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Lychee ceviche
On the spring menu of Musaafer, an Indian restaurant in Houston, chef Mayank Istwal cures lychee in kokum, an extract from young mangosteen that’s used as a souring agent. He then slices the lychee and plates it with a sauce of coconut milk, ginger, and yuzu. Then he dresses it in curry leaf oil and Kashmiri chile oil and tops it with watermelon radish cut into star shapes, house-made corn nuts, dyed red onion, cilantro stalks, and serrano chile. He finishes it with what he calls “tutti frutti,” or candied green papaya and watermelon rinds
Price: $25
Fattoush Tostada
At Vera Cocina a Lebanese-Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., chef Jorge Baron starts this dish with a vinaigrette made with habanero pepper, pomegranate molasses, garlic, dill, parsley, mint, cilantro, oregano, and some other spices.
He tosses that with watercress, radishes, and heirloom tomatoes.
He layers that over guacamole made with avocado, onion, jalapeño peppers, lime, and salt which is on top of a fried corn tortilla. All of that is topped with Oaxaca cheese, a chipotle labneh crema, a little sumac and pomegranate molasses
Price: $12
The Cloud Cutter
This new drink at The Bamboo Club in Long Beach, Calif., is a riff on the classic tiki cocktail The Fog Cutter, which is made with lemon, orgeat, gin, Cognac, Blue Curaçao and cream sherry, a combination that general manager and beverage director Dustin Rodriguez never really liked.
“The malty flavors of Cognac and sherry never really blended with the bright citrus in the gin for me,” he said.
So instead he uses a botanical rum called Calisto, which he infuses with hibiscus for a day to give it a more floral aroma and a rich dark red color. He combines 1.5 ounces of that with an ounce of lemon juice, ¾ ounce of orgeat, and half an ounce each of Blue Curaçao, Martel Cognac, and Barsol pisco.
Rodriguez said he uses the pisco instead of sherry, and he said that gives the drink the brighter flavor profile that he was looking for.
He shakes all of that with ice and pours it all, ice included, in a Collins glass that he garnishes with a lemon wheel and mint.
Price: $15
Spicy tuna causa
At Yara in Washington, D.C., chef Yuki Nakandakari makes an upscale version of a Peruvian mashed potato dish called a causa. He mixes mashed potatoes with confit aji Amarillo, lime juice, and chile oil. He places a layer of that in a cylindrical mold and tops it with mashed avocado and then a blend of ahi tuna mixed with shichimi togarashi, Sriracha sauce, and Japanese mayonnaise mixed with mirin and soy sauce. That’s topped with more potato and dressed in a huancaina sauce made with queso fresco and aji Amarillo.
Price: $19
A5 wagyu beef and truffle sushi
For this dish at Giselle Miami, executive chef Gustavo Zuluaga uses super-premium “snow” wagyu beef, so named because of the cold climate in which it is raised and the very high level of marbling that gives it a whiter color. He sears slices of it and then brushes them with truffle-infused ponzu sauce. He places that on a small dollop of yuzu kosho which is itself on a seasoned rice ball on top of a small square of nori seaweed. It’s topped with slivered black truffle.
Price: $55
