Another year done come and gone.
I hope everyone had a safe and pleasant New Year’s Eve celebration. We enjoyed a quiet dinner with a few friends. Okay, it was a raucous wine-soaked dinner.
Here are some of the highlights. Now taking reservations for 2014.
Amuse bouche — toro with fresh wasabi in an olive oil-kudzu chip
Hawaiian ahi tuna tartare, house-cured capelin caviar, crisp rice, fried shallots and capers, three sauces
Pan-grilled foie gras, caramelized d’Anjou pear, nasturtium leaf salad, watercress emulsion
Prime tri-tip carpaccio, crackled black pepper frico, tomato powder, black & white sauces, tiny greens, flowers
Cauliflower & fish bone soup risotto, white truffles, fried parsley and fish bones
Fried ice fish, sweet shrimp & scallop, conch, sea urchin cream, wasabi tobiko and warm sea vegetables
Kobe hanger steak, braised silky pork belly, watercress potatoes, yuzu marmalade, tempura hedgehog mushrooms, black truffle butter, hog sauce
“Latté” — espresso snow, sweet cream gelato, shaved chocolate, madeleine
skinny girls & mayonnaise 
Jan 03, 2014 @ 00:37:56
Sean will you do that for our next wine club pickup party?
Cheers & Happy New Year! Wine Guerrilla
Jan 03, 2014 @ 00:52:42
We can talk. 😉
Happy New Year!
Jan 03, 2014 @ 01:14:41
Incredible! Put us on the waiting list to get on the waiting list! 🙂
Jan 03, 2014 @ 01:17:59
It’s like el Bulli — there’s 500,000 people on the waiting list. 😉
Jan 03, 2014 @ 17:45:48
That looks like a once in a lifetime dining experience! The one I’m still waiting for. 🙂
Jan 03, 2014 @ 17:48:18
I try to improve them a little each time. 🙂
Jan 03, 2014 @ 19:22:08
Did you make that olive oil chip? How does one do that? How much of this is prepped ahead of time?
And forget about dining with you: do you need a sous chef next year?
Jan 03, 2014 @ 23:02:32
New Year 2014/15 in California for Rachel’s Table!? You know I could always use a sous chef — especially YOU! However, you’d have to put away all those coats and ear muffs. It was 80 here on New Years Day. 🙂
For the olive oil chip, I dissolved Japanese kuzuko powder (kudzu) in water, then poured it in circles on a mat and put it in my dehydrator for 12 hours (little geeky molecular trick). Then gently lifted the clear discs off, and just before serving brushed them with olive oil.
I do a lot of pre-prep in the days before. But mostly just getting sauces ready, cutting things, pre-cooking whatever can be pre-cooked (braised pork, i.e.) and then that day I’m bustling about the kitchen getting my mise en place ready and as much done as possible. I like to enjoy the party, as well. So mostly I’m just constructing the dishes at the last moment.
Jan 04, 2014 @ 01:26:20
So jealous since today I had a “snow day.” It snowed 10 inches and I was forced to work from home. I did make a kick-ass soup, though, with almost NOTHING in the pantry and fridge. (I’ll be blogging about it.)
How long does it take you to make all those sauces? It looks like each plate has three, at least.
Jan 04, 2014 @ 03:15:50
Can’t wait to read about the KA soup.
The sauces — it depends. None of them were terribly difficult. For example, the three sauces on the tuna tartare were all cold, and didn’t require much other than some chopping and blending. The “black” sauce on the carpaccio was Chinese black vinegar mixed with Indonesian kejap manis — about 2 minutes. The “hog sauce” on the pork was the braising liquid reduced for 2 hours — only required turning the heat on and keeping an eye on it.
I guess the greatest skill is being able to keep track of a bunch of things at once.
Jan 05, 2014 @ 16:30:25
That def looks like a lot to keep track off. Plating alone would have taken me an hour.
It’s funny how cold sauces are so GOOD, but so EASY. I thank the gods for my food processor every day.
Your culinary mind amazes me; I’m just over here making soup. 😉
Jan 05, 2014 @ 17:29:04
I make soup a lot of the time too. 😉 Actually, one of the things that took the longest for that dinner was filleting and de-boning (not to mention removing roe) from around 30 tiny capelin fish so I could make the “fish bone soup” that went into the risotto.
Jan 04, 2014 @ 03:49:51
And BTW — “snow day”, are you kidding me!? I am SO jealous of that!! We were going to try to go skiing while the kids are out of school, but there’s not even any snow in the mountains here! They’re making snow with machines, but who wants to ski on fake snow!??
Jan 05, 2014 @ 16:31:36
Snow day still going over here. But do you know what goes with snow? Frigid temperatures–like six degrees. I wonder how your California sensibilities would respond to that kind of cold. I’m from New England, and it still takes my breath away.
Jan 05, 2014 @ 17:30:39
I spent the better part of a winter in Vienna (Austria, not Pennsylvania) one year. The snow was so beautiful — for about the first day! And then it became a muddy, sooty wet mess. And yeah, it was chilly.
We’re dipping down into the low 70s here today, BTW. I might need to make some soup too. Maybe some GAZPACHO! LOL
Jan 05, 2014 @ 17:32:17
I’m not laughing.
Jan 04, 2014 @ 04:40:56
Everything looks incredible — especially that foie gras! I’m particularly jealous b/c I barely ingested anything except sparkling wine on NYE. (terrible idea btw.)
Jan 04, 2014 @ 17:41:59
Always remember the padding!