Adventures in secret dining

As I cautiously rang the bell at a building I'd never been to I was at the height of my paranoia. On the way over I fretted over whether or not I had the correct address and I wasn't really sure who to contact if I did write down the wrong address...what if I was walking into some insane kidnapping scheme? All this for a dinner and cocktail pairing?

I had been receiving correspondences from Bite Club for a while, but a recent notice said that there would be a dinner paired with cocktails by Joaquin Simo of Death & Co. made it me decide, "Well, maybe it's time I attended one of these secret dining club dinners."

When I entered the apartment that had been temporarily turned into a small dining area I was instantly struck by apartment envy. It seems to be a condition of New York living. It wasn't palatial like a Trump condo, it was just normal-sized. Seriously, that's all I ask for in an apartment. Normal-sized. Though I guess that's pretty subjective...

I managed to get over the apartment envy long enough to overhear a woman explain that she was with Italian Marie Claire and an older gentleman with her snapped away on his professional-looking camera. To be honest half of me was pretty scared about the possibility of being interviewed as an attendee. I wasn't sure what protocol was in giving statements since I was there as a reporter in some sense and I didn't want to commit some weird imagined faux pas in my head. However, when she ignored me to talk with other guests, what ego I had did feel a bit wounded. I was hoping I looked important or cool enough to talk to whether or not it was true.

As I scanned the room I spotted what I thought was a familiar face, but thanks to my ineptitude at recognizing faces and deteriorating eyesight it took me a while for me to recognize that it was my colleague Elizabeth Licata who was with her husband Nick Vogt. The two had been married since June and, may I for a moment drop all reporter pretense to say they totally made a cute and well-dressed couple? Seriously? Totally cute. But back to being professional...

It was a total coincidence to run into them. I hadn't discussed about attending this particular dinner and asked them if they were regulars to this club. Elizabeth answered that it was their first time attending and was sort of a Christmas gift to each other, which I thought was a great gift idea.

As I scanned the menu I saw that the five course meal featured marrow, lobster, sweetbreads, foie gras and chocolate. I was very curious as to what drinks would be matched with these food items. I dove head first into the pairings and tried to taste as much as possible each of the dishes and cocktails, but to be honest, five courses with five drinks (not counting the Blood Smoke and Sand Joaquin served before dinner) began taking a toll on me.

I guess I really should have tried approaching it more from a "tasting" standpoint, yet stubbornly I tried to be pretty good about drinking most of the drinks at the beginning. Waste not, want not as they say, but towards the end I was pretty full from the food and the drink. I could say a lot about what I tasted. For example, when I drank the Blood Smoke and Sand, the first thing to hit me was how smoky it tasted. I commented to Elizabeth about whether or not there was some liquid smoke in the drink because it was so pronounced, but later I was to find out that it was the extra peaty and smoky scotch that was used that was packing that punch. I found the choice of pairing the Summer Shack with the lobster dish interesting because of the drink's strong lemon/citrus aroma. It was pretty logical to me since it seemed like a drink that could play with the seafood flavor of the lobster, while playing in contrast with the creaminess of the dish and the rich and subtle black truffle pastry accompanying the cream of lobster. This was good and all, but I wanted to hear about the drinks from the source.

After the dinner, the place began to clear out and it started to look more and more like an apartment again. People were clearing up in the kitchen, and diners were grabbing their coats and heading out, thanking for the meal. I found Joaquin in the kitchen with a drink in his hand and leaning next to a fridge. He said good bye and thanked the dinner guests who complimented him as they filed out. It felt more like the end of a holiday party at a friends house than an intense study in complex cocktails served with an elaborate food menu. I felt like I was having a conversation with a friend of a friend I had been introduced to when I cornered Joaquin.

Curiosity got the best of me and I told Joaquin that I noticed him shaking the drinks in an interesting way.

"Were you doing a hard shake?" I asked. He replied that the odd shaking was more a result of him having to use chipped ice that I saw him scoop from a cooler stationed next to the long table he had set up as his station.

I also asked about the demerara syrup that was listed for some of the drinks. I confirmed with Joaquin that it was simple syrup made with demerara sugar. An option he chose to give the drinks a richer flavor to round things out.

We made small chit-chat about cocktails and how the cocktail scene can be a close-knit one. I also prodded a bit about the current state of affairs with Death & Co. and the State Liquor Authority. There had been closings related to noise complaints in 2007. In short, it's complicated and an ongoing issue, but the place is open again and trying its best to be squeaky clean in an attempt to show that they are good citizens, and if possible, avoid further attention from the SLA. It's running under the schedule of a previous liquor license, so the place is open from 6pm to midnight. There were more questions about how he worked out the pairings, but I didn't want to be rude about taking up too much of his time since it looked like there was still a lot of cleaning up to do. I asked him if I could follow up by phone. I was relieved that he obliged me by letting me call him up on Wednesday even though he was spending time with family.

Joaquin said that he got the menu from Bite Club a week or week and half ahead of time. The thing that I kept wondering about was how one would go about doing cocktail pairings. Cocktail in and of themselves seem like a food item with their own recipes of ingredients.

"There’s a couple a different approaches. One is to try mimic the flavors that are in the food. So if the food's heavy and rich, I might go with something heavy and rich. Or I might do the opposite. Both can work," Joaquin said.

"For the most part, I was trying to reference the flavor that I found or at least a certain sense of what the dish was about."

The first course of bone marrow was paired with a cocktail called the Loosey Goosey that had a foie-gras infused bourbon for providing a mouth feel of richness in the mouth.

When I saw it on the menu that night I instantly thought of chunks of foie gras sitting in bourbon, and that definitely did not seem right.

"It uses a technique called fat washing," Jaoquin explained, dispelling the disturbing and unappetizing image I had of the foie gras floating in jars like some kind of specimen. In the fat washing technique, the fat is rendered from the foie gras and allowed steep with the bourbon at room temperature. Afterwards, it's blast chilled and then strained through a series of sieves and filters. "You’re not going to get a greasy mouth feel."

Jaoquin explained he wanted something big to go with the bone marrow and a week before the dinner had the good luck of sampling some of the infused bourbon at PDT, where it was created by Don Lee. He knew instantly he needed some of it for the dinner.

And speaking of foie gras, the particular food item made another appearance later on in the dinner, but was paired with Joaquin's Black Market Brandy. The dish had pear poached with mulling spice, ginger snap, cacao nibs and star anise. The cocktail echoed some of these flavors with the spiced tea used to infuse the sweet vermouth, and also with the chocolate bitters and fruitiness found in the brandy.

"It’s always kind of a crap shoot," Joaquin said about trying to pair cocktails with food, but added, "I think they did work...they worked out very well. When they present these really complex menus it gives you a lot to work with...you play with one lesser flavor that’s found in the dish and accentuate it in the glass so people can recognize it."

Usually a spirit or new liqueur with an interesting flavor inspires Joaquin to come up with new drinks.

"When there's a really lovely flavor, I think 'Wow what could I do with this?'"

For example with a new rum he might try it out with a classic rum drink to see how it behaves. A technique he uses often, playing with proportions of classic drinks to see what else can come out of it.

I made a promise to try and stop by in the new year since around 30 new drinks were added to the menu.

"...30??" I asked again to make sure I heard right.

"It's always a challenge when we put out a new menu," Joaquin said. "Then you work a couple of shifts and get the hang of it."

A self-professed foodie, Joaquin said about dinner pairings, "It’s fun. One of the drinks on the list came from one of the first dinner pairings...it's always nice to have impetus with the food where you’re automatically getting a base flavor profile."

Dec. 22 Bite Club Dinner

Loose Goosey
Foie gras-infused Bourbon Rittenhouse Rye, Carpano Antica, dry Sherry, Champagne, Demerara syrup, Orange bitters, orange twist
Marrow
parsley shallot salad, sweet garlic jam, toast points

Summer Shack
Plymouth Gin, Lillet Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, St. Germain, Orange Bitters, Lemon twist
Lobster
cream of lobster, black truffle pastry

Solera Sidecar
Courvoisier Cognac, Ooroso sherry, Lazzaroni Amaretto, fresh lemon juice
Sweetbreads
JG raisin caper emulsion, cauliflower puree

Black Market Brandy
Courvoisier Cognac, Laird's bonded Applejack, Market Spice tea-infused Sweet Vermouth, Angostura bitters, Bittermens chocolate bitters
Foie Gras
Muling spice poached pear, ginger snap, cacao nibs, star anise caramel

New york Flip
Sazerac 6 year rye, Tawny Port, Demerara syrup, Heavy Cream, egg yolk, freshly grated nutmeg
Chocolate
Cayenne infused Neuhaus 85% chocolate, frosted habanero pepper

Drinking (and eating) at the Beard House

When Bret Thorn sent an email to me asking me if I'd go in his stead to a Beard House dinner he would be unable to attend I agreed to go without hesitation. Well, there was a bit of hesitation. "Am I supposed to be dressed real nice? It kind of sounds like it..." I emailed back. Even after a little over two years working for NRN I still feel like a food industry newbie at times, and for me the Beard House is the stuff of fables. Thankfully, Bret assured me that I just had to dress "like a grown-up."

Wednesday night's dinner was themed "A New Hampshire Holiday Dinner" with food created by chefs from New Hampshire hotels and resorts. The dinner was presented by Daniel Dumont, executive chef at Wentworth By the Sea Hotel in New Castle, New Hampshire; Larry Johnson, executive chef at The Balsams in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire; Juho Lee, executive chef at Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa in Whitefield, N.H.; and Edward Swetz, executive chef at Mount Washington Resort, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

However, you ask, "OK, that's cool and all, but where does the drinking come in?" At dinner of course.

During the course of conversation at my table at the Beard House, I explained that usually I was more of a beer and spirits type of person and wine was not my forte. It wasn't anything personal against wine; I had no qualms drinking it when paired with foods as it was at this particular dinner. I was just green when it came to ordering it on my own. So it was a bit of a fun coincidence when later in the evening I turned to my right and got to talking with Oral Kelly, food and beverage director for the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa in Whitefield, N.H. While talking to him about what his job description entailed he began to explain about how he created a wine list for people who are not used to drinking wine.

Kelly said that while at a resort you get out-of-towners, it's also important to appeal to the locals since they were to be depended on for year-round business. And Kelly found out that the local crowd tended to define themselves more as beer drinkers so he'd been trying different ways to introduce and sell wine to programs non-wine drinkers.

One way was to promote wine dinners with pairings. He also worked with purveyors to schedule free wine tasting for more exposure.

Pricing also played an important role. Kelly said he tries to populate the wine list with affordable, but good quality wines. He also prices them attractively. While at a restaurants a certain wine may be marked up to $60, he choose to have it available at the resort for $50.

A balance between familiar and new also had to be struck. Kelly said that he likes to include American wines since it's less intimidating than something from outside of the country, but then he'll have something comparable from outside the United States that he can suggest.

Kelly pointed out that the availability of half bottles was part of the success of the wine program. "Someone's not going to buy a whole bottle if they aren't able to finish it."

And of course, he educated his staff to provide recommendations to guide customers towards new wines or just to try out wines.

Kelly said that the most important thing about his job as food and beverage director wasn't about just selling food or just selling beverages, but it was about selling an experience. It made sense to me when I thought about his approach to wines. For someone like me, I'd drink more wine if I knew what I was doing. I have some basic idea, but admit that the whole operation, when taking into account subtle notes and flavors and pairing them with food, was something a little intimidating to me. A strange thing considering how I'd take a sip of a cocktail, then ruminate over what kind of spirits or flavors were present in it. At an event like the dinner at the Beard House, where wine was made part of an experience, it was like a weight was taken off of my shoulders and I was relaxed more to actually sit and taste what I was drinking and contemplate it a bit. Not in a snooty way, but I mean to actually just take note of what was going on in my mouth.

I'm going to rip off Mr. Thorn's format here and provide a list of what I ate WITH what I drank at The Beard House. Just gonna switch the order a bit and highlight the wines up front...you know, like subject headers:

Domaine Carneros by Tattinger Brut Cuvee 2004
New Hampshire trout brandade with anadama crostini
Espresso cumin-crusted New England farm-raised elk carpaccio roll
Pan seared salted cod cakes with roasted corn aioli
Smoked duck breast with celery root slaw
Foie gras and caramelized parsnip tart with roasted pear marmalade
Pickled beausoleil oysters with matsutakes, crystallized lady apple and apple syrup
Pheasant galantine on a bed of pumpkin butter and gooseberry conserve
Maple-cured gravlax of Arctic char and lightly smoked wild Char roe

Clos LaChance Unoaked Chardonnay Hummingbird Series, Monterey County 2005
Roasted pear parsnip bisque
Maine seafood spring roll

Merriam Vineyards Merlot, Windacre Vineyard, Russian River Valley 2003
Cider basted Vermont quail
Maple roasted root vegetable and potato terrine
Cranberry reduction

Four Vines Winery Heretic Petite Sirah, Paso Robles 2005
Variety of New Hampshire venison
Roasted loin en crepinette, sweet and sour quince
Braised fore shank ravioli with celeriac fondant
Hen of the woods ragout

Four Vines Winery Heretic Petite Sirah, Paso Robles 2005
Pierce Hill tomme
Winter truffles, pickled beets and melted onions

Renwood Port, Sierra Foothills, Calif.
Warm chocolate chestnut bread pudding
Eggnog ice cream, red currant sauce