Volt - Table 21

I wasn't quite sure how Justin was going to top last year's birthday (dinner at Rogue 24), but he managed to do just that.  He managed to not only score a reservation at Volt, but it was at the 8-person chef's table, Table 21.

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Since we've watched Bryan Voltaggio on Top Chef, and the current season of Top Chef Masters, and having been to his other restaurants, Family Meal and Range, we knew we'd be in for a treat.  Table 21 gives you a front row seat to the kitchen.  It was surprisingly quiet too; no one yelling like Gordon Ramsey on Hell's Kitchen.  The kitchen was a well-oiled machine, everyone knowing their role, cooking and plating each dish with precision, and the occasional, "yes, chef."  It was also quite entertaining to watch billowing clouds of smoke/steam (I'm not sure which it is, technically) flow out of the kitchen as liquid nitrogen was poured over various ingredients too.

But let's get to the food!  The one thing I enjoy about these kinds of meals is not knowing what you're going to get until the dish is served.  We received a copy of the menu at the end of the meal, and it turned out that we ended up having smaller versions of almost every item on the a la carte menu, plus a few more.

We started with 4 "snacks" and a cocktail.  The cocktail was Voltaggio's take on the classic drink, an aviation, but it was frozen with the liquid nitrogen.  They recommended we let it sit and melt for a few minutes before tasting it.  I don't think I waited long enough though, because that first spoonful burned my tongue from how cold it was.  The snacks included a deviled egg, a poached oyster shooter, a gougere, and a lamb "blockette".  My favorite was the lamb, which had been formed into a perfect cube, lightly breaded, and topped with a smear of baba ghanoush.  In close 2nd was the deviled egg; rather than using the egg white, a celeriac macaron served as the vessel and added a nice crunch, while the caviar that topped the creamy yolk added a nice brininess and texture to the bite.  The first set of dishes was rounded out by a duo of tomatoes.  One side of the plate had heirloom tomato gazpacho with blue crab, and the other had a caprese salad with homemade burrata in place of mozzarella.  The freshness of the tomatoes was apparent.  

Next, we moved into slightly bigger dishes; about 2-3 bites each.  We started off with a tuna tartar served with an avocado cream, green apple, and drops of soy sauce.  I'd been watching one of the chefs plate this dish right in front of me, and it tasted as great as it looked!  We also had salt-crusted baked carrots, which despite the slight saltiness, still let the sweetness of the carrots shine through.  This was followed by summer beans with goat ricotta and a fava bean hummus.  The hummus was the star of the plate, for sure.  Next, we were served a sourdough linguini with clams and smoked potato.  The pasta had a subtle sourness to it that didn't overpower the taste of the clam.  To finish of the second round of plates, we each had half of a soft-shell crab.  It was lightly fried golden brown and perfectly crisp, and tamale was rich--a true Maryland classic. 

In keeping with the seafood theme, we sampled the calamari bolognese.  The cavatelli pasta were made with squid ink, and the sauce was made with calamari and miso.  It was outstanding, and offered an unusual, but delicious spin on a classic pasta dish.  This dish also won Chef Voltaggio the latest challenge on Top Chef Masters, to send him into the finale!  We then moved into some of the heartier, meat and seafood dishes.  First we tried monkfish with artichoke, fennel and stinging nettle.  It was cooked perfectly, resembling the texture of a lobster tail.  Next came a piece of rockfish served atop cabbage, chorizo, turnip, and peach.  The skin was nice and crisp, while the fish remained moist.  As for the meats, we were served braised pork cheek and jowl, some of my favorites parts of the pig, served with celeriac, fava beans and pearl onions.  The final savory dish was a piece of braised lamb neck served atop a barley risotto with sauteed kale.  At this point, I was struggling to find room in my stomach for the remaining food, but it was hard not to eat that barley risotto.

After all of those savory dishes, we still had four desserts to go.  To ease us into the sweets, we started with a cheese plate of goat bleu cheese and ricotta with rhubarb.  It was a great way to transition into dessert.  Next came a plate of milk & honey; goat's milk gelato, drizzled with honey and pieces of honeycomb.  This was my kind of dessert.  The sweetness of the honey was balanced out by the different textures and the richness of the gelato.  Some of the honeycomb was was crisped up while others were soaking up cream, creating an interplay of different textures as well.  Then came a dish of chocolate ice cream sitting on top of a homemade toasted marshmallow, adorned with frozen chocolate mousse, peanuts and caramel.  It was like an upscale frozen Snickers, times a million!  It was so rich and decadent.  Just when I thought we were done, they brought out their interpretation of a Dove bar; chocolate panna cotta with a thin chocolate shell.  I could only fit one small bite in my stomach, but that one bite was amazing.

Not only was it an inventive and delicious meal, but it was great to get a front row view of the kitchen.  If you ever have the chance to eat at Table 21, or any other chef's table/tasting menu experience, I would highly recommend it.  Watching everyone in the kitchen work in harmony to produce plate after plate of beautiful, delicious food is a sight to see.  I couldn't have asked for a more delicious birthday meal!

Best Birthday Ever!

I gotta be honest here, I usually don't look forward to birthdays.  It comes so close to Christmas that it usually ends up being an afterthought.  When Kara told me she had a special surprise in store for me this year, I knew this birthday would be one of my favorites--especially since it was competing against previous years, like the year I was injured in hockey practice, or the time I had to work late, or in third grade when my mom told me she got me a girl present by mistake.

Any guesses what the surprise was?  I was perplexed too, but I figured it was food related (of course!) and I knew it would be amazing.  For Kara's birthday I took her to Rogue 24, and I could see she was determined to have another unforgettable meal together for my big day as well.

She certainly didn't disappoint...my first time dining at the legendary Komi! I figured it out when we got off at Dupont.  It had to be either Komi or Little Serow, and seeing that Little Serow doesn't take reservations, my intuitions proved correct.

For those of you not familiar with Komi here is a bit of a background.  It is a small, intimate, and personalized experience serving a Greek inspired, prix fixe menu, custom tailored to each tables preferences.  Reservations are hard to come by, only taking them a month in advance of the day you plan to go.  Don't be discouraged if you can't get through, keep redialing!  It took Kara and her mom 45 minutes to get through, using 4 different phones, and even then, our reservation was still at 8:45pm!

I was visibly excited when we sat down, and I needed a drink to settle in for the gastronomic journey ahead.  Kara and I are both really in to all the inventive craft brews around now, and are big fans of porters and stouts.  Luckily, Komi has a decent beer list.  In fact, we both opted for a couple of our tried and true favorites; her a Duck Rabbit Porter and me an Old Rasputin Imperial Stout.

Finally, the small plates started coming our way, and from the very first dish the bar was set extremely high.  Frequent readers of this blog can probably figure out some of my favorite ingredients from some of the stuff we've featured, raw seafood, truffles, exotic meats, classic pastas, and international fare.  Those were all featured prominently in this meal.  I thought Kara had tipped them off, but she insists it was all a happy coincidence that some of my favorite foods were served.

The first few courses were bite-size dishes, gradually increasing in size as we moved towards the main course.  Our first dish was a bite size, house made brioche with smoked trout roe.  It was reminiscent of lox and bagels but was a very clean tasting and fresh take on those flavors.  Next, we had Komi's modernist rendition of spanakopita.  Kara had been talking about this dish since she'd had it in May, and it certainly lived up to the hype.  Essentially, what arrived was a small, perfectly golden brown ball resembling a croquette.  We were advised to eat it in one bite, so we popped those suckers in our mouths, and were treated to an outpouring of creamy, hot spinach from inside.  The next treat to come our way was a slice of raw salmon.  What really stood out about this dish was just how fresh and buttery the fish was.  It's natural flavors took center stage in this preparation and the flesh was velvety and tender on the palate.

The next round of dishes were a bit larger and built some complex and unique flavors.  The scallop dish that followed was like Chef Johnny could read my mind, and was able to create flavor combinations that need careful precision to be successful.  It was raw scallop (yum), uni (one of my absolute favorites), shaved truffle (what, are you serious here!), and diced turnip for a little textural component.  The end result was food porn bordering on over the top that Kara would never allow me to create in our kitchen.  That course was followed up by a perfectly grilled and seasoned baby octopus.

Ok, hopefully you haven't  drooled all over your keyboards yet because the dishes kept on coming.  If you've seen our post on gnocchi you are probably aware that it is my top comfort food.  In fact, gnocchi was   one of the items I made the first time I cooked a meal for Kara.  These gnocchi were amazing.  Fortunately, I was able to capture a video of Kara's reaction upon tasting them.  They were so light and tasty, no heavy sauce was needed, just some brown butter, Parmesan and chives. Kara and I are both adventurous eaters, and as fans of terrines, pates, and offal meat, we excited when the next course was a rabbit liver mousse on a crostini.  Again, it was seasoned to perfection, and it was extremely creamy in contrast to the crunchy bread.

When you think about Greek Cuisine, it is hard to overlook that simple sandwich staple--the gyro.  In this sophisticated riff on the dish, the spit roasted lamb was upgraded to wagyu beef, and the topping was a generous slice of foie gras.  Our next plate brought some salty and sweet goodness to the table.  It was a carmelized medjool date stuffed with marscapone cheese and topped with some sea salt flakes.  Again, dates are a favorite of mine, and I recreated this dish for my family this holiday.

You're probably thinking, wow what a great meal, but it was about to get even better as they brought on the main courses. Our pasta course featured homemade pappardelle pasta with lamb ragu, topped with orange zest.  This dish was simple but delicious, and the pasta and lamb worked harmoniously together without either stealing the show.  The orange zest gave the dish a fresh, brightness to it as well.  The meal peaked with the next main course.  It was a wagyu beef short-rib, served a perfect medium rare.  Accompanying this were toasted pita, pickled fresno peppers, turnip mostarda, and housemade tzatiki.

That last course was truly a tough act to follow, but the 5 dessert courses were sweet bites that rounded out a perfect meal.  Our first dessert was some creamed honey complemented with a crunchy granola-like component.  That was followed by an amazing brown butter ice cream with cashews and a bruleed banana puree. It was reminiscent of bananas foster, and I could eat a pint of the brown butter ice cream.  It was so creamy, decadent, and delicious.  Next we were treated to plate of house made chocolates and toffees that were quite exquisite.  Last but not least, we were each given a root beer lollipop, which made a nice little treat the next day.

All in all, it was a birthday I'll never forget.