I did a little research beforehand and I was excited to learn that Executive Chef Steven Brand would be using locally grown tomatoes for this tasting menu. I also thought this was fitting as this week is Farmers Market Week in Massachusetts. I am participating in a "Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts" blogathon to bring awareness to local food. I thought a re-cap of this evening would nicely tie in with this theme!
But back to the food. We had a lovely tasting menu ahead of us last night.
Since the wine pairing was only $13 more, we all decided to do the tasting menu with the wine pairing. To start, our server poured us a glass of 2008 Ca' del Solo Albarino from Monterey County. This was a nice light wine and we were told that it was a vegan wine (although I'm not quite sure what makes it vegan). We also kicked off the evening with an amuse bouche - a shooter of summer gazpacho.
Normally I cringe when I see gazpacho on a menu because it is not really one of my favorite dishes. Even though I love vegetable juices and Bloody Marys, I just can't get myself to enjoy a thick tomato-based soup. But this amuse bouche couldn't have been further from that. It was really chunky with kernels of sweet corn and crunchy miniature croutons. This definitely was large for an amuse bouche but I wasn't complaining!
While we waited for our first course to arrive, we dug into the generous bread basket. And over lots of laughter and conversation, our courses began to arrive.
Our first course was a classic native heirloom tomato salad with fresh market raspberry vinegar, Vermont goat cheese and Thai basil.
This dish was so pretty in its colors and I absolutely loved the creamy goat cheese. When I was all done with my plate, I took a cue from Kristen and grabbed a piece of bread to soak up all of that delicious raspberry vinegar.
Our next wine tasting was a French bourgogne - 2007 Domaine Caillot Les Herbeux. This white burgundy wine was a little to wood-flavored for me so I wasn't a huge fan. However, I was in love with our next course - a parsley and lemon crusted hake with lightly crushed Yukon gold potatoes and basil tomato water.
Wow, this dish was amazing. The tomato flavor wasn't really obvious but the parsley and lemon crust on the fish was so wonderful. We were all so into this dish and I definitely dipped back into the basket for another piece of bread to soak up the basil tomato water.
Our final wine tasting was a Cabernet Sauvignon - 2006 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Artemis from Napa Valley. I absolutely loved this wine and wanted to savor every sip. It went beautifully with our third course, which was a wood-grilled New York strip steak served with a tomato a la Provencale and slow-roasted garlic. The aroma of roasted garlic hit you immediately and for me it is always a welcome scent. This dish was definitely welcome on a cold rainy evening like last night. The first photo wasn't so great but I loved that there was a smiley face on my dish.
Our server actually turned our plates around and this made for a better photo, even if it hid the fantastic stuffed tomato.
The dessert course was definitely intriguing when we were served a sweet tomato sorbet coupe. This dessert was layered with a red wine reduction, olive oil ice cream, sweet tomato sorbet, candied pinenuts, a whipped cream and topped with a lemon thyme shortbread. It was an absolute stunning dish and I'm sad that my photo doesn't do it justice. There was not a single element of this dish that I didn't adore but my favorites were of course the olive oil ice cream and the candied pinenuts!
It is hysterical to watch a table of food bloggers try to get a great photo. Our flashes were going off over and over again and it looked there was some serious paparazzi action but it was just the five of us trying to photograph our dessert!
I had a great time with the ladies last night. I have been really lucky to meet some great people through my food blog who have become more than just acquaintances but actual friends. It was nice to be at a dinner where we weren't learning about a new product or meeting new people. Instead, we just got to be ourselves and share about our real lives - from our relationships to our frustrations with our blogs to our careers. It was really wonderful to just relax and enjoy a good meal with great company.
Upstairs on the Square is located at 91 Winthrop Street, Cambridge, MA.
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