Josh Skenes was one of the guest chefs in the kitchen with Blaine Wetzel Monday Night. The others were Matthew Orlando of AMASS in Copenhagen, Matthew Lightner of Atera (New York) and Nicolai Norregaard of Kadeau, a summers-only Michelin starred restaurant on a Danish island called Bornholm with a branch recently opened in Copenhagen. Can't believe I not only got in, but got in for THIS dinner: I got it just one week ago when someone with a lot more connections than I'll ever have cancelled.
Bizarrely, we didn't really know what to expect, this being our first visit. We didn't even know that the wine pairings were part of the price (from what I understand, they normally aren't). Plus, this was a special event, a "Harvest Dinner" with guest chefs which could have changed a lot from normal as the price was definitely higher, but without prior knowledge or anyone explaining the overall plan to us, we just had to show up and roll with it.
Once at the restaurant, we took a table on the deck/patio and perused the before-dinner drinks menu. There were 10-12 wines available, all by the glass and unpriced, and all good Oregon and Washington wines that retail in the $30 range. There were also some good looking cocktails though I ultimately chose an aMaurice chardonnay and managed to fit in two glasses before dinner (we were staying nearby). This was the first step in a really classy evening--the cost was $500 per person, and that (best surprise of all) turned out to be all-inclusive. Nothing was extra, we never saw a check. We'd given them a credit card and paid in full when we made the reservation, and that sufficed. LOVED that.
Let me tell you quickly about the wine pairings. They started us on a semi-sweet Homestead Cider made here in Port Townsend. Tangy and maybe 7-8% alcohol, it was a perfect starter--I had two flutes of it. We then had a southern rhone style white from Maison Bleue (WA), a reserve chardonnay from Lemelson (Oregon), an outstanding pinot noir called Dusky Goose (Oregon), and a meritage blend called Den Hoed (WA). Outstanding choices all, and again they didn't skimp--that Den Hoed is a small quantity almost-private label and it runs $80/bottle if you can find it. Oh, and there was a WA port style wine from Brian Carter for the desserts.
We had a GREAT table--not that there are any bad tables in a square room that seats only 32, but not everyone would have had, or wanted, a perfect view of the kitchen but I did. Bob faced the water view and the sunset.
All the servers were dressed in black--blouses and slacks, and wore long brown leather aprons. The same leather, cut in shaggy pieces, covered a booklet that described a lot of the ingredients that are foraged there on the island. It was just on the table as kind of a reference. The food seemed to have been served by anyone who was available and each table was able to more or less pace itself--we didn't ALL get the next dish at exactly the same time because the food was ready, rather we each got the next dish when our individual table was ready. Nothing was rushed and yet we never felt like we waited--the timing was impeccable. Most of the food was delivered to us by the chefs, all five of them, who explained each one in detail, and the ones they served were not necessarily their own dishes. With 17 dishes, that means that we got to meet each chef. It was an incredibly personal touch and I've never been served like that anywhere.
Here's what we had:
kefir of goat's milk and beer-cooked oat crisps
dried farm tomatoes, blackberries, almond and lemon cucumber, tomato water
bull kelp with black truffles*
grilled geoduck, haruki turnips, Asian pear and hazelnuts
varied green shoots from the farm topped with a mixture of chopped oyster, lovage and unripe strawberries*
seaweed-cured rockfish and a charred block of greens, horseradish, and broth of grilled bones
grilled crab claw, lobster mushrooms, smoked pumpkin, butter sauce
smoked black cod
sourdough bread in wood bowl lined with hot rocks, butter, and debris of roasted bone marrow fat with herbs*
heirloom beans and grilled lamb heart in juniper broth
fire-dried beets poached in bone marrow*
raw venison carpaccio, forest cepes, charred kale, underripe blackberry & mushroom oil*
lamb rubbed with mashed oysters and turnip relish served under a turnip leaf*
raw pole beans crushed into milk curd, broth from cooked beans and flowers
plums, berries, beets and fresh cream with strawberry broth
black cocoa bean ice cream coated in crushed dried fig leaf, house-made licorice
dried apples, burnt caramel, black peppercorn ice cream and oregano*
*The asterisks indicate my favorites.
Absolutely incredible, no dishes were duds, and I ate everything even though animal hearts and things made from milk aren't my favorite things. I was super-relieved not to have been served something like ants. One of my top dining experiences ever. Worth $500 each? No question.
The other diners: a pretty nice mix of obviously wealthy people, including a guy who could have been a rock star, older ugly men with beautiful wives, a group of Chinese, and a 17 year old kid with a Beatles mop haircut dining all by himself. Turns out he's some wunderkind who is developing an app called Munch, and this was "research". He's travelling the country dining alone like this!
So save your pennies.