Another extraordinary dinner in Ashland. Everything was plated like artworks and such innovative dishes of seasonal local ingredients. Started with a fennel custard with wild sturgeon roe, quark (a fresh yogurt cheese), Pernod gelée, beet chips, arugula blossoms, and crispy shallots. A simple chilled artichoke soup with crème fraîche and artichoke chips was silky smooth and full of flavor. Burrata was served with slow-roasted tomatoes and prosciutto with aged balsamic. Our main was a sous vide duck breast with figs, baby potatoes, beech cap mushrooms, pickled ramps (no doubt house-pickled from the spring), with three different puddles of flavor, including a foie/olive purée, a balsamic vinaigrette, and a mustard seed gastrique. Our desserts were a cynar panna cotta with candied artichokes and caramel hazelnuts, and a chocolate truffle tort with cherries and raspberries. (You wouldn’t expect artichoke and cynar - an Italian herbal/artichoke aperitif - to be good in a dessert, but candied and with vanilla, it was an unexpected delight.) This was all complimented with local wines from Goldback, a Grenache rosé and a Rhône blend Cuvée. (We are lightweight drinkers, good for one glass each, and they were lovely to suggest that we could split glasses, so we could have a bit of rosé with the appetizers and the heavier red with our main.)
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