New on the Menu

New on the Menu: A morel grilled cheese sandwich and steak with pea leaf croutons

Plus spiced scallops, pernil pork over yams and a persimmon cocktail

It’s snowing in parts of the Northeast, but it is springtime nonetheless, and that means mushrooms, such as the hon shimeji mushrooms that accompany the Imperial steak — along with croutons made with snow pea leaves — at Noreetuh, a creative Hawaiian restaurant in New York City.

Morels aren’t technically mushrooms, but a different genre of fungus, but they still are harbingers of spring, especially in the Northwest, and Shore Lodge in McCall, Idaho, is celebrating them by putting them on grilled cheese sandwiches.

The seasons are different in Florida, however, so sweet potato and pumpkin are still on the menu at Silver King Ocean Brasserie in Fort Myers, served with scallops sprinkled with ground cashews and a subtle spice blend that gets an umami boost from powdered mushrooms, and sauteed shimeji mushrooms accompany the seafood.

Sobre Mesa reopened last month in Oakland, Calif., serving Afro-Caribbean food including an appetizer of pork in a marinade that reflects Dominican-style pork shoulder, while back in Florida, in Jacksonville, cocktail maven Gabrielle Alters, co-owner and beverage director of Rue Saint-Marc, is using a fruit that’s not in season at the moment, Fuyu persimmon, which she has preserved by making a shrub out of it.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

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