Best Dinner Spread

From top to bottom, left to right:

Bluebeard serves many interpretations of the chopped salad. This one, with salumi, provolone, romaine, and pickled peppers, uses salt and acid to delicious effect.

The Bitter North, for a sip of Campari.

A Double Sazerac, with a spritz of absinthe.

Brussels sprouts with sweet-and-sour agrodolce and pickled red onions. The veggies are pan-roasted first to remove the bitterness.

Grilled strip loin on kale, rosemary polenta, and a pho reduction.

Charcuterie on a custom-made board with grain mustard, fermented pickles, and housemade Italian-style bread.

Deep-shelled Shigoku oysters with classic mignonette (perched on egg-white foam, which is not for eating)

Radishes dipped in emulsified goat butter, a process called beurre monte, and then softened with a blowtorch and coated with lava salt.

Buy the kitchen crew a round of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $10. It’s the new “compliments to the chef.”

The Sanctuary, a smoky, hibiscus-y pour of Scotch, one of several cocktails with “baking spices” in its flavor profile.

Shatteringly crisp fried pork skins with gremolata, Parmesan, and thick, bacon-studded ranch dressing for dipping.

Housemade pappardelle with Butcher Shop Bolognese.

Photo by Stacy Newgent

This article appeared in the December 2012 issue.