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The Kitchen Nazi pinged and asked if I was doing anything tonight. I know he had just been on a trip to Yunnan and came back with a haul of mushrooms, and my ever-generous friend wanted to share. For a split second I thought this was an invitation for a home dinner, but of course it would make much more sense for him to do this at
Neighborhood. He extended the invitation to a few other friends, but we kinda had to figure out who else was coming by asking each other.
And he didn't tell me what time to show up. Same with a couple of other friends. So typical.
Those of us who arrived earlier than expected were shooed away to
Paragon around the corner, because the boss wasn't quite ready for us. So a bunch of us sat around the bar while Foursheets nursed a drink, until we were called over to take our seats at our table.
Peanuts and pine nuts - well... I guess our dishes still weren't ready, because for a while all we had to eat were these peanuts and pine nuts from Yunnan. I guess they went well with the Dom Rosé that we started drinking...
Caesar salad - a very apt name for a dish that is soooo fitting with The Kitchen Nazi's humor. Someone didn't believe me when I told them that the ovoli is also called Caesar's mushroom... Well, we still got the Romaine lettuce, big-ass croûtons, anchovies, and deep-fried pork lard not unlike
cuishao (脆哨) from Guizhou. Of course, I do love all those slices of ovoli.
Termite mushrooms with razor clams - I loooove termite mushrooms (雞㙡), and now we've got them sautéed with tons of butter for an amazingly rich flavor. The clams were fatty and sweet, which made them so, sooo satisfying.
Porcini Pithiviers - WOW! These
look like mushrooms but they're only trying to be... or are they?!
As it turns out, the porcini have been encased in pastry! Well... someone shouted "off with its head!" and this promptly toppled...
In lieu of the usual mushroom
duxelles that would normally be placed between the pastry and the meat in the center, we now have a reversal... with a thin layer of smoked preserved pork (雲南臘肉) adding aromatics and a little punch between the mushroom center and the pastry. Needless to say we were all very, very ecstatic with these babies... although it was a touch on the dry side and could have used some sort of sauce. The shredded spring onions on the side, though, were fantastic after being fried. I couldn't stop myself from shoveling that into my mouth.
Mussels / girolles / curry / corn / Sichuan peppercorns - these mussels were fantastic! So sweet and creamy, with a touch of curry before one accidentally bites into a bunch of green Sichuan peppercorns and the tongue goes numb. Maybe if I my tongue wasn't so numb I would have tasted the girolles a little more.
The salt-baked chicken is a signature here, but with precious Yunnan
ganbajun (干巴菌) under the skin, the "regular" versions with black truffle suddenly just seems so banal...
Salt-baked chicken / morels / beef / rice - the chicken gets the usual treatment of being served on a bed of rice with cream sauce, with giant-ass morels from Yunnan, porcini, lime beans, and also shavings of halal air-dried beef called 牛干巴.
What a combination this was! And that chicken skin... so beautiful thanks to the amazing fragrance of the
ganbajun! As always, I wish I hadn't already eaten so much before the "chicken rice" so I could enjoy it properly with space in my stomach.
Oh and the morels were stuffed with little bits of foie gras...
Tarte tatin - always my preferred dessert here, and someone didn't want to share a slice with anyone...
Raspberry millefeuille
Canelés - there's never enough cat anuses to go around...
We got the memo to bring bottles that would work well with mushrooms...
2009 Dom Pérignon Rosé - very nice nose of strawberries, nice and toasty, so refreshing.
Kamoshibito Kuheiji Inoné 5 Stars (醸し人九平次 いのね 5つ星), 2022 - this had a HUGE nose, really rich in starchy rice and very sweet. The attack was fresh and fruity but there is much more depth mid-palate and turns a bit dry on the finish. Really good shit.
2018 Gonet-Médeville Ambonnay Cuvée Athénaïs, en magnum - started drinking some 50 minutes after opening. Really nice and fruity on the nose, with eucalyptus, pine needles, and a bit of woodsy fragrance.
2005 Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin - started drnking about 2 hours after opening. Nose of leather with a bit of funk, maybe a little sulfur.
2004 Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Catherine - first tasted just before we got to 2 hours after opening. Surprisingly big and toasty nose. Obviously the fruit was very sweet and ripe. Still going strong after another half-hour. This was fairly different from the two previous bottles I had opened in the past, and this was much more masculine and in-your-face, without the elegance I was expecting.
What a night! This is why we love The
Man in White T-shirt Kitchen Nazi so much. The way he puts together seemingly common ingredients with seasonal produce, and jumbles up with different seasonings... and we end up with very unique experiences. We were flattered to have been called in for this special treat, and look forward to more fun experiments in DA 'HOOD.
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