Way Back Wednesday! Tasting Menu
Jalapeño Hush Puppies (maple butter): nothing surprising but inherently delicious.
Portobello Mushroom Mousse (truffled crostini & fennel compote): I think the proportions of the different accoutrements were a little bit off kilter, but once you assembled a bite, it was great. The presentation was also a bit impractical given the sauce all over the plate.
Carrot Risotto (carrot dumplings, carrot ribbons): another carrot dish they hit out of the park! I go my whole life hating carrots, but in their hands… it’s like a miracle ingredient. Other than the rice and the many variations of carrot preparation, I think there is nothing else in this dish. Yet it has such a cornucopia of varying sweetnesses, creaminesses, and textures.
Corn Grits (tempura poached egg, corn cream, huitlacoche): floored by two dishes in a row. I’ve never had huitlacoche before—it’s a fungus that grows on corn.
Lime Beurre Blanc Tofu (green ragout): and the good times have to end at some point. My least favorite course from my two Dirt Candy visits. The only times they falter are when they try to emulate a non-vegetarian dish, and that’s all this seems to be. Like a generic fish with a bland white sauce, but they’ve replaced the fish with tofu that has no taste other than salt.
Candied Grapefruit Pop!: that’s their exclamation point, not mine.
Popcorn Pudding (caramel popcorn): nowhere close to the dessert from last time.
The Great Wave (japanese whisky, ginger, tamarind, lemon)
This was a special one-day menu to celebrate Dirt Candy’s sixteenth year since opening. All the dishes came from the first couple menus they served at the restaurant. Overall, I thought it was very good but with less consistency than my previous visit. Higher highs (Carrot Risotto and Corn Grits) and lower lows (Lime Beurre Blanc Tofu). It’s still one of the most exciting restaurants in NYC—I very well might go to every one of their seasonal menus for now on.
There were no service snafus like during my last visit, but FOH could still use some polish. I was served by two people, and one server gave notably less in-depth explanations than the other server. When he served the tofu dish, I think he might have just said, “Tofu.” And I looked at him expecting him to continue, and he just gave me this look like what do you want from me and then left. There was a major catastrophe on the M train as usual, so I had to uber about half way there—ended up ten minutes late, but they were perfectly accommodating when I arrived.