snackspot: 525 broome at thompson

I spent Saturday afternoon up at the Gourmet Insitute. I went to Sam Mason's demo expecting to see pastry pyrotechnics, but instead was treated to a first taste of the menu for his new spot opening in Soho. For those playing along at home, Sam was most recently the pastry chef at WD-50, and is readying his first solo venture. Said venture, to be housed at 525 Broome Street at Thompson, is not yet named, but will be open from 6PM to 3AM. There are 50 seats, plus a cocktail lounge downstairs. Said venture is also running a month or two behind schedule and will open in 2007, January or February at this point.

The menu will be 70% sweet and 30% savory, with eight savory plates, eight sweet plates, and 3/4/5-course dessert tasting menus. But Sam's intent on blurring the lines between dinner and dessert. He mentioned a foie gras cupcake made with duck fat and duck butter cream as an appetizer and savory cotton candy. There will also be a 7-course tasting menu for $70, with the first iteration to be focused on chocolate. Sam explained that he wants the transition from savory to sweet to be imperceptible in the meal, moving from one to the next seamlessly -- similar, perhaps, to Jordi Burton's Espai Sucre in Barcelona.

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Saturday afternoon, Sam and his salty conspirator, Mr. Fran Derby, cooked up two dishes from the savory part of the menu. First was a pekin duck and eel terrine served warm with a chocolate consommé, garnished with homemade pickled cherry and fresh marjoram. Next came pork belly with whiskey braised artichoke, white miso butterscotch, green apple and chervil. Perhaps it sounds strange, but they were both quite good. Full range of flavors, nice textural combinations – and neither too sweet nor too salty.

If you're skeptical of sweet food – and are shaking your head with a 'tsk tsk what is he thinking?' consider this. Sweet savories have been around for centuries. Recall all the classic combinations: lamb and mint jelly, pork chops and apple sauce, foie gras and figs, prosciutto and melon, chocolate mole sauce. You already like them. 

Comments

[Bux]

If there's been one common trait I've found in most of the "new" (Adrià has recently rejected "molecular gastronomy" as a label) food from European avant-gardists, it's been sugar in the savory courses--and that's sugar, not fruit--as in egg yolk encased in crisp caramel. Several years ago at my one meal at Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck, sweetness increased with each course. A main course of sweetbreads was coated with a sweet batter that could have easily been reserved for a spicy dessert. In fact, the desserts took a step back in terms of sweetness. One problem that I've not resolved, is the choice of wine with this kind of food. That's gist for another topic

[mme snack]

The wine question is a good one Bux. Perhaps we can get Sam to give us his two cents.