We so enjoyed our Food Creates Community meal last spring, that we hurried to book seats for ourselves and our good friends J & S when Chef J offered more intimate dinners for groups of 8.
Off we headed, once again, to Richardson, Texas, for a memorable evening of food and conversation. J and his wife, E, had just returned from a trip to Peru – thus, our evening’s theme was “A Taste of Peru.”
While we mingled getting to know each other, we enjoyed Peru’s national drink, the Pisco Sour. The drink reminded us a great deal of a margarita, yet much less tart. It was delicious.
We also munched on roasted corn and marinated olives.
The opening dish was a 405 Tamale. The tamale was moist and flavorful, with a hint of pepper encased in the masa. The side vegetables came from local farms. This was my favorite dish of the evening. (Because the Pisco Sour can’t count as a favorite, though it should…)
Next was a ceviche, featuring Swordfish. We all enjoyed the ceviche, with its cool and refreshing combinations of fish and fruits. J, S, and Marathon Man all proclaimed that the ceviche was the best dish of the evening. (Whatever! Though it was really good…)
The next course was a causa. This was a surprising dish, with green beans and delicate shredded chicken resting on a mashed potato-like base. Served cold, the potatoes didn’t have any of the gumminess one would expect of cold mashed potatoes. Instead, they were firm and flavorful. And since I don’t think you can go wrong with beans, chicken and mashed potatoes, I thought this was a pretty delicious course!
Yet another unusual course was tacu tacu. Rice mixed with creamer peas and egg, with plantains. Interesting texture combination and really wonderful flavor. (Thumbs up all around!)
The main course was lomo saltado. Compared to the other dishes, this was relatively simple. Grass-fed beef, baby bella mushrooms and squash.
For dessert we enjoyed fig and blueberry empanadas. And I do mean enjoyed! I was nervous about the dessert. I’ve never been a big fig fan, other than Fig Newtons, but I don’t think those count! But the fig-blueberry combination was simply amazing…and the ice cream was pretty nice, too.
All in all, it was another wonderful meal. We enjoyed the smaller group, with conversation ranging from education to food issues to Must Reads.
We’re definitely participating again – and so are J and S! Watch for our upcoming review of Fall in Texas after our next meal on October 17th!
What interesting combinations.
By the way, what's the deal with square plates these days? I saw some in your photos, though not every course like I've experienced in some restaurants.
I've noticed Sandra Lee has featured square plates on several of her cooking shows. Usually though I think she uses them as a charger plate with a smaller round plate. Interesting presentations especially with one white and the other with a design.
I believe square plates are simply trendy. I've seen them at restaurants since around 2002.
They actually did a nice job of presentation. Each place setting featured a gold charger. Then the various courses (except for dessert) were delivered on variations (square, round, plain, patterned) of white plates.
And google-found by dad:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/dining/26square.html