Applewood

[SobaAddict70]

A starter of braised pork belly disappointed, presenting surprisingly ropey flesh. But a starter of sweetbreads, served with browned butter and rhubarb chutney, was excellent.

That organic feta, for example, was chalkier than ordinary feta, and it lacked ordinary feta's pleasant saltiness.

Applewood (Frank Bruni)

Related discussion regarding Mr. Bruni's style of reviewing and the NY Times star system can be found here.

Soba

[Lochina]

Anyone care to comment on their experience at Applewood? I'm going there for my 21st birthday dinner next week.

[H. du Bois]

Check out johnder's food blog, link below - it includes photos & discussion.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=93532&st=90

[H. du Bois]

Oh, and happy birthday!

[Lochina]

Thanks for the heads up! I did indeed read and enjoy johnder's blog, but I forgot all about his Applewood report.

[johnder]

So last night a group of us were at applewood for a special offal dinner tasting menu. I approached Chef Shea and his wife Laura about doing an all offal tasting event a few weeks ago the they were gracious to accept this task.

We had an amazing meal last night that I will recap:

Amuse:

vermont pork testa

garlic crostini, dijon mustard

braised calves tail sandwich

candied coriander

served with gruet brut campenoise, n/v

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First Course

sauteed veal tripe

pickled tongue, onions, organic greens

served with pine ridge chenin blanc/viognier, clarksburg '05

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Second Course

roasted veal sweetbreads

brussels sprouts, curried soubise

served with villa wolf pinot gris, pfalz '05

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Third Course

pan fried lamb testicles and grilled lamb kidney

Jalapeno relish, cauliflower soup

served with navarro dry gewurztraminer, anderson vallue '04

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Fourth Course

sauteed calves brains

potato gnocchi, sage brown butter

served with chateau cadillac lesgourges, bordeaux superieur '03

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Fifth Course

braised veal heart stew

roasted root vegetables, polenta

served with seven terraces pinot noir, marlborough '05

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Dessert

lemon cream

vanilla madeline

served with bonny doon muscat vin de glaciere

All I am going to say is wow. It was amazing. The testa was a great opener to the evening and the heart stew was the hands down favorite of the night.

The tripe salad was amazing, mainly due to the textural contrasts of the dish. The tripe was sliced into strips and fried and the tongue was pickled and thinly sliced.

I will upload some photos in a few minutes.

[johnder]

Figured I would bump up this topic with an interesting event they are throwing this Sunday.

applewood is kicking off a monthly cocktail party showcasing some classic cocktails with ingredients from local farms and also some charcuterie and other snacks to pair up with the cocktails

Supposedly a butternut squash whiskey punch is making an appearance along with their house cured lamb pastrami and candied bacon.

This sunday (Nov 7 at 8 pm)

For those that haven't been there in a while, they are really upping their cocktail game as of recently, it is definitely worth checking out.

Edited November 2, 2010 by johnder (log)