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We've always loved Hawaii and go as often as we can, so scoring tickets to Next - Bocuse D'or while on vacation only reinforces our love for the Islands. We actually wound up back at Next less than 3 weeks from the last time we were there. The nice thing about getting tickets so early in the release is that there wasn't much "blogger action" on the net to find out the details of the night. So much of what we experienced was completely unexpected.
The welcome course was on the table when we arrived. A terrine of veal with frisee salad and cipollini onion marmalade and spicy mustard. The pate was very tasty, and we couldn't decide which accoutrement was better - the marmalade or the spicy mustard - we just knew that they were both tasty.
The beverage pairing for this was Sazerac, thought by some to be the first US cocktail. The Next twist was to allow the diner to add their own Absinth, to taste, through spritzes from an atomizer.
The next dish was one of Mark's favorites of the night. Simple, yet elegant and of course, tasty: Osetra caviar with whipped beurre blanc and pine nut in a crispy ciabatta cup
Mark and I both agreed by this point that this offering from Next was going to be better than their Vegan menu. Not that the Vegan menu was bad, not by a longshot, but there's so much more depth and variety in the ability to use everything on this earth, that you can't help but be hit with some wow factors when the chef is taking advantage of everything that's available.
The next dish was Next's play on a dish straight from Paul Bocuse's cookbook - Mousse of dardon ham and madeira aspic. For Sue this dish looked prettier than it tasted, but it was still a nice dish.
The next dish was again inspired by the savory souffles that Paul Bocuse popularized. Bocuse made savory parmesan souffles, Next pushed the envelope making a prawn souffle. This dish was really tasty, even to me, who is not a big fan of shrimp.
Dish five made use of the centerpiece, in fine Next fashion. The centerpiece today was a beautiful pale colored rose with dark pink edges. The rose was flash frozen at the table in some liquid nitrogen, before being ground for the final garnish. The dish was a custard of cauliflower with verjux rouge, roe, and foie gras with a sliver of white chocolate. Neither Mark or I could decide if we liked this dish. The flavors were very complex and when eaten all together were good, but the parts individually took some thought. Here are 2 pictures - before and after the rose petal garnish. One thing's for sure - it sure was pretty.
Dish Six was Next's take on a salad: charred lettuce, bottarga, bonito and peanut milk. This was good. Thanks to the Japanese additions of togarashi and bonito, there was a nice depth of umami flavor. I would like a full size dish of this salad.
We were now moving on to the fish courses. The first of which was not only beautiful, but very tasty - an entire brook trout. Brook trought with coddled eggs, celeriac and green blueberries and crunchy spine. Everything on the plate was edible, including the crunchy spine. The spine added a wonderful texture contrast to the dish.
The next course was our absolute favorite. The smell alone would have made your mouth water: Neah Bay salmon with beets, browned butter and parsley. The salmon was served on a plexiglass sheet attached to a hollowed out log. The log was then stuffed with smoking rosemary and lemons and the fragrance was amazing. We were so happy to be ahead of the few tables around us, so we could relive the fragrance over and over. Really wish scratch and sniff photo technology was availabile.
At this point in the evening Next actually got a little kitchy, but it was done to help the diners get a better understanding of the pagentry of the Bocuse d'or. There was a parade of 3 platters, one for trout, one for pheasant and one for beef. Also Next was decorated with the flags of the participants of the Bocuse d'or. Below are those pictures. I have to admit that the trout and pheasant platter pictures make me laugh, but mostly because of my neighbor diner.
After that short distraction, the food started up again. The next dish was a consumme of roasted mushrooms (maitake, chanterelle and lobster), topped with a puff pastry "lid". Speaking as an anti-mushroom person, I will admit that this was good. The puff pastry was buttery and crispy, the consumme had a very deep, umami flavor and the number of actual mushrooms in my dish were minimal. Even I would eat this dish again. There are two pictures. One before it was opened and one half opened to reveal the insides.
Now on to the meat courses, because we haven't had enough food yet. The first meat course was represented by the second platter: Pheasant smoked in hay with grilled baby leek, caramelized onion and sauce blanquette. There was also a playful plating for the confit of pheasantl leg. It was plated mixed with pumpernickel crumbs with some mustard greens looking a lot like an upturned potted plant.
The next meat course was represented by the third platter during the parade: ribeye of beef with boudin vert, roasted carrot, sauce bernaise and potato marrow. This was another winning dish. The mashed potatoes were amazing.
Next came the cheese course. A very interesting swiss cow's milk cheese called tete de moine (head of the monk) with cashews, pear and milk skin. The cheese has a cool presentation/cutting method which forms a flower of cheese. (see this wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%AAte_de_Moine) It's a strong cheese, but was tempered by the other elements in the dish.
And now come the desserts!
The first dessert was an ice cream bombe in the style of apple pie, basically a fancy ice cream cake. We both enoyed this dessert.
The next dessert was a cube of butternut squash with huckleberry, butter pecan ice cream, and peach oatmeal cookie. We both liked the butter pecan ice cream and cookie components and while the butternut squash component was good, it just didn't feel dessert-like.
Final bites were a trio of deliciousness and actually probably my favorite dessert of the night. The three bites were a truffle of chocoloate, raspberry and hazelnut, pumpkin spice macaron and fleur de sel caramel dipped in 99% bitter chocoalte. Yummy!
And then three and a half hours later we were done eating - finally. I was so stuffed that even though we took public transportation, I didn't have the stomach for a nightcap! With this meal, we definitely did not run into the problem we had with the Vegan menu - we were definitely full! This was a meal that if someone else was buying I would go back for. Now I just have to hope we can get season tickets for their 2014 offerings, whatever they may be.
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