Auction Dinner: World Bistro
This past year, my school auctioned off two dinners created by me and paired by Ryan Smith (sommelier) and co-owner of Enoteca La Storia (https://enotecalastoria.com/los-gatos-enoteca-la-storia-locations) and hosted at their restaurants. For each dinner, I send the winning family a questionnaire about their food likes and dislikes before composing a menu.
This evening’s theme was World Bistro which featured flavors from around the world, plus a vegetarian option for each course. Following is both menus, plus pictures.
The card that is placed on the table to suggest the courses for the evening without saying the specific menu.
The menu for the evening with pairings.
The vegetarian menu for the evening plus pairings.
Amuse Bouche: From bottom right to left: French Onion Tart, Beet Profiterole with Goat Cheese Mousse. Salmon crudo with a sauce of apple cider, saki, and oolong tea.
1st Course: Crab Soup made with whole Dungeness crab, brandy, white wine, chervil, and cream. Topped with grated espresso beans. Served with brioche toast topped with butter and fresh uni with a soy/saki glaze.
2nd Course: Homemade spinach tortoloni stuffed with braised leeks. Underneath a mushroom puree and topped with Parmesan foam. Based on the dish “A Walk through the Forrest” from the New York Michelin star Italian restaurant Rezdora.
3rd Course: Dry-aged roasted Guinea fowl served with a stuffed cabbage. The cabbage is stuffed with potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips all mashed with butter and cream, mixed with shredded carrots and caramelized shitake mushrooms. All topped with a Riesling butter sauce and finished with shaved truffle.
4th Course: Braised Lamb Leg and Lamb Belly in red wine and citrus. Pulled and mixed with middle eastern spices before being pressed and then pan seared. Topped with a Lamb jus made from the braising liquid. Served with a chickpea salad with celery, celery leaves, mint, cumin, lemon, and olive oil.
4th Course: Vegetarian option: Cauliflower steak, first steamed, and then marinated in coconut milk, middle eastern spices, lemon, and gin. Then pan seared. Served with a chickpea salad with celery, celery leaves, mint, cumin, lemon, and olive oil.
Intermezzo: Buttermilk and Gin sorbet with preserved Strawberries.
Cheese Course: From top to bottom: 36 Month aged Gouda with honeycomb and balsamic pearls. Saxon Homestead Creamery Alpine Hika Bay with apricots and Fresno chili. Mount Tam Triple Cream with preserved cherries.
Petit Fours: From left to right: Blueberry gelee , Arancia truffle, Cherry gelee, Vanilla truffle with cocoa nibs.
