Dry-aging fish is a tradition in Japan, and it is becoming more mainstream in the United States, although experts warn that you have to know what you’re doing.
Chef Tomar Blechman does, and he’s using his skills to offer an otherwise simply prepared branzino at Theodora in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Across the East River in Manhattan, restaurateur Simon Oren has opened a new venue called Acadia where chef Ari Bokovza prepares his take on a breakfast sandwich called sabich that is enjoyed by Iraqi Jews in Israel.
At Oaxaca Club in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., chef Eddy escribe gives roasted oysters a flavor boost with chorizo butter, and at Oak Park in Des Moines, Iowa, Ian Robertson brings mushrooms to the center of the plate with grilled maitakes dressed with pickled black trumpets.
To wash all of that down, the beverage team at Herd Provisions in Charleston, S.C., offer a cocktail made by infusing rum with local kumquats and mixing it with, among other things, a grape spirit from Bolivia called Singani, which isn’t trendy yet, but it’s increasingly finding favor with bartenders. Keep an eye out for it.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
