eater's digest: take root

October 12, 2013 in eater's digest

There are many labels you could apply to the tasting menu at Brooklyn's Take Root: farm-to-table, sustainable, seasonal. But these increasingly popular, conscious-consumer terms still miss the mark. For while this intimate—verging on tiny—restaurant is all of those things, it is, most importantly, attentive. Attentive in the sense that Chef Elise Kornack has an uncanny awareness of her ingredients and, in turn, encourages diners to take note of her unusual culinary perspective.

If it sounds like I'm gearing up to make a bold claim, I am. My meal at Take Root was the most texturally perfect series of plates that I've ever tasted.

Starting with the amuse bouche. A play on carrots and circles, combining caviar-like spheres with crunchy disks and a delicate puree. It was a leitmotif of flavor in a tiny bowl, a question of what is a carrot, and yet, easy to enjoy without considering any of this. The lingering flavor of incredibly fresh mint made this dish doubly worth the while.

Then came a soft boiled egg with paprika mayonnaise, pickled onions and mustard seeds, rustic bread and home-whipped butter. I've never been a big fan of deviled eggs, but I appreciated the contrasting textures of this more challenging deconstruction, particularly the mustard seed. As for the aerated butter, that deserves its own rave review.

Next was an appetizer of tender rings of calamari, delicate peppery arugula and crisp lady apples with creamy cranberry beans. It was mild, but still dynamic—the type of dish that is best appreciated on a fresh palate.

Then came a surprise course, an evolved French onion soup. The deeply flavorful, strained broth and wafter-thin pain de mie toasts with a smear of midnight moon gouda was a revelation. Food this thought-out is typically outside of the realm of craving. But if you asked me what I'd like to eat every day for the next month, I'd choose this soup.

A pause to recognize one of the other truly impressive parts of dining at Take Root—their playlist. Curated by Elise's partner, Anna, the mix of Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux and Alexi Murdoch (to name a few) perfectly fit the mellow space and pace of the meal. In a city where so many restaurants prefer rock and hip-hop, it highlighted Take Root as the exception, a more subtle escape from New York's hectic pace.

Back to the menu, hand-rolled egg noodles arrived in a delicate sauce of sweet corn milk. Dotted among the coils were briny salmon roe, adding a savory counter flavor to the sweetness of the dish. The following course was a striped bass with shatteringly crunchy skin, tender baby eggplants and meyer lemon hollandaise. Despite its mix of unexpected ingredients, the dish was perfectly balanced. Neither the aerated hollandaise or creamy eggplant overpowered the flavor of the wild bass.

As the evening slowly unfolded, we reached the chicken course, which featured multiple cuts from the same animal. Feather-light croquettes deflated beneath their remarkably crispy crust, while the surprisingly gamey breast proved surprisingly moist. The liver mousse was my favorite of all, creating a funky contrast with the essence-of-grape intensity of the halved concords scattered around the plate.

For dessert, Elise presented an almond semifreddo—a reminder of what almond should taste like, with a light, silky texture to boot. And I couldn't get over the beautiful hue of the elephant heart plums, dragging the ragged, ripped sponge cake through the intensely colored, sweet-tart plum coulis.

Though some dishes were more experimental than others, the multi-course tasting fit together like a patchwork quilt. With no national or cultural cuisine to stitch them together, Elise's unique perspective on cooking tied together the disparate dishes. The experience is unusually personal, clearly revealing the chef's hyper-focused palate and culinary intentions.

In a day and age when "foodies" troll reality TV and read Food Network Magazine for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of their favorite chef, it's refreshing to remember that much of what we want to know can be communicated on the plate. Like any great novelist or painter, true chefs need only provide the bearings inherent to their work. And while Elise and her partner Anna are happy to tell you more, the best part of the meal might be that they don't have to.

Take Root
187 Sackett St, Brooklyn
Thurs-Sat, 8pm seating

Inside Omnivore: The Birth of a Global Food Brand

October 04, 2013

During my time studying food culture and criticism in France, I became keenly interested in French food publications that were actively contributing to the country's shifting culinary perspective. When I first discovered Omnivore at an event in Paris, I had no idea the brand had stakes in extending its global reach. But the curiosity and insatiability of Luc Dubanchet and his team have since propelled Omnivore into the international sphere, creating a space for those who enjoy thinking and talking about food as much as they like eating it.

How did Omnivore come to be?

Omnivore started like a rebellion, [spring from the] understanding that food and cuisine were about to change, that they needed to change in France. Young chefs arriving, new trends, new consumers...the early 2000s was the beginning of something new in the culinary world. Omnivore anticipated it in 2003, giving a voice to this young generation of French and international creators. [At the time], chefs like Ferran Adrià and the global rising of Spanish cuisine inspired Omnivore, as well as godfathers like Michel Bras or Pierre Gagnaire.

How would you distinguish Omnivore from other food publications? And how has the brand changed over time?

Omnivore is the only publication in the world at this scale—to travel with chefs for creating 10 events a year around cuisine. We have kept the same values since the beginning: discovering young chefs, supporting creativity and [promoting the] best quality products.

Local Brooklyn charcutier, John Ratliff, demonstrates the traditional technique of preparing a culatello at Omnivore World Tour 2013.

It seems fitting, being that "omnivore" means someone who eats everything, that you would expand to an international audience. What was the process of taking the brand global, and were there any interesting challenges or successes along the way?

[Our need to take] the brand global was evident. Omnivore was inviting chefs from all aver the world, so it was natural to reverse the process and go to the world. People came to us—we were asked to organize a festival in New York, then Moscow and then Montreal It's was an obvious decision to travel the world and to try and understand what countries and the chefs there were expecting from us. The successes of our North American festivals, as well as the one in Moscow, made it incredibly exciting. Of course, we faced lots of complications.

When you're creating festivals for different cities, to what extent does local food culture vs. global food trends influence the event?

100%—we are only interested in local food culture. Chefs who are traveling with us are there to discover it and they go to the market to gain the most precise view possible of local ingredients. We don't believe in an international/fusion cuisine, but rather in as many identities as there are chefs, cities and cultures on earth. And this is clearly the most exciting aspect of food: diversity.

How many years have you hosted events in Brooklyn, and how have the events evolved over time?

This year was the fourth year, with past success including our 2012 event at the art gallery Invisible Dog, starring René Redzepi, Paul Liebrandt and Carlo Mirarchi. I will always remember this crazy omnivorious party involving 500 people on a dusty, hot night. But there were also great moments of loneliness, like last year at Dekalb Market, in this empty dead space (the market was shutting down a few days after our festival)...but that's Omnivore's life.

Brooklyn Chef Jose Ramirez shares his perspective on plant-based cuisine with a dish of charred beets, sunflower praline, goats milk/cheese, spruce vinegar & sunflower petals at Omnivore World Tour 2013.

Are there any plans to take the other aspects of the brand—the magazine, restaurant reviews—global as well?

Yes for sure. Becoming a worldwide brand also means being able to produce a guide or a magazine in English. Probably in the second part of 2014.

Of other food organizations that take a multi-disciplinary approach, are there any in particular that you respect and are inspired by?

Of course, we have a great respect and admiration for the team organizing San Sebastian Gastronomika, Madrid Fusion, Identita Golose in Milano, MAD in Copenhagen or the Sydney Food and Wine Festival. It's so difficult to create these events that you can only have admiration, and they all create a great network.

supper club: september

September 19, 2013 in supper club

After a summer hiatus, I'm thrilled to be bringing back the supper club. To make the most of the city's gorgeous nearly-fall weather, I asked my dear friends Moritz & Alexis to loan me their grill and adorable backyard in Fort Greene.

My amazing, if ridiculous friend Moritz—donning astro turf from his backyard as a scarf.

The BBQ menu was largely inspired by classes I've taken at the Institute of Culinary Education with alum and current Executive Chef at Spice Market, Anthony Ricco. In particular, I have to thank him for teaching me to break down a whole chicken, as well as his recipes for Indonesian spice rub and Southeast Asian slaw.

Many thanks to my dear friend—and test kitchen chef—Melissa Knific for manning the grill.

To start, I grilled skewered shisito peppers, which, as an eating experience, are a game of "Russian roulette." Most are very mild, but every once in a while...you really hit a hot one. I also steamed edamame and tossed it with Maldon salt and curry powder for a pre-meal snack.

Thanks to the many hands of my hungry guests, we picked about 5 bunches of herbs for both the slaw and a big pot of nasi ulam, a rice dish I first discovered on the menu of Fatty Cue in Williamsburg. The combination of cilantro, mint, lemongrass, and ground shrimp powder create an herbaceous umami that brings an addictive amount of flavor to sticky jasmine rice.

Speaking of funky flavors, the slaw consisted of red and green cabbage, asian pear, julienned carrot, bean sprouts, mint, cilantro and a dressing of sweetened condensed milk, fish sauce, lime juice, sriracha and rice vinegar.

The chicken was prepared two ways—on the bone, rubbed with Indonesian dry rub and skewered, with dry rub and a bit of chili marinade. A batch of grilled pineapple rounded out the meal.

But let's never forget dessert. The marvelous Molly Marzalek-Kelly, head pastry chef at BAKED in Red Hook joined us yet again, this time supplying home-made fortune cookies and whoopie pies with coconut or mango filling. The fortune cookies contained hand-written notes—questions, in fact, that guests answered aloud. My favorite demanded, "Tell us your favorite summer moment." One friend generously responded, "This."

Photos by Lauren DeFilippo