Sounds good. I'll see you then!

-Dan

LTHForum,

Interesting, delicious and innovative evening at Otom, starting with back alley Veuve Clicquot presented by Homaro Cantu working into 5 wine paired courses artfully prepared and presented by Chef Daryl Nash.

Highlights include perfectly cooked butter poached shrimp still slightly opaque, black beans & chili, puffed rice & jalapeno noodle. BBQ Pork Belly, so perfectly tender it seemed to slightly slump as if it could not support it's own weight.

BBQ Pork Belly, smoked bread, spicy chard & pork-beans


LTHers at Otom



Service was impeccable, truly as good as I've had, with a particular nod to Shaun Connolly for his impromptu set of non alcohol pairings. Very nice evening all around, both my wife and I are looking forward to a return visit.

Enjoy,
Gary

I agree with GWiv, it was a memorable, very special evening. My clear favorite was the pork belly, which was so tender, with just the right ratio (for me, but hey, I am a Filipino who loves lechon) of fat and meat. The smoked (I thought it tasted super toasted) bread was perfectly done, and perfectly cubed and was a great counterpoint to the richness of the pork.

Everything else was fantastic - special mentions to the perfectly poached shrimp, the unique "bacon egg" , and the crust of the carrot and edamame pie which part of the TV Dinner (I loved the fact that this dish was served in circa 1967 authentic German army mess hall trays- eating it, I felt I was in a scene from a Rainer Werner Fassbinder movie!). The conversation, of course, was interesting and convivial (thanks trixiepea and pigmon!).

Thanks to Chef Darryl, Joe, Chefs Omar and Ben, and the rest of the crew- I felt very privileged to be one of 15 people in the restaurant last night!

And yes GWiv, it was a little strange that I was being coy (it's probably the back alley Veuve-yikes!), but here I've outed myself!

I hadn't been to Otom before (though I had been to Moto a year and a half ago) and so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Overall I really enjoyed the meal and the company - this was my first LTH attended event.

First, I too really enjoyed the pork belly, but I *always* like pork belly. The "beans" made from pork and served along-side the belly slab were an interesting and playful twist on pork & beans.

The highlights of the meal for me, however, were the shrimp first course, the carrot and edamame pie slice served as a part of the TV dinner, and then the dessert course.

The shrimp, black beans, fried/puffed rice, chili puree and jalapeño noodle dish was just fantastic in my opinion. Playful, but not in a way that distracted from the flavors of the dish. The jalapeño noodle (I believe that they said it was jalapeño and shrimp-based, perhaps all bound with Activa?) had great flavor, texture, and really pulled the other elements in for me.

The pie slice (double-crust pie with a savory edamame and carrot filling, served with piped dollop of salted whip cream/butter) was something that I could go for a slice of right now - I'd eat it over and over. Something about the crust (and I'm normally not a pie crust fanatic), the warm savory filling, and the cold salty cream just did it for me. Downright delicious. I wasn't a huge fan of the cauliflower mash with coffee gravy that was also served in that course, but I'm not a big cauliflower guy, so that might explain it - perhaps the cauliflower and coffee combo was just too odd for me. I did think that the coffee gravy worked quite well on that course's main element, the chicken-fried bean steak.

And then finally the dessert - a multi-element dish with bananas in caramel sauce, sweetened marscapone, "chocolate chip cookies" (graham cracker tuiles, with slightly-crunchy cake-batter "chips"), and 'nilla wafer ice cream. The dish had a lot of elements, but really started to come together for me (though I don't quite know where the bananas fit in). The interesting thing about this dish to me was that everything was a familiar flavor and a familiar form, but not matched up. The "cookies" looked like cookies, but tasted like graham crackers and crunchy brownie top crinkle (the best way I can describe how the "chocolate chips" tasted to me), the ice cream took the proper form of ice cream, but tasted just like 'nilla wafer cookies (so you get the distinct flavor of cookie, but not from the thing on the plate that looks like a cookie).

All in all, it was a fantastic meal. When it was at its high points, I felt like it delivered on what I perceive as the intent of Nash's cuisine - playful concepts that challenge your notions of what things are or will taste like when they hit the table, and yet still taste great. In the end, if it doesn't taste great, cute food concepts just don't cut muster - at Otom last night I felt like most of the items met this standard.

I'd like to thank the folks at Otom for a fun event and a great meal - I had a blast and will definitely be back.

-Dan

dansch wrote:The jalapeño noodle (I believe that they said it was jalapeño and shrimp-based, perhaps all bound with Activa?) had great flavor, texture, and really pulled the other elements in for me.

I thought Activa too but Daryl said it was just bound by the shrimp puree.

Louisa Chu wrote:

dansch wrote:I thought Activa too.

I am kinda lost on this one as the only Activa I know is the Dannon yogurt stuff, could you possibly be thinking of Wondra? Just curious...

Sounds like the food was spectacular and will make me read the Events pages more often so I don't get left out on these special events.

Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and pictures of the night!

Activa is right - Heston is one of the big proponents:

http://www.the-triton.com/megayachtnews ... p?news=627

scanz - Activa is transglutaminase - also known as "meat glue": http://www.activatg.com/. It's a widely used industrial food additive - you've probably eaten it in processed cheese, yogurt, imitation crab meat, fish balls, etc. Wylie Dufresne used it a few years ago to make noodles from a shrimp puree at his restaurant wd-50 in New York which is when it first gained prominent use by experimental chefs in restaurants.

scanz wrote:

Louisa Chu wrote:

dansch wrote:I thought Activa too.

I am kinda lost on this one as the only Activa I know is the Dannon yogurt stuff, could you possibly be thinking of Wondra? Just curious...

scanz -- I believe the Dannon product is Activia.

Louisa Chu wrote:

dansch wrote:The jalapeño noodle (I believe that they said it was jalapeño and shrimp-based, perhaps all bound with Activa?) had great flavor, texture, and really pulled the other elements in for me.

I thought Activa too but Daryl said it was just bound by the shrimp puree.

Just a skin-less emulsified shrimp/jalapeno forcemeat kind of thing? I'll have to get out some plastic wrap, shrimp, my food processor and start playing.

Cheers,
-Dan

I'll have to get out some plastic wrap, shrimp, my food processor and start playing.

Fantastic tagline potential here, though it does remind me a bit of Kathy Bates in "Fried Green Tomatoes."

how fun was that? i had a great time last night, and want to thank mr. nash for squeezing me in, even though i responded late. i was in the second group, and got to meet a few of you (jpschust, gary, louisa, and ann). oh, and i learned how to hack into an iphone, whilst sipping bubbly in the alley.
i am still wondering why our photos will be used for...

back alley champagne is the name of my new band.

Otom, last night, provided a delightful dining adventure from the minute I arrived and saw the glittering place settings, to my last bite of banana “sundae”. The evening began with a warm greeting at the door by Chef Nash after which I was whisked away, in mysterious fashion, to the back alley. Here, I was greeted by Chef Cantu who took some pictures, and offered me a glass of Veuve Cliquot.

Dinner was both creative and delicious. Since much has been shared about the dishes, I will refrain from being repetitious. My two favorites were the Salade Lyonnaise which still retained the traditional ingredients but transformed some of them into very non-traditional forms and textures. The traditional oval egg was now a cold egg-shaped mound of bacon. The cold creaminess of the bacon when paired with the garlicky escarole salad created exciting new taste sensations. My other favorite of the evening was the succulent Twice-Cooked Pork Belly. The perfect ratio of fat to meat in my portion provided a decadent and comforting mouth feel. The smoked bread and spicy greens complemented the dish perfectly.

The wine pairings were outstanding and enhanced every dish that was served. I found it heart-warming to see the effort expended by the mixologist to create non-alcoholic pairings for each dish to meet the needs of one of our LTH group.

The impeccable service, the thoughtful wine pairings, the creative menu and platings, all suggested that much care and thought had been invested in this event. It was obvious that Chef Nash and his team had made every effort to provide the invited LTH diners with a memorable dining experience. I am grateful to have been one of the lucky diners.

The only down side of the evening for me was the vast number of empty chairs at our table. Some probing revealed that these were no shows. I know that only a limited number of invitations were issued and I’m sure it must have been very disappointing for the Chef and his staff to see so many empty seats. Plus, what a disappointment for the many LTHers who wanted to attend, but were unable to because the even was listed as full.

Jyoti

Hey guys,
I'm so happy to hear the great feedback. Thanks to all who attended our lil' shin-dig. Dinners like these with friends of the restaurant are a staff favorite, as we get to stretch our legs a bit. One correction; Mike Ryan, who was the former Mixologist at Moto was the dude responsible for the spectacular N/A cocktails. Best to all.

Daryl Nash wrote:Hey guys,
I'm so happy to hear the great feedback. Thanks to all who attended our lil' shin-dig. Dinners like these with friends of the restaurant are a staff favorite, as we get to stretch our legs a bit. One correction; Mike Ryan, who was the former Mixologist at Moto was the dude responsible for the spectacular N/A cocktails. Best to all.

Talking to Mike after the event has inspired me to experiment with some herbal tinctures this summer. A litter herb, a little grain alcohol, voila, an intense mixer.

Daryl Nash wrote:Hey guys,
I'm so happy to hear the great feedback. Thanks to all who attended our lil' shin-dig. Dinners like these with friends of the restaurant are a staff favorite, as we get to stretch our legs a bit. One correction; Mike Ryan, who was the former Mixologist at Moto was the dude responsible for the spectacular N/A cocktails. Best to all.

I'll give a special shout out to Mike, since I was the person drinking the N/A cocktails. They were spectacular and were paired perfectly with each course. Mike tried to capture the essence of the wine that was paired with the food and translate that into a non-alcoholic version. He succeeded wonderfully! I, too am going to be experimenting with tinctures this summer. Previously, I had thought tinctures were only for dressing a wound

Special OTOM Dinner 4/30/08 - A Pictorial

Menu


Amuse of "Hawaiian Pizza"


Butter-Poached Shrimp
black beans & chili with puffed rice & jalapeno noodle


Lyonnaise Breakfast Salad
"bacon egg". curly escarole & grain mustard vinaigrette




TV Dinner
chicken-fried bean breast, carrot & edamame pie, cauliflower & coffee gravy
(shown paired with a drink made from black tea, strawberries, raspberries and vanilla)



BBQ Pork Belly
smoked bread, spicy chard & pork-beans


Milk 'n Cookies
chocolate chip, mascarpone, caramel bananas, vanilla wafer ice cream

Great photos, all. Only missing item is that dandy little "banana split" mignardize at the end of the meal.

Everything was delightful, but like most others posting here, I found the butter-poached shrimp with jalapeño noodle and edamame pie with salted whipped cream to be standouts. But it was all excellent.

The only other things worth noting were the bread and butter. They plied us through the night with delightful breads -- pumpernickel, seeds and grains type, and French -- which were served with either plain butter or butter mixed with orange-chive-jalapeño butter. It took a bit of self-control to not completely fill up on bread.

Cynthia wrote:Great photos, all. Only missing item is that dandy little "banana split" mignardize at the end of the meal.

Ask and you shall recieve.

Mignardize

Thanks, stevez!

Cynthia wrote:Great photos, all. Only missing item is that dandy little "banana split" mignardize at the end of the meal.

Everything was delightful, but like most others posting here, I found the butter-poached shrimp with jalapeño noodle and edamame pie with salted whipped cream to be standouts. But it was all excellent.

The only other things worth noting were the bread and butter. They plied us through the night with delightful breads -- pumpernickel, seeds and grains type, and French -- which were served with either plain butter or butter mixed with orange-chive-jalapeño butter. It took a bit of self-control to not completely fill up on bread.

Bread at Otom comes from the Red Hen Bakery

jpschust wrote:Bread at Otom comes from the Red Hen Bakery

Bread was delicious and hard to resist, especially with the orange and jalapeno accented table butter.

Daryl Nash wrote:One correction; Mike Ryan, who was the former Mixologist at Moto was the dude responsible for the spectacular N/A cocktails. Best to all.

Thanks for the correction, the couple of sips of Steve's N/A parings I tried were really quite superb.