BlaringSmelly

Ktula and I were invited to a dinner party hosted by Tizzy and Michael. A writer and a chef, they were a great team and a delight to hang out.

Here are a sample of dishes we had that night:

Poolish dough loaves and plum jam.
Plums came from their fruitful backyard plum tree.

Spiced olives
I don’t like pits or seeds in my food that I need to spit it out. But that’s just me.

Spicy garden pickles
Pickled to perfection, they are crispy and refreshing. Most importantly they are not too salty like so many pickled products. I ate these bite size vegies like candies.

Pork rillettes in the jar, fermented butter inside the white cup
Michael explained rillettes is a process of preserving meat, mainly pork. He cooked the pork slowly in duck fat until it’s tender and easily shredded. There was a slight hint of pork. Other than that, it tasted just like pâté.

House-cured duck prosciutto
Paper-thin slices of prosciutto. The fat melted in your mouth as you enjoy the delicate taste of lightly salted duck meat.

House-cured anchovies in olive oil
I love anchovies. I like the texture of anchovy and its salty smell. This dish really made my day.

Butternut squash puree
This mashed yellow goodness had silky smooth texture and sweetness just enough to put a smile on your face. I was quietly stuffing my face in this. C’est si bon.

Brick-oven roasted leg of lamb

Sea bass in flaky pastry
Chef Michael put up quite a presentation with this dish. Sea bass first arrived on the table, still inside the pastry.

Michael cut open the pastry. Guests were watching Michael and the fish slowly revealing from inside the pastry in amazement.

We finished with home made apple pie topped with honey and yogurt ice cream. In my opinion, it was cheer genius that Michael substituted sugar with honey. The sweetness was so much more rich and distinct. He apologized the ice cream was too soft because it wasn’t chilled long enough. I didn’t mind it at all. The apple pie and ice cream were great combo. I had nothing to complain about it.

At the end of the dinner, Michael gave ktula a tour of chef’s kitchen. The house-cured sausages spurted ktula’s interest to make his own sausages.

The dinner was named “Savant”. According to Merriam-Webster online definition:

a person of learning; especially: one with detailed knowledge in some specialized field (as of science or literature).

The name was appropriate for this elaborate feasting consisted of 8 starters, 7 main courses, and desserts. I can’t speak for the other guests, but I learned so much and tasted so many that night.

After last week’s spontaneous dinner at Elemental Next Door (E.N.D.), I couldn’t help but wanting to go back. Yesterday I casually mentioned to ktula let’s go back to E.N.D for dinner. He didn’t object to the idea.

We arrived at the restaurant to realize E.N.D. wasn’t open on Tuesday night. Instead, we went to Elemental @ Gasworks. We were seated at the bar where we could see the chef in action. The owner/host Phred brought 2 glasses of red wine for us. It was served warm and it was very delicious. He asked about our drink preferences. Minutes later, a 2nd glass of wine were served, this time chilled with ice cubes.

We were offered to order from the menu or the “surprise me” dinner option. We gladly took our chance and went for that rare chance to mix food, mystery, and enjoyment in one splendor dinning experience.

We had 5 courses and 3 desserts. Each dish was paired with a different glass of wine. Food was excellent, but what really made the experience superb was the perfect wine pairing with every dish. Some wines tasted blend at first. But when paired with the right food, the wine became aromatic and the taste was transformed. This was the first time I truly understand what wine pairing is about.

Another great night out at Elemental.

For no particular reason, we decided to eat out somewhere fancy. I was given a $100 gift card to any of the Tom Douglas restaurants for my 3rd anniversary at Big Fish Games. Having being to Etta’s and Lola, we wanted to give Palace Kitchen a try.

Palace Kitchen doesn’t take reservation for party of 2. We showed up around 8:30pm only to find the restaurant fully packed and there was a 40 minutes wait for a table. I didn’t feel like waiting for such a long time. So we walked a block to Dahlia Lounge hoping we would have better luck there.

We were in luck, there was a bit of wait but not too bad. A much quieter and intimate setting, I immediately like the place. We started with Sea Bar Sampler. Served in beautifully garnished small plates, the sampler was beautiful to look at and even better in the taste palette.

For entrée, I had pan roasted Idaho trout served with spaetzle and brussel sprouts. Ktula had wood grilled yellowfin tuna with Yukon potatoes. My trout was pan roasted to perfection. It was moist but not greasy. I rarely had fish dish done so right in western style restaurants. This was my first time trying spaetzle and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Even the brussel sprouts were juicy and flavorful.

It was in my opinion the best kind of dinning experience – no special occasion, didn’t really plan on it; but everything worked out and the night turned out great.