1 5
Matt Mohler, chef of Silver King Ocean Brasserie at Luminary Hotel & Co. in Fort Myers, Fla., has worked with people from India, Central Asia and Thailand throughout his career, and he says he has learned from them to use spices to enhance food, not to mask it, and he showcases that approach with this dish.
He starts by baking the pumpkin until its soft and then pureeing it with a house-made autumn spice blend.
Meanwhile he cuts purple sweet potatoes with a ring mold around 1.25 inches thick and cooks them in sous vide in a simmering water bath for around 14 minutes. He adds shimeji mushrooms to them, sprinkles them with an “umami spice” — a blend of kosher salt, dried onions, ground mustard seed, porcini mushroom powder, white button mushroom powder, crushed red pepper, black pepper and thyme — and broils them for 3 to 4 minutes.
Next he seasons the scallops with salt and pepper, sears them and then adds finely chopped cashews. He plates them over the squash purée and the sweet potatoes and garnishes the plate with a bourbon demiglace.
Price: $36
This fruit-forward cocktail was developed by Gabrielle Alters, co-owner and beverage director at Rue Saint-Marc in Jacksonville, Fla.
Its namesake is the Fuyu persimmon she uses to make a shrub. She soaks the fruit in apple cider vinegar for around a month, then discards the persimmon and simmers the infused vinegar with sugar — four parts vinegar to three parts sugar — for around 15 minutes. She says that will keep refrigerated for at least a month. She uses 0.75 ounces of that and 0.75 ounces of lemon juice and shakes that with 1.5 ounces of Dulce Vida blanco tequila, half an ounce of coconut water and a quarter ounce of Pavan, a French liqueur made with Muscat grapes and orange blossom water that Alters says enhances the drinks fruit flavor.
Then she tops it with an orange-clove foam.
“I tried the cocktail with egg white first for a light fluffiness and thought it needed a bit more excitement,” Alters said. “So I created a foam from orange juice, coconut milk, egg white and a touch of St. Elizabeth allspice dram for clove flavor. That was the final touch the drink needed.”
Price: $11
Afro-Caribbean restaurant Sobre Mesa in Oakland, Calif., reopened last month with this dish for which chef and owner Nelson German marinates pork tenderloin in a mixture of pineapple, garlic, citrus and chiles. He then sears it and finishes it with a blend of cumin, coriander, achiote, garlic, oregano and dried culantro, plus lime juice, reflecting a Dominican-style Pernil. It’s served as an appetizer over sweet and smoky yam romesco sauce and topped with pickled pink lady apples and a sofrito of peppers, onions and pineapple
Price: $13
At Noreetuh, a modern Hawaiian restaurant in New York City’s East Village, chef and owner Chung Chow has introduced this dish for the spring. The meat is hanger steak made with Imperial American wagyu, which he grills and serves with pea leaf “croutons,” which he makes by braising snow pea leaves with onions and garlic and then mixing them with egg and breadcrumbs, baking them, cutting them into squares and sautéing them at service. The steak is also served with sautéed hon shimeji mushrooms and a sauce made with Sichuan and black peppercorns simmered in beef fat and finished with sudachi juice.
The plate is finished with market vegetables that change as springtime progresses.
Price: $24
Shore Lodge in McCall, Idaho, is celebrating morel season with this sandwich, developed by the property’s executive director of culinary and food & beverage, Scott King. Available at one of its three restaurants, The Cutwater on Payette Lake, it’s made with morels sauteed with garlic, shallots and thyme, on buttered brioche with soft brie cheese, Boursin and arugula. Instead of being served with the traditional tomato soup, it comes with a more seasonal item: asparagus soup.
Price: $24
