Grace, Chicago

Grace, Chicago, 5/9/2017 (9-Course, $235 excl. Taxes & Grat.), American Progressive, Michelin 3-Star

Chef Curtis Duffy interned in Alinea, another Michelin 3-Star restaurant in Chicago, before he established Grace in the “thoughtfully progressive” style with every dish displaying individuality, located in West Loop of Chicago. I was not able to make a reservation at Alinea because its unfriendly and biased reservation policy toward “single”, one-person booking. The receptionist at Alinea acknowledge that 2 out of 3 menus do not accept “single” reservation and the one menu which accepts “single” would take one reservation/per evening at 8pm seating only.

There were 2 types of menu, Flora (highlights vegetables) and Fauna (focuses on seafood and protein.) I chose Fauna menu.

Amuse Bouche – 2 Courses

I). An irregularly-shaped platform made of bee wax was used to present 4 items of amuse bouche.

1). Cotton candy was used as a holder for house-made granola and dry blueberry. Black powdered-leek were sprinkled on top of cotton candy and a piece of basil covered the top. During this trip, I found out Chefs in Chicago like to include grains in cooking. Its house-made granola tasted well with cotton candy. 

2). Dried beets (larger thin red sheet) used as a place holder, with Umeboshi (Japanese pickled plums) in the center with chamomile emulsion and tarragon.

3). Jamón Ibérico is a gourmet specialty made exclusively from black-hoof pigs fed mainly by acorn from century old oak trees, imbuing ham with delicate and unique flavor that that thrills the senses. It is one of the Spain’s most highly prized delicacies. It was served with chick pea and butter cream.  

 4). A bite-size of panisse with fava beans and Myer lemon cream.

II). Guinea Hen, Ramp, Radish, Chive Blossom - It was brought to the table with tightly sealed foil on the top. As it settled on the table, my server lifted the sealed foil to let out Applewood smoke. Under the foil, it was coconut and lemongrass cream. Inside the glass bowl, there were radish, pickled radish, white chive flower, crispy panko, boned roasted guinea hen, scallion, ramp, green cream (from green onion) and coconut and lemongrass cream like what under the foil. This is a very sophisticated dish with many ingredients and different methods of infusing flavor. It was my 2nd favorite dish in this meal.

1^st Course – White Asparagus, Burgundy Oxalis

Mid-May is the season for white asparagus, my favorite vegetable. Burgundy oxalis was often used for its burgundy foliage and white/yellow flower. White asparagus was poached and served with fingerling potato, topped with Osetra caviar. Scallion oil (green dot) was served on the side and julienned scallion and chive were placed on top of caviar. White asparagus was cooked differently from how it was done at Boka.

2^nd Course – Alaskan King Crab, Sudachi, Cucumber, Lemon Mint

This has been Chef Duffy’s signature dish. Crab meat was served in cucumber dice and cucumber juice in the bowl. Organic trout roes were served on top of crab meat. In addition, sudachi (Japanese lime) cream (yellow) and coconut lemongrass cream (white) and Fresno red pepper curls and lemon-mint leaves were also contributing to the flavor. On the very top, the bowl was sealed by a thin slice of transparent candy sheet. Once it was served, guest had to break open the candied sheet before reaching into the bowl. Using sudachi’s more zestier aroma and flavor in this dish was certainly a seamless choice for a perfect signature dish.

Three types of bread were served – Semolina with fennel, roasted potato with dill, Hawaiian pretzel with sea salt. Each of them were two-bite size, accompanied by 7 different flavors of butter - original, red basil, parsley, tarragon, dill, chive, mint.

3^rd Course – Bay Scallops, White Poppy, Romaine, Nasturtium

Slightly poached scallop was placed on top of shallot and onion marmalade. In addition, red nasturtium, scallion, green lettuce leaves, romaine lettuce, flower, pickled onion and shallot were served along with white poppy seed milk. On the very top, there was a thin layer of dashi sheet, jello made of dashi broth (made by heating kelp, fermented and preserved tuna, or shitake in hot water.) It was a quite interesting dish that Chef Duffy used dashi flavor to enhance scallop’s seafood flavor, on the other hand he used other ingredients to neutralized seafood flavor.

4^th Course – Red Kuri Squash, Duck, Chocolate, Sunflower Sprout

Duck confit was served with brioche, sun flower seed powder, chocolate, sun flower seed chip, sprout, apple, and duck fat de-hydrated. Apple and squash soup was served lastly at the table. French prepare duck confit with a long process of curing, poaching at low temperature for 4-10 hours, and then preserved in duck fat to get the rich taste. I did not know this was duck confit, as it differed from the authentic French style, until the server pointed it out.

5^th Course – Pork, Gnudi, Porcini, Spinach

Braised pork cheek to the extent, it almost melted in your mouth. It was accompanied by gnudi, made of semolina and ricotta cheese instead of potato, with excellent texture. On the side, there were spinach ball, crispy red cabbage, tropical spinach, diced pancetta and the very tasty fennel coriander sauce. I cook pork shoulder almost in a similar way except that I used a bit of anise star while chef Duffy did not.

6^th Course – Miyazaki Beef, Grains, Hon Shimeji, Kaffir Lime

Miyazaki beef from the Miyazaki prefecture of Japan is a “A5 Wagyu”. Ever since I had Kobe beef in Japan 13 years ago, I have been longing for a real or quasi Kobe in US. I had it in Grace finally. It was melt in your mouth type, served with basil and coconut, grain purée made of black and white barley, basil leaves, dill, coriander seed (in the middle), hon-shimeji mushrooms and black garlic cream. Beef was perfect, on quality and flavor. It was quite interesting that Chef Duffy cut the beef, not vertically or splitting horizontally, but diagonally which enabled a different way of tasting flavor and texture. This course, without of doubt, was my favorite dish for the evening. Whenever I think of Kobe beef, my mouth would start watering.

There are some grades for WAGYU beef, and A5 is the highest grade given only to the finest beef. It is famous for its smooth velvety texture, juicy flavor, delicate but rich taste. Its appearance looks marbling, tiny pieces of fat finely distributed. Marbling is never too rich, it almost melts in your mouth. The marbling is also the evidence that cattle have been specially raised in the vast lush wilderness using carefully selected feed (corn and rice straw), pure water and clean air.

Beef is classified into four categories, Japanese black cattle comprised the largest number of 4 breeds. Its deliciousness consists of the following factors: the taste and flavor that spread out in the mouth, and the smooth texture. The standards of grading beef consist of yield grade and quality grade. “A” of “A5” means the yield grade and “5” of “A5” means quality grade.

I was fortunate to have A5 again on 5/11/17 at Oriole, Chicago. Chef at Oriole prepared A5 Wagyu in another interesting way.

^7th Course – Blood Orange, Vanilla, Fennel

This is the palette cleanser before the real desert was served. Main component was refreshing blood orange ice with vanilla cream on the side and fennel leaves on top.

8^th Course – Huckleberry, Honey, Fenugreek, Basil

Fenugreek cake (green) was served on top of huckleberry ice cream (red), huckleberries were on the side. Meringue, accented with pepper and fenugreek seeds, was sitting on top of ice cream for decoration. Fenugreek is an annual plant with leaves consisting of 3 small obovate to oblong leaflets, brought into cultivation in the Near East. Fenugreek is used as an herb (leaves), spice (seeds smelt and taste somewhat like maple syrup) and vegetables (leaves and sprouts). It is similar to clover that is native to the Mediterranean region, southern Europe and Western Asia. However, fenugreek has high content of coumarin-like compounds and may interfere with the activity and dosing of anticoagulants. It is important to inform the restaurant if you have any special health issues (allergy or pregnancy) as some of the ingredients used in the meal may have side effect.

9^th Course – Cashew, Cocoa, Crème Fraiche, Hoja Santa

Hoja Santa is an aromatic herb with a heart-shaped, velvety leaf which grows in Mesoamerica (Northern S. America to Mexico, southeastern Florida and California.) The name Hoja Santa means “sacred leaf”. The complex flavor of Hoja Santa is not so easily described; it has been compared to eucalyptus, licorice, anise, nutmeg, mint, tarragon and black pepper. The arrival of internet era has provided chefs with accessibility and availability of more varieties of spices and ingredients for more creativity and experiment. While some of the chefs started using “Tonka”, chef Duffy also used Fenugreek and Hoja Santa to advance his creativity and experiment.

This desert included chocolate mousse (elongated shape), chocolate jell (round shape), chocolate curls and pieces of chocolate cake. On the side, Hoja Santa was presented in 3 different forms – drop (sitting under cashew), leaves and cream (on top of chocolate jell.) This is quite an intricate combination yielding a sophisticated taste.

Petit Four – a little yellow ball

It was a showmanship of the latest molecular gastronomy by using cocoa butter into the spherification process (by dipping sodium alginate into calcium lactate.) Since coca butter contains mainly fat which turns hard in cold temperature and melts in warm temperature. This cute little yellow ball was filled with apple cider and dipped into nitrogen at below “0” temperature before serving. I have watched it thru out the dinner from where I was sitting. The yellow ball was placed on a long wooden spoon to avoid direct human contact. The server suggested to put the whole piece into my mouth and closed my mouth fully. After a few second, I could feel the bursting of apple cider coming out of the shell. It was a pleasant experience.

Dining in Grace is a phenomenal culinary experience. I sat at the table closest to the open kitchen (with glass wall), therefore, was able to observe most of the activities there. The restaurant had an “expeditor” just to make sure the flow of orders was timely. In addition, Chef/owner Duffy was in the kitchen a few times to ensure works were done properly with desired quality.   

Ristorante Quadri, Venice

Quadri, Venice, 3/22/2017 (7-Course, 215 Euro incl. VAT & Grat.), Italian, Michelin 1-Star

Quadri is located right in the heart of Venice, Piazza San Marco. If you face the famous Basilica of San Marco, it is in the middle of left wing of the piazza. Ristorante Quadri is located above the Gran Café Quadri which is on the street level, although both belong to the same chef/owner Massimiliano Alajmo at present. Ristorante Quadri has received a Michelin star since 2012. In 2011, Chef Alajmo took over and renovated Ristorante Quadri without changing its name, probably because Café Quadri has had an important historical role of being the 1^st Café introduced the Turkish coffee in Venice. He then sent the accomplished sous-chef in Le Calandre (Chef Alajmo’s Michelin 3-star restaurant near Padua) in charge of Ristorante Quadri’s kitchen which offers fusion style of modern Italian and Northern Italian cuisine. Chef Alajmo is the youngest in history to have been awarded three stars by the Michelin Guide.

Dining room is decorated with dark-wood furnishings, lush burgundy damask walls, and sparkling chandeliers create a typical rich Venetian ambience. If you happen to like the Venetian master Titian’s work, you will enjoy the setting in Quadri. 

There are 4 sets of Tasting menus – laguna 7-course, laguna 5-course, quadri 7-course and quadri 5-course. I selected laguna 7-course with slight changes. In addition, there is a la carte menu.

It started with 2 courses of Amuse Bouche:

I. Trio

1. Quail egg stuffed with egg yolk and tuna sauce and covered by anchovy. Anchovy is glazed with chicken broth jelly. Even though I am usually not a fan of anchovy, this dish of anchovy was ultra fresh and tasty.

2. Miniature pie crust was stuffed with celery cream and topped with the diced sea snail (garusoli) from the local lagoon. Sea snails are larger than the snails served in the French restaurants; its meat is a bit firmer than escargot’s and both types are delicious.

3. Focaccia with black rice at the bottom, topped with vegetable tartar including puréed red beet and carrot to provide the burgundy color. On the very top it was soy mayonnaise to provide the overall sophisticated taste.

II. Steamed Pizza Cicchetto

Cicchetti sometimes spelled cichetti in Venetian language, includes tiny sandwiches, plated of olives or other vegetables, halved hard boiled eggs, small snacks served "bàcari" (cicchetti bars or orosterie) in Venice, Italy. This is one of the signature dishes imported from Le Calandre since the sous-chef of Le Calandre is in charge of Quadri’s kitchen at present. The small slice of whole wheat pizza was steamed with a texture between pizza and bread. The topping was quite good, comprised of zucchini, yellow pepper, green pepper, beet root, pumpkin cream and some sesame seed topping. All vegetables were cooked with the perfect texture and flavor.

There were two types of bread served – ciabatta bread and bread sticks made with oregano and dried tomatoes.

1^st Course –    1) Dentex Carpaccio, Spring Salad Greens, Tarragon Mayonnaise

                        2) Crispy Raw Shrimp

1) Dentex is considered the most difficult catches for the beginner and the most valuable species of fish from the Mediterranean Sea. Although it is delicious, Dentex is not the most delicious. I had cooked Dentex once in Croatia just recently. The cooked Dentex tasted almost like sea bass, however the flesh a bit smoother than sea bass. The sashimi style Dentex actually brought out the flavor of Dentex to a higher level. When I inquired about the prep process, I was informed it required only olive oil.  

2) Raw shrimp was from Sardinia, it was covered by crispy rice puffs and topped with lobster-flavored mayonnaise and Osetra caviar. It was fresh and sweet.

2^nd Course – Baccalà Baccalà Baccalà Baccalà, 4 styles

Bacaalà is dried and salted cod. Since it is heavily salted for preservation, all bacaalà requires soaking before it can be used. Cod which has been dried but without the addition of salt is stockfish.

1) Smoked polenta with whipped stockfish and Osetra caviar.

2) Julienned tomato with fresh stockfish tripes alla parmigiana in black garlic sauce.
This is definitely my favorite among these 4 styles. Fish tripes taste like stripes of slice sea scallop, tender, juicy and tasty.

3) Fried stockfish throats, artichokes stripes which is crispy outsider and soft inside.

4) This is Baccalà Vicentina style, a traditional dish of the Veneto region. Dried cod is simmered in milk until it becomes smoothly creamy. This creamy dried Baccalà was placed at the bottom of the bowl, topped with red onion sorbet and chips of riso venere (black rice chips.) This is also one of the signature dishes of Quadri. It involved diversified and complicated preparation.

3^rd Course – Spaghettone with “alla busara” with Mantis Prawn Baby Lagoon Shrimp and Cuttlefish Eggs

Mantis shrimp’s flesh is closer to that of lobster than that of shrimp, and like lobsters, their shells are quite hard and require some pressure to crack. Usually they are deep fried with garlic and chilly peppers. In the Mediterranean countries Mantis shrimp is a common seafood, especially on the Adriatic coasts.

This is a pasta dish with thicker size of spaghetti. It was served with 2 different kinds of sauce. One was the tomato sauce with puréed fried mantis shrimp, mixed with spaghettone. The other was cuttlefish eggs with basil and cream sitting along the bottom of the spaghettone. Tomato sauce was superb because of Mantis shrimp’s enhancement, cuttlefish cream made the seafood flavor more intense.

4^th Course – Venetian Style Deep Fried Fish (Lobster, Squid, Soft-shelled Crabs and Spring Vegetables)

Fried seafood was placed in a paper bag imitating the ancient Venetian’s way of eating fried seafood. It was served with mustard mayonnaise. Each item was coated with light batter. There were two pieces of tender and juicy lobster meat, one piece of tender squid, two pieces of string beans and one piece of carrot. Restaurant manager emphasized this dish is also one of Quadri’s signature dishes, with more focus on the presentation of an ancient way of serving seafood.

5^th Course – Lamb Chops with Rhubarb Meat Jus Parmigiano Purée and Fried Artichoke

I have been longing for good lamb chops from day 1 of the trip ever since I heard that lambs in the Adriatic Sea coast lines are fed with various kinds of herbs such as thymes and rosemary. In this dish, lamb came from Wales, lamb chops were trimmed and boned except the long rib bones still remained. Chops were cooked rare-medium with excellent texture, served with mashed potato with parmigiano cheese and artichoke heart. Sauce was made of meat juice from cooking and rhubarb juice.

6^th Course – Sour Cherry Sorbet with Almond Mousse and Berries

This course is a palate cleanser. Sour cherry sorbet had a very delightfully pungent taste; almond mousse is not the foamy type. It was in between a mousse and foamy custard, but with smooth taste in the mouth. Berries were fresh and a good accompaniment of almond mousse.

7^th Course – Salted Caramel Puff Pastry with Coffee and Tonka Bean

Tonka beans look like an elongated raisin or a hard, skinny date. The taste of Tonka Bean is linked strongly with its scents like vanilla, almond, cherry and cinnamon. Chefs crave them for its spicy and fruity aroma which can be used in both savory and sweet applications. Tonka beans are usually shaved, a preparation to release its pungent aroma and subtle flavor. Unfortunately, all foods that contain the chemical compound coumadin are considered by the FDA to be "adulterated" and have technically been illegal since 1954. Tonka beans are a major source of coumarin, therefore, not available in US.

The overall taste was almost like mild mocha, almond and caramel. The puffy pastry, looked like a Napoleone, was finely made with crispy layers, but not greasy. Around the pastry, there were a few drops of licorice syrup. It was not a heavy desert in terms of quantity and ingredients, although I could have a bit more.

Petit Fours

One miniature White Chocolate Cup Filled with White Chocolate Cream and Topped with ½ Raspberry

One miniature Milk Chocolate Cup Filled with Milk Chocolate Cream and Topped with Almond

One miniature Dark Chocolate Cup Filled with Dark Chocolate Cream and Chocolate Crumbs

The petit fours looked delicate and tasted light and delicious, at this moment your stomach only had limited empty space. 

Without of doubt it is pricey at Ristorante Quadri, comparing with other Michelin 1-starred restaurants in Europe. Quadri charges what market can bear probably because of its prime location, being a name steeped in history and being the only Michelin Starred restaurant in the city center of Venice. However, I enjoyed my total fine dining experience at Quadri. While you are dining in the classic and opulent Venetian style dining room, you may also have the extensive view of the piazza thru its tall windows. In addition to the visual pleasure, you can also get the extra gastronomical treats imported from Chef Alajmo’s Le Calandre.

             

aska, NYC

Aska, NYC, 1/6/2017 (19-Course, $215 excl. taxes)

Aska is located in a restored warehouse building at the edge of Williamsburg Bridge. Chef Fredrik Berselius had it decorated with themed black color outside and inside along with old-aged looking bricks like what you will see in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Inside of dining room, it gives a stark, poetic aesthetic Scandinavian (Nordic) flavor. Staffs serving customers all wear black and kitchen staffs all wear white. The open kitchen at the corner of dining room was pretty efficiently run.

It offered one set of tasting menu of 19 courses.

1. Bladderwrack

Bladderwrack seaweed is often used as padding for mussels and lobsters during the shipping process. In this dish, bladderwrack seaweed was cleaned and fried into crispy condition. There were many beige colored dots on top of twisted bladderwrack seaweed. These dots were made of emulsion of blue mussel’s juice, grinded mussel meat, and white vinegar. Then, all ingredients were processed like making mayonnaise. The taste of shellfish emulsion balanced with Bladderwrack seaweed’s strong flavor (stronger than kelp which is often used in sushi). The whole dish was presented on rocks to demonstrate the theme of seaweeds, rocks and ocean.

2. Langoustine – cooked in aromatic herbs, nasturtium, sauce made from the head

Cured Scottish Langoustine (with salt and sugar) tail was wrapped in different types of chamomiles twigs, spruce twigs and juniper twigs to enhance flavor. Sauce was flavored by langoustine shell broth seasoned with pickled chamomiles. A few years ago, I also had raw langoustine once at Frantzen & Lindeberg in Stockholm. Chef Frantzen told me he preferred langoustine from oceans by Ireland or Scotland because shellfish from the frigid cold water always have better quality. I could taste the langoustine tail was ultra fresh and full of flavor. There was one drop of chamomiles jell, juniper berry and Nasturtium leaves on the side for extra kick of flavor and decoration. This is a very Nordic style dish, good taste, a lot of natural and fresh ingredients, but nothing spicy. This was my 3^rd favorite in this meal.

3. Pommes Soufflé – roe from langoustine smoked in dried carrot tops

A mini potato soufflé covered with smoked langoustine roe, then topped with emulsion made of spruce smoked oil and shell juice. At the tip, there were two tiny green leaves from the carrot stem top. It looked like Chef Berselius made full utilization of the langoustine by creating two langoustine related dishes.

4. Oyster – Glidden Point, ME – green gooseberry, juniper and sedum

Chef Berselius likes the texture and quality of Glidden Point oysters from Damariscotta River in Maine. Each oyster was cut into half-piece. People have been feasting on oysters from the Damariscotta River for thousands of years, and at Glidden Point, there are the ancient shell middens to prove. Both shell and meat of Glidden Point oysters have a density that comes only from slow growth in the frigid cold water. They are perhaps the deepest and coldest-grown oyster in the East Cost of US. They are four years old when they reach market size, unusually rich, springy, crispy and sweet. Sauce is made by blending juniper branches flavored oil (soaked in oil for at least 6 months) with green gooseberry juice. Oysters were topped by winter greens for decoration. Glidden Point oysters definitely are one of the best oysters that I have ever had. Their taste was so fresh, springy and succulent. This was my most favorite dish in this meal.

5. Milk Skin – sourdough, smoked hake, sorrel and toasted milk skin

At the bottom, there was a piece of fried sourdough bread which was topped with a piece of smoke hake and a fresh piece of sorrel. At the very top, it was milk skin made of caramelized milk, dehydrated, broken into pieces and torched to have the brownish looking. It took hours to make milk skin according to the server. It also requires a lot of attention, otherwise it got burned. Smoked hake was cold-smoked. Since Chef Berselius is a Swedish, as all Nordic people know that cold-smoked food yield more pleasant and intense smoked-flavor.

6. Caviar – grilled onion, sustainable Finnish caviar from Carlian, lemon verbena

Small onions were grilled on charcoal. The outer layers were peeled off; the inner layers were displayed in the bowl. The inner layers were in white color, but had smoked flavor because of the grilling process. On top of each onion piece, there was a small tip of lemon verbena and a ram seed. Sauce (in brown color) was made of lemon verbena, outer layers of charcoaled onion. Caviar was from Siberian sturgeon raised in Carlian, Finland. Ever since Caspian Sea got polluted because of oil production, Russian border has become the primary location for caviar farm. At the left-front corner, there was a small scoop of cultured cream shaped almost like the onion piece. This brand of caviar is with medium saltiness, fresh but not very fishy.

7. Lamb Heart – cured lamb heart burned in bedstraw and pickled sunchoke

Lamb heart was roasted and burned with alfalfa hey. The roasted lamb heart was then pulsed to powder-condition. It looked like black powder, but it did not taste with any burned-flavor. Underneath the roasted lamb heart, there were some diced picked sun choke. Under the pickled sun choke, there was a layer of sun choke purée. Under the sun choke purée, there was one small piece of lamb fat. The roasted and burnt lamb heart actually did not taste like lamb at all. The overall effect was more like lightly cured ham with pickled sunchoke..

8. Scallop – elderberry and elderflower

Scallop was half-raw, but very tender and crispy. It was served with scallop roe (not very common). It was flanked by elderberry twig on the left and yarrow flower piece on the right. Sauce was made of half ripe elderberry with scallop sauce.

9. Blood Pancake – blood pancake, rose and rosehip

Pancake was made of rye flour, pig blood, honey, sugar, egg yolk and butter. It was served with rose hip jam, picked roses peddles with vinegar. Since rye flour dominated the taste, you can’t taste the flavor of pig blood. I assumed it was used because of the coloring effect and the texture.

10. King Crab – roasted king crab and potato burnt in leaves

Mini size potatoes were burned first to give them the dark color before broiled with leaves covered. King crab meat was shelled and displayed on the plate with pickled marigold flowers. In addition, a tiny smoked quail egg was poked in smoked oil. Sauce was made of king crab shell, maple leaves, and powder of burned cucumber. Up to this point, Chef has used a few burnt ingredients in some of the dishes; it was a pleasant experience to me.

11. Kohlrabi – compressed with linden leaf oil and linden flower vinegar, salad burnet

Kohlrabi is a root vegetable; its texture is somewhat in between raw potato and raw daikon. Its color is more close to daikon, although a bit paler than bright white. It was marinated in linden vinaigrette with emulsion of linden flowers and linden leaves. It was quite tasty and refreshing. I like the Nordic way of displaying it in an ice-filled bowl and topped with green salad burnet. 

12. Skate – cured skate wing, celery root purée with its leaves and roasted celery root

Skate wing was marinated with salt and sugar then poached in low heat. Sauce was made with skate bones and vinegar and dill. In the far middle part of the part, it was roasted celery root. On the left, it was celery root purée (in green color) with its leaves, topped with sorrel and dill tips. On the right, it was cured tender skate wing topped with sorrel and dill. Chef Berselius has always focused on bringing the “nature” into his cooking. He has had regular suppliers down on the block or farms in upstate to supply fresh produce to aska.  The nature of fresh and quality produces do indeed reflected in the dishes served.

13. Lichen – chanterelle, cream that has been heavily reduced and caramelized in the pan, preserved pine shoots, broth from mushroom seasoned with chanterelle vinegar

Lichen’s another name is reindeer moss, in green color. Cleaning moss is a practice of patience. Chefs have to use a tweezers to pull out debris in moss. Then, these cleaned mosses were rinsed 4 times before they were blanched for 6 minutes. Once they were dried, they will be fried at 350 degree for 30 seconds before being served in the plate. The whole process is labor intensive and time consuming. In these dish, there are varieties of mushroom, all from the Catskill region. Fresh yellow foot mushroom were pickled before being served. In addition, there were chopped mushroom, preserved and fermented young pine shoot (tiny green tip on top of moss), and pickled onion blossom caper. Cream was cooked for 4 ½ hours, with texture similar to dulce de leche before being blended in sauce. Sauce was made from stew mushroom broth reduced and then seasoned with spruce flavored vinegar. This is a very sophisticated and complicate dish to prepare. It is also my 2^nd favorite dish in this meal.

14. Squid Tart – tart made with seaweed, charred squid and a purée made from dulse

Shell was made with flour, butter, egg and grinded kelp (also on the background of the 1^st dish). Filling was made of squid purée, charcoaled and marinated squid, fresh horse radish (with a pungent flavor), dulse seaweed and dry corn flowers. It was a dish with heavy accent of seaweed taste. The unsung hero is the fresh horse radish which helped to provide a fine balance.

15. Rutabaga – roe from winter flounder. Sauce made from unfiltered rapeseed oil and marigold flower 

Rutabaga is a root vegetable. Chef Berselius liked winter flounder and its roe more then what in summer season. Flounder roe was salted, then with emulsion of unfiltered rapeseed oil and pickled marigold flowers pedals. The unfiltered rapeseed oil is much tastier than processed rapeseed oil. This unfiltered rapeseed oil is extracted by manually pressed rapeseed into oil.

16. Beef – 120 day dry aged rib eye, preserved black currant and salted plum from last year, cured beef fat

This 120 day dry aged rib eye was very tasty, better than some of the steakhouse’s steak. Both steak and fat cat (fat around the steak) were cured and roasted. A few tiny transparent cubes were the cured and roasted fat cat. Both black currant and plum were preserved for close to a year. In addition, garlic mustard and foraged mustard green were on the side. Sauce was made from black current. Cured fat similar to bacon fat is tastier than plain fat. 

17. Blueberry – fermented blueberries, milk sorbet and spruce

It was sorbet made from unpasteurized milk, topped with fermented blueberries and young yarrow leaves, and dried pink header blossom. It was served in spruce syrup. This was not the 1^st time that I had unpasteurized dairy products, but I still felt it took time to like the unpasteurized product. Spruce flavored sauce had a strong green flavor.

18. Birchwood – ice cream made from birch wood with pine mushrooms and woodruff

It was real ice cream made from birchwood flavored milk. Birchwood was steeped in hot milk, and infused with maple syrup. The process of steeping could take quite some time in order to get enough flavors. Three types of dried and candied mushroom (black trumpet, pine and hedgehog or sweet tooth) were used as topping. Hedgehog mushrooms are close relatives of the chanterelle and their flavor, smell and aroma is strikingly similar, but thicker and larger in size. Hedgehog mushroom, in whitish to light brown tooth-like structures, usually are found near birchwood or beechwood between August and November. They have a crunchy but not chewy texture. In addition to these three types of dried mushrooms, there were broken pieces of white meringues made from pine mushrooms. I barely remembered the 1^st time that I had mushroom for desert at Chateaubriand in Paris. This mushroom ice cream in aska is better than candied mushroom that I had in Chateaubriand. But, it is an acquired taste to like mushroom as a desert.

19. Mignardise – blood, rosehip and lavender – caramelized white chocolate, kronan Swedish Punch, sourdough malt powder

These two candy balls were sitting among many beautiful autumn types of foliage. Think of them as a white chocolate and a dark chocolate. They both taste less sweet than the conventional chocolate and both have a bit of salty taste.

Aska means “ashes” in Swedish. At Aska, chef Berslius bridges the Nordic culinary traditions of his upbringing in Scandinavia with the immediate environ in Brooklyn. With an emphasis on local and foraged ingredients from nature, he offered sophisticated dishes with a touch of whimsy. There is another wonderful Michelin 2-Star restaurant serving Nordic cuisine in Tribeca name “Atera”. Although both serve Nordic cuisine and practice molecular gastronomy, Chef Emborg of Atera has emphasized a bit more of visual appeal while chef Berselius of Aska has emphasized more of bringing as much nature sophisticatedly into the plate.