day dinner on Sunday night. This is hands down my favorite restaurant in Northeast Ohio, (even if it is just on the western edge of it). After we had made the resy Jonathan Sawyer announced his Bastille Day dinner which, too, sounded awesome.

In the end it was a moot point since I had to leave Sunday afternoon so I could get to a 7am appointment in West Orange, New Jersey on Monday. No Chez. No GHT. Just a big plate of jack squat.

Since we missed out on the Bastille Day festivities we decided that we had to go to the Veggie U benefit at Chef’s Garden in Milan, OH.

If you’ve never been out there you’ve got to see it. As far as farms go, this is the cleanest most professionally run place I have ever seen. The stuff they’re growing out here is absolutely mind boggling (it was on par with Stone Barns in my opinion). The quality of this produce is off the chain.

The cool weather really made for a pleasant evening. Since this was my first time attending I can imagine between the heat and humidity of July and the heat and humidity of that many people (we were tickets 810 + 811 bought a week before the event), it had the potential for being a real sweat box. The temperature, however, was perfect.

As you arrived you were given little wine glass for the different wine people in attendance. You also received a blue ticket that represented your vote as the favorite dish of the night.

The chefs were located in a massive ring around the perimeter of the large tented area. The attendees moved around under the tent to sample the various food and wines. There was also a large tent in the back where the chef cook-off took place. We were so immersed in talking with the chefs and eating the food that we didn’t actually watch the cook-off (or any of the demonstrations for that matter).

So who got our blue tickets? We couldn’t decide on one person to give both tickets to, so we gave one each to Jeff Fisher of Touch Supper Club and one to Tim Maxin of Muse at The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Cleveland.

Jeff (who missed first place by 5 tickets) was serving a St Germain Cured Salmon with a savory lemon curd, on a squid ink tuile, with vidalia onion confit, and crème fraîche. Just a very well thought out dish based on ease of consumption, visual presentation, and last but not least – flavor. I thought it was an awesome idea. He also served a Rack of Lamb with heirloom tomato feta compote, and purple cauliflower puree that people loved, as well.

The Chef's Garden Carrot Smoothie from Tim Maxin with Muse Restaurant at the Ritz Carlton Hotel of Cleveland

Tim’s dish was actually very simple called The Chef’s Garden Carrot Smoothie with anise hyssop syrup (a licorice and taste combined with simple syrup) and dried fennel caviar. Poured in a small shot glass the hyssop syrup was in the bottom and the carrot smoothie (carrots that were cooked in orange juice and ginger that were pureed and then mixed with milk and ice cream), then topped with fennel seed. Since the hyssop was on the bottom of the glass it was the last thing to pile onto your tongue as you drank it. The ease of consumption, originality, and excellent flavor definitely made this blue ticket worthy.

If I had to pick out one last highlight it would be talking ice cream with Jeni Britton Bauer. She was very forthcoming about the history of Jeni’s and how she got to where she is today. For example, I had no idea that she had been the pastry chef at La Chatelaine (which is one of my favorite brunch places in Columbus). I also had no idea that she had a previous ice cream stand in North Market called Scream. What an interesting person.

I think the price for something like this is definitely a deterrent for many people. What I’d like to do next year is get a pool of eight or more people so the price goes from $150 down to $100. For a 100 bucks this is definitely worth the price of admission.