Product Makes Perfect
August 7th, 2009 by HHG
Liz has been checking out the local purveyors at the various farmers markets in Asheville and the selection and quality of the products is amazing! She regularly shops at the North Asheville Tailgate Farmers Market, held every Saturday, 8am to noon, at UNC Asheville. An important aspect of menu preparation for the restaurant will include researching all of the local farms and the selection of produce they offer in the various seasons. I can´t think of anything more satisfying than creating a dish that enhances and highlights the natural flavors of freshly picked produce of the season.
Felix is busy making changes for The Tasting Room at the Bazaar by Jose Andres. There is talk about hiring a maitre d´ and sommelier specifically for The Tasting Room. With the arrival of Ruben Garcia, the creative chef for Jose Andres´ company ThinkFoodGroup, they are also making quite a few menu changes. The new dishes will include: white asparagus with yogurt and black olives presented in a can in the traditional spanish style, baby beets with citrus, pistachio and sherry dressing, dragon fruit with lime air and chile piquin, seared figs with jamon iberico and pedro ximenez reduction, and a dish called ¨corn on the cob¨ with baby corn, corn nuts, and popcorn shoots. Sounds delicious!
Katie spent the weekend exploring Barcelona and it´s culinary offerings. After reading a review in the New York Times about a restaurant/delicatessen, Can Ravell, she decided, it would definitely be worth a look. The restaurant is hidden back away from the tourist attractions on a nondescript street. You would definitely need to know what you were looking for; it is not the place you stumble into. Once you enter the deli, you have to cross the room, go through the back door into the kitchen, then walk up two flights of stairs on a tiny spiral staircase with enough room for only one person at a time (a hazard for the servers since this is their only access to the kitchen), until you reach a floor with 2 small rooms and one large room full of communal tables. 
The tapas tasting menu is the only way to go – 18 wonderful traditional tapas dishes for 30€ a person. Examples of some of the dishes include: lentils tossed in a tangy vinaigrette topped with thinly shaved foie gras, cockles from Rias Gallegas, ensaladilla russa with prawns (a traditional spanish dish similar to potato salad typically with olives, red pepper, and hard boiled egg), housemade sausages with ratatouille, and baby squid in its ink. The one dish that really stood out from the rest was a simple salad of tomatoes, onion, and canned tuna belly, topped with olive oil and salt. And even though it was clearly the simplest dish on the menu, each product was impeccable. The tomatoes were perfectly ripe, the onion had just enough bite to it, and I don´t think I have ever tasted tuna like this that comes from a can!
As we continue to explore new foods, and the endless ideas for our restaurant, the most difficult task will be narrowing our choices for a menu. But we’re all enjoying eating our way through fabulous food in the name of research!
Posted in Chapter One: The Four Corners of the World | Comments (0)