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Seared Octopus with chermoula and preserved lemon
At Little Summer in Napa, Calif., chef Ben Lacy starts by vacuum-sealing octopus with olive oil, and whole fennel seed, star anise and coriander. He cooks it in sous vide at 185 degrees Fahrenheit for around 12 hours until it’s very tender.
Meanwhile, he simmers toasted sunflower seeds with garlic, thyme and chicken stock for several hours until the seeds break down, and he purées them with Greek yogurt.
At service he sears the octopus on a hot flat griddle to get a good caramelized exterior and plates it over the sunflower seed purée. He garnishes it with a salad of watercress dressed with slices of preserved lemon and chermoula made of toasted cumin seed, toasted coriander seed, cilantro leaves, parsley leaves, ginger, thyme, confit garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, Aleppo pepper and salt.
Price: $16
Pacchero Calabria
La Devozione is a fairly high-end Italian Trattoria in New York City’s Chelsea Market. Within it is a 30-seat oval-shaped counter around the open kitchen, appropriately called The Oval, where executive chef Alessio Rossetti and his team serve a seven-course creative pasta tasting menu, which includes this dish, a tribute to the Italian region of Calabria.
Paccheri, a large tube-shaped pasta, is cooked in water and fish broth and served over a sauce of bergamot and orange juice. It’s topped with smoked swordfish, carpaccio, Calabrian chile, a fennel salad, including the fronds and fennel pollen, and Maldon sea salt. It was created in collaboration between Rossetti and owner Giuseppe DiMartino.
Price: Part of the $165 tasting menu
Thistle Do
Cardamaro, a wine-based aperitif, is the distinguishing feature of this drink, according to Kevin Bratt, beverage director of The Gin Commission, a new cocktail bar in Chicago by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises.
“It is made with blessed thistle and gives the drink an herbaceous and slightly chocolatey note,” Bratt said.
Cardamaro also has cardoon added to it, which is presumably where it gets its name. Cardoon is a cousin of artichoke, and both are members of the thistle family.
Bratt stirs together 1.5 ounces of Hendrick’s Gin with .75 ounce each of Cardamaro and Carpano Antica sweet vermouth for 30 seconds, then strains it all into a rocks glass with a single square ice cube and garnishes it with an orange peel.
Price: $15
Pandan Pancakes
Wau, a Southeast Asian restaurant on New York City’s Upper West Side, launched brunch in June, and it includes this dish by chef and owner Salil Mehta. It’s a traditional pancake recipe, except pandan leaf extract, made by simply blending together pandan leaves and water and then straining the mixture, is added to the milk, giving it an added floral/nutty element. Instead of serving the pancakes with maple syrup, Mehta uses a syrup of gula jawa, or brown palm sugar, a popular sweetener in Malaysia, along with some whipped butter.
Price: $17
Dragon Fruit Ceviche
For this dish at Pequín, a brand new restaurant at Vespera Resort in Pismo Beach, Calif., executive chef Frank Barajas tosses together cucumber, onion, mango and avocado in a marinade of citrus juices, ginger and turmeric. Then, instead of using seafood, he tops it with diced dragon fruit to make this a vegan dish. He finishes it with dill oil.
Price: $16
