Trend: seriously funny food
Emma SmithWhen is a tuna melt not a tuna melt? When it's actually fresh seared ahi with warm foie gras. Haute toques around the West are presenting refined dishes in tongue-in-cheek ways that will take the stuffing out of even the most serious customers. Having fun with flashy food: It's the new wave in upscale dining.
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THE DISH WHY WE LIKE IT WHERE TO FIND IT Tartare Chef Thomas Keller started the The French Laundry Cornet trend by beginning every meal with Yountville, CA a salmon tartare, red onion, and www.frenchlaundry.com or creme fraiche hors d'oeuvre 707/944-2380 playfully presented like an ice cream cone (prix fixe meal $135). Tuna Stylish innovator George Morrone Tartare Foie tops a thick potato pancake with San Francisco Gras seared ahi tuna, then melted foie www.tartarerestaurant.com Melt gras, and finishes it all with a or 415/434-3100 Pinot Noir sauce ($29). A definite splurge, but the taste is heavenly. DC Canada takes on New York's famed Diva at the Met Burger high-end burgers with a version Vancouver, B.C. from chef Damon Campbell that www.metropolitan.com/diva boasts a patty of Kobe beef and or 604/602-7788 flank steak, plus short ribs, foie gras, and a truffle aioli ($28 U. S.). Lobster Razzle-dazzle restaurateur Michael Seablue Corn Mina's top dogs are filled with Las Vegas Dogs meltingly rich lobster sausage and www.mgmgrand.com or with encased Smelt in a sweet, crunchy 702/891-3486 Smelt cornmeal batter ($18). Fries Ice Disconcerting but delicious. Chef Cowgirl BBQ & Western Cream Patrick Lambert's dessert is ice Grill Baked cream rolled in chocolate powder Santa Fe Potato with a banana frosting "butter 505/982-2565 pat," whipped cream "sour cream," and green chopped pecan "chives" ($4.25). The At Hawaiian culinary king Alan Alan Wong's Coconut Wong's eponymous restaurant, a Honolulu chocolate shell is filled with www.alanwongs.com or coconut sorbet--a dead ringer for 808/949-2526 a half-coconut ($7).
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