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At Maison Sun in downtown Brooklyn, N.Y., executive chef Aaron Whittle, who recently joined the restaurant, makes a classic French custard and then blends sea urchin into it.
He takes very ripe plantains, chills them to make them easier to work with, slices them on a mandolin and arranges them on a sheet of acetate. Then he brushes them with brown butter, refrigerates them to set them and then uses a ring mold to make circles. He places them like a veil over the custard, brushes them with sugar and torches them to caramelize. Then he finishes them with a quenelle of caviar.
Price: Part of the $225 tasting menu
At Mijo Modern Mexican Restaurant at the Durango Casino & Resort in Las Vegas, executive chef Donald Thompson and executive sous chef Florencio Lira developed this dish, for which a two-pound bone-in Angus short rib from Omaha, Neb., is braised in a liquid of tomato, dried chiles, avocado leaves, anise, and cloves — a recipe from Lira’s family in the Mexican state of Puebla.
It's plated with corn purée, pickled onion, and cotija cheese.
Price: $42
For this new cocktail on the menu at The Blind Pig Kitchen + Bar in Yorba Linda, Calif., bar manager Jason Friedman combines two ounces of well vodka with an ounce each of lemon juice and a mulled house-made syrup made mostly of cranberry purée, sugar, brandy, black tea, and autumn spices. He adds a bar spoon each of ruby port and orange liqueur, plus a quarter ounce of St. George spiced pear liqueur, shakes it all together and pours it over ice into a Collins glass which he garnishes with a raspberry and cranberry.
Price: $14
At Lost Isle, a live-fire restaurant that opened on John’s Island in South Carolina in December, chef Josh Taylor sweats onions in vegetable oil and then adds garlic, ginger, lemon grass, and galangal, cooks that for a couple of minutes and then adds turmeric, curry powder, and Mae Ploy yellow curry paste, cooks it for another couple of minutes and then adds Crabs brand fish sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, rice vinegar, Chokoh brand coconut milk, and salt, stirs it until it all blends into the coconut milk, brings it to a simmer and then adds chopped collard greens (stems removed), and cooks them for around an hour.
Meanwhile he adds melted butter, smoked paprika, and garlic powder to panko breadcrumbs and toasts them to golden brown.
He plates the collards and garnishes them with the toasted breadcrumbs.
Price: $9
Chef Kathryn Searcy recently added this dish to the menu at Costera, a Spanish-inspired restaurant in Uptown New Orleans.
She starts by soaking white beans overnight and then boiling them in unseasoned water until they’re soft.
Meanwhile, she sweats a mirepoix of onions, celery and carrots and then adds garlic, cooks it all for another couple of minutes and then adds stewed tomatoes crushed in their own juices. She cooks that down until it’s dark red and thick and then adds thyme and bay leaves. Next she adds the cooked beans, covers them with chicken sauce and cooks it all down until it has a creamy texture.
While it’s cooking, she makes Calabrian chile oil by heating extra virgin olive oil in a sauté pan and adding seeded and stemmed Calabrian chiles along with onion, garlic, and oregano, cooking it just until the aromas emerge — around 30 seconds.
She stirs the oil into the beans, seasons it with salt and apple cider vinegar, and garnishes it with chopped chives.
Price: $12
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