Volo restaurant, fresh trilobite in season!

The most vexing question we have had to deal with at Volo restaurant came to us unannounced in a delivery from plitt seafood yesterday: What to do with a critter that we had never seen before, and didnt even know existed? My salesman John was nice enough to slide me the last of several Trilobites that he had evidently gotten from a new cave site in Nevada; I was skeptical at first but with a little research i found an article that seems to coincide with this windfall.

http://reports.discoverychannel.ca/servlet/an/discovery/1/20060119/discovery_crawlers_060119?s_name=&no_ads=

The animal was alive which was a bit unnerving, but it was easy enough to dispatch them by removing the plastron, much like removing the membrane from a lobster tail. The meat inside was translucent white, firm, and in a tight pattern not unlike corduroy. Once the plastron was removed, the viscera were very easy to discard, and the cleaned trilobite actually looked pretty tasty.



you can see how meaty these guys really are! I dont know what they've been eating in those caves for the past 500 million years, but i have seen few proto-crustaceans this fleshy. Certainly horseshoe crabs http://www.horseshoecrab.org/ are of a similar, prehistoric nature, but they tend to be "bony" for lack of a better word.



Since I only had ONE lonely trilo, about a pound and a quarter, Stephen (executive chef) decided to slowly roast it in duck fat. How could that possibly be bad???

We used a mirepoix of shallots, thyme, peppercorns, turnips, bay leaves, and oranges. Total roasting time was about 4 hours.

Here is where the magic happens.


here is the trilobite fully cooked, still in the fat and mirepoix.



We tasted it at this point, and it was not unlike lobster. In the spirit of deliciousness, this prompted us to whip up some corn croquettes to serve with it, and the tang of a red wine reduction and fresh melted butter rounded out the offering. The color was a bit flat, so we opted to flash long strips of the trilobite in browned butter, which was a glorious addition to a dish that will truly stand out as one of the best served in 500 million years.



my only apprehension was that the unique textural appearence was somewhat lost to the mache garnish, although it is plainly visible in person, and the piece dangling in front is a perfect example. Thanks to Plitt seafood for the great opportunity to try a once-in-a-lifetime meal.

Erik.

Are you and Mike G together of this hoax?

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7789

Erik,

This looks like a very interesting dish. I'm going to make sure to visit Volo the next time it is on the menu. I understand that the chef is planning a combination plate of trilo and quail that I am really looking forward to trying!

We may be at Volo tonight - will we see this on the menu? Or is it all gone?

We'll be sure to say hi, if we are there!

April fools!!!

Don't think that the eyes on the trilobite would stick out that much. personally.

There are many species of trilobite. I have a fossil of one where they're quite protuberant, much like the ones I bought at Dirk's.

Guess what?! They've *finally* arrived in Montréal! M. Louis Trottoir--"Votre specialiste en fruits de mer"--had 'em today in his stall at Marché Jean-Talon. He was awful coy about their provenance, but I *suspect* they're imports from Etats-Unies, Nevada, to be exact.

M. Trottoir recommended drawn butter and shallots, which seemed ok to me. What do you think?

Geo