684 replies to this topic

[chickenfriedgourmet]

Hopefully one of the lucky attendee's will blog about this since we do not have access to the website :(

[Buckethead]

The menu for the upcoming Blackfish dinner has been posted on the SK Facebook group:

Chantenay Carrot Soup
Miso-Applesauce
Aromatic Milk
Vadouvan


Hiramasa
Spicy Yuzu Glaze
Peanut-Cauliflower
Sea Beans
Curry Leaf Brown Butter


Veal Breast and Sausage
Celeriac-Apple Puree
Black Trumpet Mushrooms
Hazelnut-Sherry Jus


Goat’s Milk Yoghurt Sorbet
Berries . Elderflower Jelly
Yoghurt Powder

I don't suppose any of our resident wine experts can recommend a bottle of wine (or two) to accompany this? The last Shola dinner I went to was at Snackbar, where all the wines were hand-picked for us, so I'm kinda lost here..

[jackal10]

I would nominate something like a good Alsace Pinot Gris, say a Zind Humbrecht Clos WIndsbuhl 2000. That would be my single wine, if I was only allowed one. .

For red something substantial but not a fruit bomb or high alcohol nightmare, say a Ridge Monte Bello 2001, or a even a Stella Bella Cab/Merlot (Margaret River Australia) 2005

[shacke]

I am going there with 1 bottle - an aged burg of some sort. Coffee with dessert. Gonna be quirky with the fish but it's just me and the mrs ... so 1 bottle it is.

It's hard to match wines to Shola's food from the descriptions - but it's fun to brainstorm. Traditionally a good rule of thumb for his sequential courses has been (at least for me): dry riesling/crisp acidic white, fuller bodied white , lighter-older pinot/burg/sangiovese, younger of those varietals or more robust reds. I have found the heavier reds rarely to be good matches FWIW and in this case I suspect I am correct.

See you there perhaps!


Evan

[gfweb]

So are we to assume that Shola is going to limit site access forever? Very sad.

[cwdonald]

I am going there with 1 bottle - an aged burg of some sort.  Coffee with dessert.  Gonna be quirky with the fish but it's just me and the mrs ... so 1 bottle it is.

It's hard to match wines to Shola's food from the descriptions - but it's fun to brainstorm.  Traditionally a good rule of thumb for his sequential courses has been (at least for me): dry riesling/crisp acidic white, fuller bodied white , lighter-older pinot/burg/sangiovese, younger of those varietals or more robust reds.  I have found the heavier reds rarely to be good matches FWIW and in this case I suspect I am correct.

See you there perhaps!


Evan

Since its Philly beer week, what beers would you match with the menu?

[shacke]

I am going there with 1 bottle - an aged burg of some sort.  Coffee with dessert.  Gonna be quirky with the fish but it's just me and the mrs ... so 1 bottle it is.

It's hard to match wines to Shola's food from the descriptions - but it's fun to brainstorm.  Traditionally a good rule of thumb for his sequential courses has been (at least for me): dry riesling/crisp acidic white, fuller bodied white , lighter-older pinot/burg/sangiovese, younger of those varietals or more robust reds.  I have found the heavier reds rarely to be good matches FWIW and in this case I suspect I am correct.

See you there perhaps!


Evan

Since its Philly beer week, what beers would you match with the menu?

No clue - I don't drink it!

[philadining]

So... any reports? I was majorly bummed that a few different logistical problems prevented me from getting to this event. The menu looked pretty great, and its been WAY too long since I had a Shola dinner!

[Buckethead]

So... any reports?  I was majorly bummed that a few different logistical problems prevented me from getting to this event.  The menu looked pretty great, and its been WAY too long since I had a Shola dinner!

I've been to three of these dinners now (Restaurant M and snackbar before this) and this one, while I enjoyed it quite a bit, was my least favorite of the three. Of course, the previous two meals were among the best meals I've ever had, so my expectations were very high, and this one was a bit less expensive than the other two.

Dessert was my favorite part of the meal, although from other diners' descriptions on Chowhound, I think mine must have been plated wrong: the yogurt powder on mine (which was delicious) had been sprinkled on the plate first, ending up underneath the other elements. It also was really stuck to the plate, so it was hard to get it re-integrated. I can imagine that it would have been much better sprinkled over the fruit and sorbet (which is how other people described theirs), rather than the plate. The sorbet itself was fantastic though.

My favorite savory course was the fish, the peanut-cauliflower puree was a great combo, and my fish was perfectly cooked, though my wife's was a little more medium than medium-rare. The brown butter was perfect.

The veal dish had elements that I really liked, but overall I felt that there were one or two too many things going on on the plate, it was nearly impossible to get a bite incorporating every element, and even when I did I felt like the veal was the weak link. The sweetbreads were really well done, as was the ravioli and the celeriac puree. I noticed the menu I posted earlier was not exactly what we got, the veal dish for example had sweetbreads on it, and I don't think there was any elderflower jelly in the dessert. I'd be interested to learn what else was involved in the sweetbread prep, they were a really nice surprise in that dish.

He told us that he was planning to do another dinner at Blackfish next month, and that it would be announced on the Studiokitchen facebook group, so if you're on facebook just search for 'studiokitchen'.

[sockii]

My pics of the four courses:









Comments to follow...

[sockii]

So, this was my first meal with Shola. I went with a friend who is a fellow fan of great cooking, and we had a lovely time.

1st course, the carrot soup: fresh, clean, with hints of miso and ginger. I really liked this, a nice cleansing start to the meal

2nd course: this was the one I was probably the least overwhelmed with. Not to say the first wasn't excellently cooked, I just found it very...understated to the point of *almost* being bland (though I could eat that peanut/cauliflower blend any day, every day). I didn't taste any of the "spicy yuzu glaze". My companion, however, favored this over the course to follow.

3rd course: I really enjoyed this, but I love earthy, rich meats. The sweetbreads were the best part of it, for certain. My companion found this dish a bit too rich for her tastes, however, preferring meat a little on the leaner side and more simply prepared

4th course: Surprisingly enough, the clear knock-out dish of the night. I wasn't sure a yogurt dessert would be all that exciting, but this blew us both away - especially the yogurt dust, which I have no shame in admitting we were both doing anything possible to get up as much as possible from the plate (including fingers...it took ALL my restraint not to pick up and lick the plate!)

Everything worked very well with the dry riesling we brought.

Service at Blackfish was very good (only blip was our coffee took so long to come out that we were long done with our desserts before they arrived) and I liked that it was such a nice, bright space. I'd certainly go back again. It wasn't quite the transcendent meal I was expecting given the amount of hype over Shola's cooking here and elsewhere, but I'd definitely try another dinner in the future.

Oh, and it was nice to end up sitting right next to Evan, who I haven't seen in ages!

Edited by sockii, 10 March 2009 - 02:36 PM.

[shacke]

Oh, and it was nice to end up sitting right next to Evan, who I haven't seen in ages! 

Yes, but I would have yelled "PLATE LICKER!" a la Donald Sutherland in Invasion of Body Snatchers had you attempted to put lingua al piatto.

I also thought the dessert was terrific. That freeze dried sweetened yogurt was particularly cool. In lieu of the plate lick - we opted for lick index finger - dip - eat - repeat as necessary maneuver.

Evan

[tim e]

This was my first time eating Shola's food, too, and my reactions were very similar to sockii's -- it was an excellent meal, but not "transcendent." Loved the soup, the peanut-cauliflower puree, and the entire veal course. I'm not big on dessert, but the yogurt powder was a neat touch.

My brother and I brought a bottle of our homebrewed British session ale, which was a decent accompaniment to the soup (it was Beer Week after all), and followed up with a bottle of Alsace pinot blanc for the remaining courses, which was great.

[Buckethead]

Shola's blog appears to be open to the public again:

http://studiokitchen.typepad.com/

[philadining]

And also very interesting:
http://www.sholaolunloyo.com/

[Holly Moore]

Only thing missing now is Studio Kitchen, the place to eat amazingly well. Now I'm going to start complaining about the blog being back - a constant reminder of Studio Kitchen, itself.

[mattohara]

somebody get him a picture-book deal already

[philadining]

Ideas in Food-Studio Kitchen
H. Alexander Talbot and Shola Olunloyo

Shades of Green, Tastes of Spring
May 1-2, 2009



Liquid Lovage
blue crab, pistachio


Cream of Watercress Ice Cream
sake cured steelhead trout roe, croissant croustillant


Wild King Salmon
pecorino, fava beans


Mozzarella Pudding
frozen rhubarb, olive oil


Russet Potato Gnocchi
ramp leaves, country ham, shaved l’etivaz


Wild King Salmon
grilled zucchini puree, lemongrass sabayon, rye bread


Chicken Marsala
egg yolk, morels, nasturtium


Skirt Steak
honeydew melon, rosemary blossoms, fermented vadouvan


Langres
strawberry-lychee mostarda, red ribbon sorrel


Aero Chocolate
blood orange infusion, crispy cashews



The good news? Although this doesn't exactly mark the return of StudioKitchen as we once knew it, it is indeed the start of an open-ended collaboration between Alex of Ideas in Food and Shola of StudioKitchen, which should manifest itself as additional dinners in the near future.

The bad news? Seats at those tables will be very hard to come by!

The good news? It's not impossible to score a place, keep an eye on their blogs:

ideasinfood.typepad.com/

studiokitchen.typepad.com/studiokitchen/

You could get lucky...

The best news: this was an amazing dinner: interesting, surprising, and delicious in equal measures. There were fascinating contrasts, like the watercress ice cream with steelhead roe, or the honeydew melon with beef, that seemed to defy logic, yet were such good matches it now seems surprising that they're not classic pairings.

There was some science-lab gee-whiz flash, like the vacuum manipulations of the aero chocolate and the frozen rhubarb, or the shape-shifting of chicken and cashews. But at the heart of it were delicious flavors, sometimes in comforting forms, like simple gnocchi elevated to a higher place by artful collage, or a basic steak (OK, it's bonded to itself with Activa and spent some time in a water bath, but still...)

It was a real pleasure to experience the creative work of both chefs, and I certainly hope to be lucky enough to enjoy some more. You can be sure that 'll be watching those blogs more carefully now!

Edited by philadining, 04 May 2009 - 04:04 PM.

[lhollers]

Fantastic photos, as always, philadining!

Those morels look amazing...

[philadining]

A few glimpses of the process:

[Curlz]

Philadining, if YOU don't shoot a book for Shola, I don't know who could! These pictures are STUNNING. Oh, yeah, and the food looks good too...

[mexigaf]

While my pictures aren't nearly as good as Philadining's
here are a few more for your viewing pleasure.

The steelhead roe dish with watercress ice cream was insane.

[docsconz]

As usual, Philadining, after seeing your photos, I don't want to even point out my own. Beautiful! The dinner was absolutely wonderful. I had great company on Friday night as I'm sure you did on Saturday, but I'm sorry we were at different nights. For anyone who might be interested, my descriptions and photos are on my blog.

Mexigaf, I agree about the steelhead roe & watercress ice cream dish, but my favorite was the skirt steak.

[Chris Amirault]

Great stuff. Can attendees say more about the chicken marsala and skirt steak preparations?

[docsconz]

Great stuff. Can attendees say more about the chicken marsala and skirt steak preparations?

From my blogpost

"Chicken Marsala. egg yolk, morels, nasturtium" - this was not my father's chicken marsala, though it was no less enjoyable. The deceptively simple looking chicken was the product of an elaborate process. First chicken carcasses were pressure cooked with marsala wine and other ingredients to make a stock. This stock was then used to poach the morels, which were then set aside. The remaining liquid was reduced and pureed with the white and dark raw chicken meat, mixed with activa and set in blocks. The blocks were cooked sous vide, chilled then sliced thin. For service the silky, mortadella-like chicken ribbons were warmed in a C-Vap. The chicken itself contained all the flavors of a classic chicken marsala. Combining it with the morels, nasturtium leaves and a sauce from rich egg yolk created a delicious, fun and unique dish all their own.

"Skirt Steak, honeydew melon, rosemary, fermented vadouvan" married perfectly cooked skirt steak with the plate's principle green element, the honeydew in sublime fashion. Cooked sous vide and finished on the grill, the meat melted in my mouth. The best part was that additional meat remaining after the initial plating was passed around for much appreciated seconds. The rosemary actually came from rosemary flowers, which left a lovely, yet subtle perfume. The vadouvan provided a perfect compliment.

[fchrisgrimm]

FYI... The next round of Studio Kitchen Ideas in Food dinners is this coming weekend.

[SyntaxPC]

FYI... The next round of Studio Kitchen Ideas in Food dinners is this coming weekend.

I'll be at the Friday dinner (there is also a second one on Saturday). I also attended the Friday dinner of the first series (although I didn't post anything given the other excellent recaps).

I'll try and give an overview afterward this time.

I'm really excited!

Edited by SyntaxPC, 05 July 2009 - 01:31 PM.

[sockii]

FYI... The next round of Studio Kitchen Ideas in Food dinners is this coming weekend.

I'll be at the Friday dinner (there is also a second one on Saturday). I also attended the Friday dinner of the first series (although I didn't post anything given the other excellent recaps).

I'll try and give an overview afterward this time.

I'm really excited!

When? Where? How does one find out about these things in time?

I'm assuming I'm surely too late this time around, but would not want to miss the details next time around...

[tbabes]

FYI... The next round of Studio Kitchen Ideas in Food dinners is this coming weekend.

I'll be at the Friday dinner (there is also a second one on Saturday). I also attended the Friday dinner of the first series (although I didn't post anything given the other excellent recaps).

I'll try and give an overview afterward this time.

I'm really excited!

When? Where? How does one find out about these things in time?

I'm assuming I'm surely too late this time around, but would not want to miss the details next time around...

Just watch his blog...

[percyn]

My fellow dinning partners from last night's collaboration are probably still recovering from the food induced coma by the 11 heavenly courses.

Pictures and a list of the entire menu can be viewed here.

There were so many excellent flavor combinations, that it is hard to highlight a select few...though I will try.

Mango-Yogurt sorbet, wild char roe, arugula - I would never have thought to combine a mango sorbet with roe, but believe me, this is simply delicious!! The wile char roe was from the maker of Bliss Maple syrup and I believe is treated with Fleur de sel.

Corn Pudding, Smoked Sea Urchin - The rich, creamy, lightly smoked Santa Barbara sea urchin on top of delicately sweet and luscious summer corn pudding the consistency of a thick soup. One of my favorite dishes of the evening.

Goose Egg Yolk, Chorizo-chanterelle hash, garden herbs - The slow cooked Goose egg yolk was not runny but rich enough to perfectly balance the spice in the chorizo hash. This dish was so good, I could eat it for breakfast everyday.

Foie Gras Marble - Another unique dish, brilliantly executed dish; my preferred substitute for a PB&J. The texture of this dish varied from left to right - from a pistachio nougat consistency to a less dense foie gras consistency.

Soft Shell Crab Tempura, Honeydew raita - Succulent, well seasoned soft shell crab, with the honeydew sweetened raita providing a cool backdrop. Shola is thinking about experimenting by infusing more Indian flavors such as garam masala into the batter. I want to be there when he tries that.

Ramp Cavatelli, Geoduck clam Sauce - The ramps were blanched and pureed a few months in advance before being cryovaced and frozen. Amazing clam flavor and according to Alex, the touch of baking soda gave the pasta a nice plumpness and made it a little more chewy, similar to Chinese dough. The recipe and prep is well documented here.

Sweetbreads, Lemon Verbena, Pickled Watermelon Rind - Not the typical fried "McNugget" style sweetbreads, as Shola would say, nonetheless they were delicate and creamy with the pickeled watermelon rind bringing some acidity to the party.

Pig Cheek, cornbread, collard greens, red cola sauce - The cheek is one of my favorite cuts because of the flavor and texture and this did not disappoint. The corn bread was more like a loose corn pudding and I could have eaten a big bowl of this.

Sangaria Squab, Berbere Potsticker, Kohlrabi - Perfectly pink sous vide squab with an amazingly flavor packed potsticker. We had a large selection of Burgundy, new world PN and mature bordeaux to pair this dish with.

Delice de Bourgogne "Buratta", Fennel, Green Olive Oil - Not sure what Alchemy was involved to achieve this, but all I was say is that the flavor combinations were out of this world, though I would have loved to have some crusty toasted bread with this.

Carrot-Bacon Cake, Blood Orange Marmalade Ice Cream, Maple Vinegar - Familiar flavors with a twist - the bacon did not overwhelm like I had feared, rather it lightly punctuated with salty accents sprinkled throughout the carrot cake.

The main focus of this dinner was the food, though we did fairly well in pairing roughly 20 wines ranging from Gewürztraminer, Sav Blanc, old and new world chardonnay and PNs, mature bordeaux, Amarone and others I am probably forgetting.

If you have an opportunity to attend, I highly recommend it, though you probably do not need me to tell you so.

Shola also mentioned starting some cooking classes on Sat morning, which sounds terrific.