Your Menu, Sir...

Hors D’oeuvres

Truffled Arancini

Spicy Lamb Skewers with Tzatziki and Mint

Burrata Cheese Crostini with Arugula, Balsamic and Strawberry

Tuna Tartare with Pinenuts, Asian Pear and Crispy Wonton

Shrimp and Avocado Campechana on Tortilla

Parsnip, Hazelnut Brown Butter, and Roasted Apple Soup

First Course

Gem Lettuce Salad with Shaved Beets, Soft Herbs, Pumpernickel, and Green Goddess Dressing

Second Course

Peekytoe Crab Cakes with Fava Beans , English Peas, French Breakfast Radish and Cream Dijon

Third Course

Red Wine Braised Black Angus Short Rib with Crispy Potato and Mushroom Gratin, Asparagus, and Horseradish in Natural Juices

Dessert

Crème Fraiche Panna Cotta with Blood Orange, Pistachio, and Candied Fennel

A menu for a Prix Fixe dinner at a four star restaurant?  Options at a fancy hotel dining room?   Nope! THIS is the menu to be served TO YOU at the aforementioned Ryken Gala.    While this would be a daunting task even in an a la carte restaurant such as Market Table, think about passing the hors, then serving the courses to hundreds of people who all want it at once, hot, cooked just right, and gracefully served, (ladies first).  How in the world do you do that?  Well, that’s why there are people in the world like Mike Price and the Kelleys who operate Canards Catering.  They know how to order the food, how much and what, when to cook what, and so forth.  A lot of the preliminary cooking is often done off site, and transported to the event in "hot boxes", and finished there.  How all that is done is really amazing.    Once there, you gotta have lots of plates (duhh….) and maybe the garni ready

Meanwhile the hors are set out, and salads are being plated

Sidebar: the worker above in the white hat is none other than your Bottom Feeder who gets enlisted from time to time to help  

 Salads along with dressings

Then main plates are laid out, and the food is placed on each one, one by one, down the line till they are all ready to go out, and "ready" means eyes have been laid on them to look for that stray green bean trying to escape…

Then there is pickup, and things are delivered to your table for you to enjoy, oblivious of what a lot of it took to get that plate in front of you.  And maybe while you are enjoying your meal, dessert is being constructed (and in this case being “torched”)

Believe me, it is a lot of work, requiring things to be in the proper place, arranged in order, and a lot of dedicated people who fill all those plates (sometime I'll tell you the story of the Feeder and the "400 Salads").   It is hard work and needs an experience team to pull it off.   Having experienced the operation, I think I actually prefer the front of the house, although there is a certain satisfaction in participating in the dance that brings good food to your table.

So, finally, at this special Gala, a lot of this will be done INSIDE the curtain and you can see it done. I am anxious to attend, go to the link above if you want to also!  A unique experience to be sure.  And, hope there are no dropped plates or spills, which occasionally occurs behind the curtain.  Believe me.  Nuff said. 

Chefs of the evening.. 

Michael Kelley                         Mike Price 

NOTE TO REGULAR READERS

Which also might be of some interest to those who just started looking because of the Gala.  For those new readers, I posed the question to the regulars as to whether when they are planning a trip to a new restaurant, do they go on line and look at the menu.  Traditional old me, I prefer to wait until I am at my table, and even then I don’t usually look at the menu until after a cocktail.  It gives me time to observe plates going to other tables, and get a general feel for the staff.  That sometimes drives me to one choice of the other.  Of course, you can arrive with pre-conceived notions, but to me opening and perusing the menu is part of the experience.   

Well, I was surprised to learn that I am in the distinct minority(!) in that approach to dining.  Those (few) readers who did respond (thank you) I think unanimously preferred to peek ahead.  Another branch of this twig is that I will NEVER stand outside and read a menu posted there..

But you can be sure I will arrive

DFD