Escolar and Beets

Escolar was poached in beef fat, sherry-beet puree, roasted baby beets and shaved candy striped beet, spruce, rosemary oil, and golden beet pickle juice whipped into a foam

Foie Gras au Rosaleen.

Foie Gras.  We put foie on the menu about once a year.  A special occasion appetizer that always gets me and the team excited.  The same day the fatty duck liver was delivered to the restaurant was the same day my niece Rosaleen was born, seemed appropriate to honor her.  Having a name like Rosaleen I thought make the dish have strong aromatics and a fresh rose flower flavor.  The foie was cured in rose water, coriander, and nigella.  The foie was then slow poached for 40 minutes, chilled, and sliced.  We served it in a bowl with black truffle vinaigrette and a rutabaga terrine.  At the table we pour a roasted crab consomme (crab stock has an intense aroma) that was infused with more rose, coriander, lime, grapefruit, orange, and keffir lime leaves.  The truffle remains in the bowl which allows the diner to pick how much truffle flavor they want with each bite.  Welcome Rosaleen to the world and congratulations to my sister Alicia for giving birth to her 5th child!  I know, 5 kids!  

Minestrone.

Our Minestrone is a vegetable inspired Italian soup.  The only real requirement in a 'minestrone' is that it has a legume and a pasta and/or grain.  We created a version with winter vegetables, farro dressed in lemon zest, and a sphere made of corona bean cream.  We pour a consomme table-side; which is made of duck confit jelly, braisage of pork shoulder and short ribs.  All of the braised or confit'd meat was brined so the consomme has a heavy spice flavor...(clove, cardamom, juniper, black pepper)...  This dish is a culmination of several different dishes and ended up being one of the best of the season.

Foraged weeds

Wood Sorrel, Purslane, Chickweed, Baby Dandelion, Ground Ivy...  all found out of the cracks of the city of Washington D.C.!

holy mackerel

house cured mackerel with a french breakfast radish puree, watermelon radish salad, tarragon oil, pears, and a mussel-miso mayonnaise...
plated by another, a one named johnny spero.

147 lbs. Half Pig!

 This big boy took me forever to break down, it barely could fit on out butchering table!  Eventually got all the proper parts in place and created different brines and cures for different pieces (culatello, head cheese, trotters, ham, loin, tenderloin, ribs, tail, belly)  After about three weeks here's the first dish sold using this bad boy!

We treated the loin as if we were making a piece of baked ham (long brining time, then poached in the circulator) took the bellies out of brine a week later then braised it till tender.  On the pick up it was served with smoked and pickled matsutakes, savoy cabbage stuffed with guanciale (made in house), rutabega, onions, garlic, whole grain mustard, and chilies.  The sauce was just molasses aerated!  super porky.

Skate Wing...

Wrapped the skate around a cooked calamari-shrimp mousse (slow poached using optimus prime), shrimp-chestnut puree, brussel sprout leaves, spruce gel, egg white-onion vinegar espuma.