“Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse”
-Deuteronomy
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I live in a rural area that is devoid of good restaurants. Heck, it's pretty much devoid of even mediocre eateries. That is until my husband and I found our way to the best restaurant in the world.
Imagine, if you will, finding a place with a commitment to using only fresh, locally-grown, in-season produce and locally raised, free-range chicken, lamb, pork and beef. And finding it practically right under your nose.
Now, imagine a head chef with an innate sense of what tastes good, one with culinary skills honed by years of experience, someone who's worked with the finest of teachers.
Add to that a menu that changes daily. Let's say that you have a taste for Vietnamese spring rolls with dipping sauce. This place will present a light and tasty version, chock full of shrimp that is cooked to perfection, artfully wrapped alongside crisp complimentary fresh vegetables in precisely prepared rice paper, and served with both a hoisin/peanut sauce and a more traditional sauce with flavors of fish sauce, lime, chilies, garlic and an ever-so-slight hint of sweetness.
Now let's imagine you have a taste for a fine Mexican mole, served over a delicately poached boneless chicken breast. This place will not compromise authenticity with any shortcuts. You will be served a mole that has been labored over, with love I'm certain, as the deep, clean flavor of four different peppers inter-marries with nuts, seeds, rich chocolate, raisins, tomatoes, tomatillos, sweet onions, garlic, bread and spices that include cinnamon, allspice, coriander and cloves.
Or, a grilled pork chop infused with 14 herbs and spices and whimsically served on a stick.
Or, tender Asian dumplings filled with juicy pork, served with a soy-based dipping sauce with hints of sweet apricot and dark sesame oil.
Or, a grilled lamb chop cooked just shy of medium, so that it's garlic and dill infused juices can be mopped up with freshly baked sourdough bread that has been lightly brushed with the finest extra virgin olive oil. Or other skillfully executed Middle Eastern dishes revered for their delicate balance of almost unperceptive aspects of tart, savory and sweet.
The list goes on and on. All broths used in cooking are homemade. All bread is home baked on the premises. Yogurt used in cooking is cultured on site. And desserts? They are not to be missed!
Even the drinks are fresh. Margaritas are made only with the juice from freshly-squeezed limes and then hand shaken with the finest top-shelf tequila and Grand Marnier. If you wish your martini served with olives hand-stuffed with pickled jalapeƱos, you need only ask.
The music that can be heard, softly, in the background has been chosen to compliment the meal. If you are being served a dish of freshly homemade Italian pasta, topped with a sauce featuring freshly ground Italian sausage, you may hear Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. If you are feasting on Cuban dishes such as Boliche Mechado or Arroz con Pollo, you might hear Cachao, Buena Vista Social Club or maybe even Cab Calloway.
The building itself, occupies a slightly odd location, in a space that once held a Christmas tree farm and was razed and replaced by what now could pass for a country home. This isn't an architect's design of a reclaimed country space, it is something a bit more askew, yet something that is able to transcend its limits with it's simplicity and homeyness.
The dining room may seem at first to be small, only seating eight to twelve, but you will never feel tight or cramped. The decor may seem eclectic and almost willfully un-chic, but it is spotlessly clean, as if your white glove sister had been expected. The chairs may look slouchy, but are extremely comfortable. The room overlooks the 5th hole of a golf course also built on former farm acreage.
The dining room may seem at first to be small, only seating eight to twelve, but you will never feel tight or cramped. The decor may seem eclectic and almost willfully un-chic, but it is spotlessly clean, as if your white glove sister had been expected. The chairs may look slouchy, but are extremely comfortable. The room overlooks the 5th hole of a golf course also built on former farm acreage.
Depending on your luck, you may get the overly chit-chatty and generally food-uninformed server, but he's a fun guy and always happy to check with the chef for answers to any of your food-related questions or to refresh your drink with a smile. It's one of those places that truly is dinner as theater, or characters welcome, if you know what I mean.
The food is creative, authentic and precise. And when the food is served, I guarantee there will be plenty of it, and then some.
I can tell you now, there is a minimum three-month waiting list. If you haven't already reserved months in advance, you can show up early that day, give your name and cell phone number, and hope they'll take pity on you by, by seating you later that day.
The customers tend to be a few years older than customers found at your average urban spot filled with the A-list movers and shakers. But the lighting is softer, the rooms more homey, the tables more welcoming (and as likely to be set either with a myriad of modern flatware or a deceased grandmother's precious silver, depending on the chef's whim.)
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Enjoy my photos as I look back on a year of my own meals, made with my own hands and in my own basic, tiny, yet fully functional kitchen, for my husband, my family and my friends.
