New Spring Items Part 2

Chicken Primavera

We’re using green circle chickens from D’artagnan. This is a partnership between d’artagnan, a group of amish farmers in Pennsylvania, and restaurants in NY. Essentially the restaurants set aside their vegetable scraps, which are then used to feed the chickens. A portion is one breast and one thigh, the breast is brined, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in the combi-oven. The thighs are brined and then confit’d in schmaltz (chicken fat rendered with onions), then pulled from the bone. To order the breasts are grilled, then glazed with a puree of dates and harissa. The thighs are made into a quick sugo along with fresh garbanzo beans, confit baby artichokes (baby artichokes, olive oil, mirepoix, lemon, garlic, thyme), parsley, mint, garlic and preserved lemon. The base of the plate is a chickpea puree (dried chickpeas cooked with charred lemon then pureed and mixed with greek yogurt). Also on the plate is grilled little gem lettuce and crispy chicken skins. 

Polenta Spin Rosso 

This is a really cool polenta brought to us by Anson Mills in Columbia SC. Spin Rosso means red point or red thorn in Italian and refers to the pointy shape of the kernels of this red corn. This polenta is traditional to Val Sugana, a valley in the Trentino region of northern Italy. The exterior bran of the corn is red, but the interior is yellow, resulting in a classic deep yellow potenta with red flecks throughout. the Polenta is cooked in water, then finished with olio verde and parmesan cheese. Also on the plate is a slow poached egg (cooked at 64 degrees celsius for 1 hour), morel mushrooms, both pan seared and poached (white wine, white wine vinegar, marsala wine, orange zest, garlic, bay leaf, shallots), english peas, fava beans, grilled ramp bottoms, and pea tendrils dressed in lemon juice and olio verde. The plate is garnished with parmesan cheese, sea salt, and olio verde. 

Bucatini

Bucatini means little hole, and it is a long spaghetti like noodle with a hole through the center of the noodle. Inspired by a classic roman pasta made with garlic and chili the sauce is a green garlic passata (confit green garlic bottoms, blanched green garlic tops, green garlic broth, parsley, lemon zest, green garlic oil and pecorino cheese) the sauce is finished with a little bit of butter, lemon juice, olio verde and additional pecorino cheese. Garnishing the pasta is a calabrian chili paste (calabrian chilis, mirepoix, lemon juice and zest), a garlic and rosemary breadcrumb (breadcrumbs, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt), and pecorino cheese

Pizza Bianca 

This pizza has an olive oil base and is topped with shaved raw potato, goat cheese (goat cheese, salt, heavy cream), grilled spring onions, sliced spring onion tops. The pizza is finished with parmesan, salt, oil, and a romesco sauce (roasted peppers, almonds, hazelnuts, pimenton, parsley stems, garlic, sherry vinegar, and olive oil)

Asparagus Pizza 

The base of the pizza is a prosciutto cream sauce (ground prosciutto, milk, sour cream), it is topped with sliced green asparagus, ramp tops, roasted garlic, and a fried egg. Finished with parmesan, salt, and oil. 

Pigs Head Mortadella 

We are getting in whole pigs heads, removing the ears and cooking them for 12 hours in the combi until tender, then dicing the ears. The rest of the head is deboned and deskinned, seasoned and allowed to rest overnight. The meat is ground twice through a fine die, during the second grinding ice is added. The ground meat is then placed in the stand mixer along with the diced ears and some diced pork fat. This is then whipped vigorously until it reaches a temperature of 60 degrees fahrenheit to ensure a smooth emulsion of meat and fat. The mixture is then stuffed into artificial sausage casings and cooked in the combi. Crushed toasted pistachios garnish the meat.

New Prosciutto Sandwich and Roast Chicken Sandwich

Prosciutto Sandwich
Stracchino cheese is melted on the bread, on the other side of the roll is a apricot conffetura (dried apricots, riesling, champagne vinegar, olive brine). Along with the prosciutto there is arugula dressed with a taggiasca olive vinaigrette (taggiasca olives, lemon juice and zest, organo, chili flake, anchovies, and olive oil).

Roast Chicken Sandwich
Chicken is brined, seasoned and cooked, then pulled. The cooked chicken is tossed with fines herbs (parsley, taragon, chives), lemon zest, olive oil and aleppo chili and warmed along with provolone cheese. Also on the bread is a green garlic aioli (green garlic oil, egg yolks, water, salt), and a salad of confit green garlic, baby kale, and artichoke barigoule (artichokes cooked in white wine & water, along with mirepoix, and lemons).

2014 Joan d’Anguera Altaroses

2014 Joan d’Anguera Altaroses

Where: Monstant, Catalonia, Spain

Who: Joan and Josep d’Anguera (brothers)

What: Grenache (Granatxa Fina)

Tastes like: Big without being oaky, dark fruit, pretty restrained wine

What to pair with: Grilled meats, oxtail, bone marrow

More facts

Vine age: 10 to 35 years

Soil: Limestone and clay

Farming: Demeter certified biodynamic and EU certified organic

Vinification: Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in concrete vats using indig-

enous yeasts. Aged for 12 months in old oak barrels. Naturally cold stabilized by winter’s chill and bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Even more facts:

Josep d’Anguera the elder had made a name as the man who introduced Syrah to the region. After he passed away, his two sons Joan and Josep took over, under the guidance of their mother Mercè. Since then, they have been working on defining their own style and putting their unique mark on the wines.

This process has led to numerous developments. One is the conversion to biodynamics: the 2012 vintage was the first to be certified by Demeter. Others include the introduction of techniques such as crushing by foot and de-stemming only partially. There are also changes in aging vessels: the use of new wood is being dramatically reduced in favor of older barrels, foudres, and cement tanks. And the brothers are focusing less on Syrah and more on Garnacha (or “Granatxa,” the old Catalan name for the grape), a grape with a longer history in this region.

The greatest statement of this new direction can be found in the Altaroses, a wonderfully restrained and elegant expression of the Montsant terruño. With great purity of fruit, it is much lighter than what you might expect from a Montsant Garnacha, a true everyday drinking wine.

In Altaroses, the two brothers seem to have truly found their voice, and we can expect great things to come out of this estate in the future as the Angueras move forward with the implementation of their vision.

What is biodynamics?

At its most basic, the biodynamic approach to grape-growing sees the vineyard as an ecological whole: not just rows of grapevines, but the soil beneath them—an organism in its own right—and the other flora and fauna in the area, growing together interdependently.

Where biodynamics differs from other forms of organic or sustainable agriculture is in its idea that farming can be attuned to the spiritual forces of the cosmos. This might mean linking sowing and harvesting to the phases of the moon or the positions of the planets; it also might mean burying cow manure in a cow's horn over the winter, unearthing it in the spring, diluting a minute amount of the substance in 34 liters of water, "dynamizing" it by stirring it by hand in alternating directions for an hour or so and then spraying the mixture over one's vineyard.

New Spring Items Part 1

STARTERS

Pea Green Salad
Pea greens are the vine of the pea plant. They're tossed with shaved fennel, snow peas, and preserved lemon, and dressed in marcona almond vinaigrette (almonds, sherry vinegar, olive oil, whole grain mustard, honey, shallots). Garnishing the salad are shaved breakfast radish, torn mint, and sheep's milk feta.

Roasted Bone Marrow
The marrow bones (beef shin bones) are soaked in water for 48 hrs to purge them of any blood, then seasoned with salt and pepper and roasted in the pizza oven. When almost finished they're crusted with a parmesan crumb (breadcrumbs, parmesan, oregano, salt, and pepper) and returned to the oven to crisp the crumb. On top of the marrow bones is a salad of shaved raw artichoke, basil, parsley, and taragon, garnished with shaved parmesan and nasturtium petals the bone marrow comes with a side of crostini.


PASTAS

Fazzoletti 
Fazzoletti (handkerchief shape pasta, eggs, egg yolks, durum flour and 00 pasta flour). To make the sugo, rabbit legs and thighs are brined and braised (mirepoix, garlic, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, white wine, pork stock.) The braised bunny is shredded and mixed with the crushed carrots from the mirepoix, and topped with a bit of the braising liquid. Fennel is sliced thin and confit in olive oil with lemon zest, black pepper, thyme and bay leaf. Picked up with castelvetrano olives, then tossed with the pasta, butter, black pepper, lemon juice, parmesan and fennel frond. Topped with a rosemary breadcrumb (bread crumbs are toasted in rosemary scented olive oil) (Gluten*, Dairy*, Pork)


SIDES

Crispy Brussels Sprouts
Brussels  Sprouts are halved and deep fried until brown and crisp, then tossed with onion agro dolce (onions, salt, olive oil, and rice wine vingar), and sliced chives

Fiddlehead Ferns
Fiddleheds ferns are young fern plants that have yet to fully unroll. They're blanched in salted water then finished in the pizza oven along with roasted mushrooms, once cooked they're tossed with pickled mustard seeds and olio santo (olive oil, chili flake, fennel fennel pollen, and oregano)

New Cheeses 2/18/2016

Alpha Tolman $7

Raw cow’s milk cheese from Jasper Hills Farm in Greensboro VT. Animal Rennet. Named for a historic dairy farmer in VT, Alpha Tolman is an alpine style cheese, the curds are cooked and pressed to expel excess moisture. The large 22lb wheels are washed with a cultured brine and aged for 8-11 months yielding a rusty orange rind and a semi firm interior. Rich, nutty, and buttery with notes of caramelized onions.

Manchego Pasamontes $7

Raw sheep’s milk cheese from La Mancha Spain. Animal Rennet. The pasamontes family has been making manchego for four generations, at their farmstead creamery in spain. They tend to their own flock of sheep and follow the most traditional methods of production, going above and beyond the requisites for DOP certification. The family does not coat the outside of the cheese in was as is common with large scale manchego producers, the wax protects from bacteria and mold, instead the cheeses are rubbed by hand with a cleaning solution to prevent mold growth, resulting in a natural tan colored rind. The use of raw milk allows this to be certified as an artisan manchego. Aged for one year, the cheese has a slightly crumbly texture and pockets of crystallization. All this extra care results in a cheese with an remarkable depth of flavor, milky, and grassy and a little bit piquant.

Mt Alice $7

Pasteurized cow’s milk cheese from the Von Trapp Farmstead Creamery in Waitsfield VT. This is THE Von Trapp family, as in the hills are alive. After leaving Austria in the 1938 (see Sound of Music for more details) the family settled in vermont and purchased a number of plots of land, one of which, a dairy farm has evolved over the years into a farmstead creamery. Mt. Alice is a camembert style cheese, aged for 3-5 weeks with a bloomy rind. Rich and buttery. Not ok for a penicillin allergy.

Casatica Di Bufala $7

Pasteurized buffalo milk cheese from Lombardy. Animal Rennet, aged 2-3 months. Made by Quattro Portoni, owned by a pair of brothers near bergamo produce traditional italian cheeses but substitute buffalo milk for a twist on tradition. This is a stracchino style cheese, rich creamy and a little nutty, with a bloomy white rind. 

Dating and Labeling, an illustrated guide

In this restaurant, because we care about the details, we cut our tape with scissors or a knife, we don't ever rip it with our hands. Please see below for clarity:

No!

Also No! (except for the sumac. good job with that one) 

Yes!

For more info on this subject, here's an article that pretty much sums it up. 

New Desserts (Bombolini, Chocolate Torta, Affogato Ventuno)

Bombolini

These are little donuts made from flour, sugar, eggs, butter, creme fraiche, whole milk, black pepper, and yeast. They are fried to order and tossed with a citrus sugar (orange zest, grapefruit zest, sugar). Served in a caste iron skillet with a brown butter caramel sauce for dipping (sugar, water, brown butter, creme fraiche).

Chocolate Torta

This is a gluten free chocolate cake made from (chocolate, butter, vanilla, salt, sugar, eggs and aperol). It is made light and fluffy by whipping the egg whites into a meringue and then folding them into the chocolate mixture. Baked in small mason jars, they're cut in half to order and 'filled' with a ricotta crema (ricotta, egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon, whipped cream), and candied pine nuts.  

Affogato Ventuno

This is a cross between a dessert and a cocktail and is an homage to the classic affogato (espresso, and ice cream). Affogato is Italian for drowned. We're replacing the espresso with a house espresso liqueur (sambuca, braulio, coffee), and pouring it over top of an amaretti cookie ice cream (amaretti cookies, cream, sugar, egg yolks).  Amaretti are cookies made from either almonds or apricot kernels, sugar, and egg whites. We're using ones made from apricot kernels which are therefore nut free. Apricot kernels do contain trace amounts of cyanide, but they're completely safe to eat. Some pregnant women avoid them, however these same pregnant women should be avoiding alcohol so no issues there. The plate is comes with a hazelnut and apricot biscotti (flour, sugar, eggs, hazelnuts, lemon zest, apricots, and grains of paradise).