Well, the start of the New Year has begun, and to kick things off, we decided to pay homage to the guy who takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’: Father Time.

Aged and fermented foods were the focus of the menu for Thursday, January 12th, 2017, and Enrique Rodriguez from 3BV Distributors in St. Thomas helped us out on the beverage side of things with some of his imported selections.  Some of you may know Enrique from his other job: running Rodriguez Auto Parts.

We did a four course menu this time around and Enrique had fun raffling off lots of bottles for guests to take home.  Photographer Leah Randall was on hand to take shots of the space, the food, and the guests.

We also had our sails up over our outdoor space, which is really close to completion!  Just a few more tweaks here and there. Big shout out to Mathew Gibney and Ben Lewis for their parts in making it happen.

 

For the First Course, Chef Nils went with:

Pickles / Jamon / Smoked Salmon Rillet / Sourdough / Preserved Lemon Jam / Aged Manchego 

And Enrique poured a Witte Beer from Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY

 

David from Caravan Auto, who is actually quite an accomplished baker, hooked us up with some of his phenomenal Sourdough Bread.  We preserved our lemons and made our pickled items.

Next on the docket, we had:

Salt Fish Croquette / Island Chow Chow / Caviar / House Creme Fraiche / Mustard Greens

Enrique paired it with LaChouffe, a Golden Ale from Brewery Achouffe in Belgium.

Banana Leaves and Mustard Greens straight from our own garden!

For the main course, we did:

Dry Aged Beef Sirloin / Stilton & Cauliflower Gratin / Brussel Sprouts / Speck

We quick dry-aged our beef for about three days using a technique involving fish sauce and cheese cloth.  The result was just the right amount of funkiness coupled with a subtle hint of aged Stilton in the Gratin.

Our beer selection was the flagship beer from Brewery Duvel Moortgat, also a Golden Ale from Belgium but with less spice.

To finish things off, it was a

Pound Cake / Kombucha Gelee / Merengue / Fizzy Fruit

The Kombucha was made in house by Chef Mat and the fruit was made fizzy using CO2 and a whipped cream siphon.

The beer choice was probably the most popular because it was so unusual.  A Cuvee Brut from Brewery Liefmans, also in Belgium (I sense a theme here).  Lightly sweet and fruity, it was the perfect accompaniment to the dessert course.

Unfortunately, no one captured an image of the dessert or the beer being poured, so we’ll just have to stick in a picture that was ripped off of the brewery’s website…

We also didn’t get a traditional group shot at the end of the evening (streak broken!), so in lieu of that, here are some shots of happy guests and staff throughout the evening.

 

Thanks again to all who participated, and we look forward to next month’s dinner.  The theme is: Keep the Romance Alive – Legendary Aphrodisiacs on Saturday, February 11th, 2017.