TV Dinner- Really good, the Verge was transformed. It was super fun to see all the chefs working and bustling. The servers were so excellent. I was worried because they were volunteers and I know I would have botched. I chose the easier job of pouring wine. This crowd was voracious for white wine so that was hard to keep up and keep cold. There was a miscommunication where some volunteer opened like 25 bottles of the cab franc, which were sort of hidden behind me so they were all left at the end of the night, open. Somebody should contact live if they want some tasty cab franc. The Verge is cold enough that it should be fine tonight and tomorrow.
The menu: based on Rawhide, a show that I oddly loved as a child, smoked chicharrones with the most bomb tartare imaginable piled on top. I will eat anything placed in front of me so I quickly became the big joke of the dinner when I popped a piece of ash in my mouth, which luckily was not hot, and tried to eat the little crunchy snack I had found. Then my mouth and face became covered in ash. Oh well, someone's gotta be the joke.
Second course: green acres. A lovely crunchy cale salad with roasted root vegetables underneath, and aioli. There was some cardamom in there.
Thirst course: Hawaii 5-O. Roasted pork and rice wrapped in banana leaves. The rice was somewhat sticky and had that lovely tea-like flavor that banana leaves impart. Scrumptious. The pork was great and had big hunks of fat you had to wade though. Our table scored two platters.
The dessert were gelatin-based (Mr. Ed) The carrot tartlets were big hit, they tasted like mini pumpkin pies. The mint julep jellies were also good and minty. I didn't like the green apple marshmallows very much.
The bartenders whipped up a take on Tom and Jerrys. Hot rum and brandy, spiced with Jamaican red tea (I think that's what they said) and with torched merengue on top. A lot of the white hairs couldn't deal and ditched them on my dirty glass table, so I expected something overpowering, but they were mild and delicious. But you have to admit, they were not white wine.
Speaking of the white hairs, an awesome white-haired couple met and then did some heavy petting in the house tableau. They were the most scandalous and maybe in their 70s? Good for them!
OMG, KZAP is playing the most truly awful jam right now.
re: the post below
ReplyDeletehttp://comspark.com/eldorado/thomas.shtml
There was a lot of debate over the mustard at my table; I dug it. The onions and fatty pork at the bottom of the dish were supreme. I think I ate off of three different table's pork dishes, yikes. Still never found out how MT prepared the kale (grilled or roasted or?), but the texture and lack of bitterness was great. Anyway, amazing work, great meal, very worth it.
ReplyDeleteNM
yeah, at the end we were all scavenging the juice and bits at the bottom of the pork. I would eat the mustard if it was at home but I don't think the dish absolutely needed it. The flavors were pretty complete as is.
ReplyDeleteThe first two courses were my favorite. That kale salad was outta sight, especially once I discovered the aioli hiding at the bottom. On the pork dish, I didn't get any of the goods at the bottom. Boo--I didn't even notice they were there till too late.
ReplyDeleteGood times, wish I could've drank more and stayed out later.