Roasted pheasant. The entree portion of a five course sampler. It was a special at Barolo and easier than reading everything on the menu and deciding so I left my fate to Barolo's selection and their capable staff.
I'm such a dunce. Our waiter was remarkably knowledgeable, he was also friendly and engaging. He asked me what I was up to and that was a good chance for me to ask permission for his picture but I was too engaged and having too much fun to think about my task. In fact, Joe had to remind me take a few shots before digging in.
The cylindrical thing is brioche. It has an egg inside. Quail egg, I guess. The waiter and later on another guy, a helper, both emphasized the idea is to break open the egg and have the yolk pour out, and you know I love that but I didn't notice it happen this time. Maybe I am insufficiently observant but like I said, I was having a good time.
Ed: Wait! I do remember now. It was small. Joe was speaking. Delightful. Smeared it onto a little piece of its own brioche cylindric coat and ate it.
The cylindrical thing is brioche. It has an egg inside. Quail egg, I guess. The waiter and later on another guy, a helper, both emphasized the idea is to break open the egg and have the yolk pour out, and you know I love that but I didn't notice it happen this time. Maybe I am insufficiently observant but like I said, I was having a good time.
Ed: Wait! I do remember now. It was small. Joe was speaking. Delightful. Smeared it onto a little piece of its own brioche cylindric coat and ate it.
So this plate of pheasant breast shown above and below was mine. It was the main thing and it came second to last in the lineup. The other items were all samples, but this was more than a sample and that is why I am showing it first.
So that was my main thing.
Back to the beginning and in order but minus the pheasant shown above.
The waiter called this a terrine. It is a country pâté with pistachio and four specks of sauces, two mustards and two aioli. It also shows up on Joe's antipasto.
Foie gras. Whispers, demasiado raro para mí. Personalmente, no me gusto mucho este hígado. My favorite part is the biscuit.
This antipasto plate was served to Joe. Joe picked at it like a picky little picker. This alone could have been dinner. We both picked at it. Pick. Pick. Pick. Pick. Pick. Well, what else can you do except pick and poke and smear. It was great. Loaded with little piles of all kinds of odd and wonderful things. I don't know why we left behind so much prosciutto.
Joe is a waster.
Back to the wave of plates cresting in front of me.
Calamari as ceviche. Very interesting texture, almost like incompletely cooked dough. Were this a blind taste test I would not have been able to identify it. Until now. Now I would go, "Aha!"
Haystack goat cheese in mini ravioli.
Now I recall why Joe let the prosciutto go -- to clear a place for this breaded veal. This was Joe's main thing. The stuff in the center is a plant called salsify. I don't know what that is pictured on the end, Joe said it was delicious but not what it was. A biscuit, I think. Something baked.
Maybe the things on the end are Tater Tots® smashed into triangles.
My final course, which never occurred to me to share, is a study of contrasts in miniature.
Hazelnut this / hazelnut that
hazelnut cold / hazelnut warm
hazelnut flat / hazelnut spherical
hazelnut wet /hazelnut crumbly
hazelnut crispy/ hazelnut creamy
hazelnut light/ hazelnut dark
hazelnut short / hazelnut tall
hazelnut lacy / hazelnut thick
hazelnut shiny / hazelnut matt
hazelnut smooth / hazelnut textured
hazelnut lacy / hazelnut thick
hazelnut shiny / hazelnut matt
hazelnut smooth / hazelnut textured
Conclusively, this dessert is mostly hazelnut.
3 comments:
According to Barolo's menu, that Tater Tot thing is a semolina fritter. (Man cannot live by Arts! alone. Research!) As for the country pâté, are you sure the waiter didn't call it a terrine?
Rob, yes, on both points. Why, it's as if you were there!
Corrected terrine above. Thank you. That explains why it didn't compute when the waiter said it.
I'm glad you're looking. This photo set was really pushing it. Very low yellow light. No tripod, no VR, no flash. I tried various manual settings and various means to hold steady. The camera's JPGs were all terrible. This was the best I could do with the NEF files. Each one required a ridiculously heavy hand on the Photoshop slide bars.
At Barolo, Joe got up for the bog. The waiter then approached from the other side of a half wall and on a lower level so now we are even, he standing on his level and me sitting on my level, he asked me directly, "Are you a reporter or something?"
That must be sort of strange, a guy comes in and photographs food and only food, shows no interest in photographing people or the dining room. Still, it always seems so rude, like pointing or being invasive, and worse of all, playing with technological toys when one is with friends.
The images are better than fine, especially considering the limitations inherent in the circumstances. With so many foodies snapping pics, I imagine restaurants are becoming accustomed to it, though admittedly I've never done it myself in a restaurant.
Your recent pics have been outstanding. I was especially blown away by the images of the T-bone and the sea bass. If your camera gives you the option to shoot in RAW, you should find it gives you more post-processing flexibility than JPG, since the image you're working on is unsullied by the camera's adjustments for white balance, saturation, contrast and sharpness, and since RAW has about a stop and a half more dynamic range, allowing you to adjust for exposure in post without losing information.
Post a Comment