Spring Equinox Dinner @ The Dutch Miami 3.21.13

Chef Kilgore, a Bearded Fellow & Chef Hanlon

Chef Conor Hanlon and Chef Bradley Kilgore worked together in the past and remained friends since that time. They both respect each others skill set and decided to team up for a Spring Equinox dinner at The Dutch Miami. The theme highlighted some of the current local seasonal offerings.

Make no mistake, these are two of the best young chefs in Miami.  These consummate professionals left their egos at home and collaborated on each dish together.  The result was a remarkable combination of cooking skills and flavorful food.  They delivered straight forward, ingredient driven fresh food that was executed flawlessly from start to finish.

Two local chefs joining forces was a real treat for those in attendance and something refreshing to see in the local culinary community.

Miami's food future is looking bright thanks to young chefs like Conor and Brad. 

The Gripper!!

And I can't forget one of the best pastry chefs in town, Joshua Gripper.  He delivered one of the best desserts I've ever had.


                               

The evening started with a nice pre dinner, Smokey BBQ Old Fashioned featuring bacon infused Four Roses bourbon, maple syrup and smokey BBQ bitters.  

Sommelier Nicholas Abuabara did a terrific job pairing the wines with each course. 

Early Radish Salad pre parmesan.

The dynamic duo started us off with a wonderful early radish salad with celery, fine herbs pickled ramp vinaigrette and topped with Parmesan.  The textures, vinaigrette and cheese complimented each other perfectly.

The first course was paired with a very nice Foss Marai, prosecco D.O.C. Brut, Italy

The second course featured white and wild green asparagus, succulent stone crab and a tasty truffle sabayon.  It was paired with the wine of the night, a dynamite Charles Hours, Jurancon Sec "Cuvée Marie" Rhone, France 2011.

The third course was a delicious hand rolled ricotta gnudi with minted pea puree and bacon crisps.  The gnudi was outstanding on their own and the puree and bacon really elevated the dish to another level.  It was paired with Joseph Swan Vineyards, Chardonnay, Saralee's Vineyard, Russian river valley, Sonoma, 2009.

Course number four was a ten star chicken of a lifetime caliber dish.  Their "Spring Chicken" featured a fantastically flavorful poussin along with morels, smoked carrots, wilted ramp greens, whole grain mustard and foie gras jus.  This was as good as chicken gets.  It was paired with a very nice Vietti Langhe, Nebbiolo, Piedmont, Italy 2009.

The Roasted leg of Lamb.

It was very hard to follow the Spring Chicken dish but the lamb came to play too. I loved the braised lamb and the goat cheese polenta and fava beans were unreal.  Another outstanding dish.

The last savory treat was the roast leg of Spring lamb dusted with Ras el Hanout.  It was paired with
J.L. Chave, St-Joseph, "Offerus", Rhone, France 2009.

Lamb condiments including goat yogurt, rhubarb-kumquat chutney, Moroccan olive agrodolce and ramp chimichurri.

As expected, The Gripper blew the roof off with his wonderfully balanced "Peach Melba" with Champagne sorbet.  His dessert was subtly sweet and hit all the right notes. Refreshing, nice textures and fresh peaches mixed in. We were all full and we all cleaned our plates.

Chef Gripper wasn't done.  The night ended on a high note with more delicious treats.

Great meal and a very enjoyable evening with a fun group of food lovers.

This dinner will easily be in the running for my Meal of the year.