Three years ago, the Ulterior Epicure....or as we know him in the food industry, UE, came to eat at what was then my restaurant. I was 27 at the time and pretty ambitious, not to mention really nervous. I respected his writings and wanted his honest opinion about my cooking. I attempted to create two different tasting menus for him and his guest. One of the courses was a white chocolate custard with Calvisius caviar. I got the idea from an article I read about Heston Blumenthal that talked about the possibilities of matching white chocolate and seafoods....why not? So I tried it. Three years later, and hundreds of new dishes, new techniques, better understanding of food, new equipment, and a lot of failures...this dish is still with us. The shape of it has changed a dozen times or so, but the context of the dish is the same. Silky smooth sweet white chocolate, salty, briny caviar, pickled lemon and cippolini add acidity without texture, and a slight peppery bite from micro cress. I dont have any "signature dishes", and this certainly isnt one, but its the only one thats been around since its conception. This one dish changed the way I think about food, it got me started, made me question. Today, we are still ambitious, still trying to push forward, still trying to be perfect. Our food has evolved, become more refined. Just like the white chocolate and caviar, we have changed forms over the last 3 years....and it doesnt end here.
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