Every winter we celebrate the holidays by decorating our homes with twinkling lights, garlands, bows, and wreaths. We go to parties dressed in our finest and drink cocktails served from cut crystal punch bowls. We snack on foods wrapped in other foods before being skewered on a toothpick, itself sporting a bit of merry, colorful cellophane at the tip. We are currently in the middle of this most festive and celebratory time of the year. While dining on a budget you might assume that fine culinary offerings and special occasion dishes would be out of reach. This month, however, we dine on only the best of the best, the crème de la crème. From plump snails swimming in garlicky butter to decadent patisserie topped with edible gold, we’ll enjoy the very fanciest of fancy foods offered at some of our finest local restaurants.
1.) The Gougères at Brasserie by Niche
Pâte à choux, the classic French dough enriched with decadent quantities of egg yolk, serves as the base for the pillowy pastry component of many fancy foods. Most commonly known are eclairs, profiteroles and cream puffs. The preparation of pâte à choux would seem to be simple and straightforward, but, like many recipes that contain very few ingredients, a successful outcome requires skilled mastery and a good deal of finesse. At Brasserie in the Central West End, choux paste is cooked and tirelessly beaten by hand with a wooden spoon. The addition of aged cheese creates fragrant and soft gougères. Airy and pillow-like, the small golden brown pastries are the perfect combination of profoundly delicious flavor in the simplest package. A starter portion of five or six gougères costs $6.50.
2.) Raw Oysters at Peacemaker Lobster and Crab
Raw oysters are one of the most decadent of fancy foods. So perfect in creation, the very best of them are to be enjoyed without adornment and minimal preparation. During a recent visit to Peacemaker Lobster and Crab, the selection of East Coast raw oysters included Easthams, Petite Fairhavens and Spring Creeks, all from Massachusetts, and the Skinny Dipper oyster from Virginia. The oyster varieties differ in texture, firmness, salinity and flavor. Each oyster displays its own very unique profile. The bivalves are shucked, loosened from their shells and served on a bed of ice with sides of cocktail sauce, vinegary mignonette, fresh grated horseradish and wedges of lemon. All varieties of oysters are $3 each except during happy hour from 4:30-6 p.m. Monday through Fridays when they are priced at a dollar each. At that price they are worth pairing with a glass of Prosecco for the ultimate culinary fancy pants combo, or try one of Peacemaker’s tasty and potent frozen cocktails.
3.) The Kyoto at Nathaniel Reid Bakery
When you gaze at the plated dessert selection at Nathaniel Reid Bakery it’s akin to admiring colorful, fine gemstone jewelry at a gallery. The individual patisserie are a rainbow of vibrant hues that gleam and shimmer behind the glass of the pastry case. Each are adorned with precisely placed and finely detailed edible embellishments. The selection of these intricately assembled and complexly flavored desserts is inspired by and changes with the seasons. A recent outstanding offering is the Kyoto. A crisp and delicate hazelnut feuilletine creates a base for hazelnut cake filled with hazelnut mousse. Encasing the cake is a gloriously reflective coating of lime caramel, the shade of a ripe persimmon, with milk chocolate discs and a single hazelnut creating a tiny architectural sculpture on top. Reid literally gilds the lily with a final touch of edible gold leaf. The individual sized Kyoto costs $5.95.
4.) Escargot at Vin de Set
Although escargot is a classic and pastoral dish, it is definitely one that most would consider quite fancy. Sometimes foods which seem off-putting, unconventional, or exotic make the list of swanky cuisine simply because it takes a bit of courage to try it for the first time. Lovers of escargot know it is more about the butter, garlic, and parsley than the small, plump, and ever so faintly woodsy flavored snails. Usually a crusty baguette is served with to sop up all of the “snail butter” that is left after eating the meat. Although at Vin De Set they do not stuff their escargot back into shells before cooking, always making for a striking presentation, they do serve up quite a few of the delicate gastropods in a healthy amount of garlicky, melted butter. Served in a small cast iron dish, there is plenty of snail butter left over to enjoy with the slices of accompanying French bread. Usually the escargot is priced at $12.99, but if you visit Vin de Set from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday in the bar area you can enjoy the escargot as well as all of their other appetizers and crêpes for half price making the dish only $6.50.
5.) Truffled Tater Tots at Blood and Sand
When Blood and Sand opened as a private, members-only food and drink establishment in September of 2011, then executive chef Chris Bork offered golden brown tater tots rich with the slightly stinky and undeniable flavor of truffles. Today, Blood and Sand is no longer members-only which means that anyone, member or not, can enjoy a bowl of the tots. Truffles are one of the world’s most expensive and therefore decadent culinary ingredients. White Winter or Alba truffles can range upwards of $10,000 a pound making anything they flavor seem lavish and extravagant. Blood and Sand does not use fresh truffles, rather they utilize truffle oil in both the potato mixture as well as in the accompanying thick French onion dip. Pairing the simple, modest potato with the flavor of truffles raises the school lunch side dish to new indulgent level. If you are not a member of Blood and Sand, a bowl of the truffle tater tots will cost you $7. If you are a member and having dinner at the restaurant, you will be lucky enough to receive them as a complimentary membership perk.
