Cloak & Dinner: The Art Walk || 1/28/12

From ashen scrawls on the walls of Cro-Magnon caves to vibrant vistas rendered on canvas in glowing realism, humanity's artistic prowess has cemented our status as elevated lifeforms and established a language that every subsequent generation will understand. Tonight we praise a handful of the masters, the artists who reflect their small slice of history with dedication, passion, and bravado. With each course you'll take another step through a gallery that spans our favorite epochs of creative history, seeing the world at once through an artist's eyes and a chef's palette. It's often stated that every great meal is truly a work of art. Allow us to finally remove all doubt.

The table was set... up as a Piet Mondrian of course!  Hey if we're going to do an art walk, we're going to do it all the way.  One question we get asked a lot is "which came first, the food or the concept?" Unfortunately there isn't an easy answer, it's very chicken or the egg, but with this dinner I can most certainly pinpoint it's origin.  For Christmas my amazing boyfriend invested in a lovely little cook anthology entitled "Modernist Cuisine" & after flipping through page after page of gorgeous inspiration, I knew that Cloak & Dinner was going to come back from our little break with something artfully magnanimous.

What it was hadn't quite come to me yet.  Then one early evening, sipping Chardonnay at BLT's happy hour, reading "Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli," and imagining the exquisite dishes presented in the chapters, a warm fuzzy feeling took hold and I pictured a warm consommé as a perfect canvas to create something spectacular.  The ocean perhaps?  No, it was a little too small.  A pond?  A pond covered in lily pads & flowers?  Monet's water lilies?

I immediately began texting my co-chef ideas & his first response was LOVE. A whole dinner inspired by art, how... well let's be honest it's a little pretentious, but it was also a ton of fun!  Out of that moment our next meal began to take shape, and I'm so honored to share it with you all as well!

Abstract Italian inspired by Jackson Pollock

tomato, basil, balsamic, burrata, garlic, onion, bread

Monet's Water Lily Oxtail Consomme

oxtail consomme, spinach, flower croutons

Mark Rothko Multiform Tartar

spicy ahi tuna tartar deconstructed

Picasso's Cubist Porcine Heaven

rosemary pork tenderloin, honey pork belly, mirepoix of fruits & veggies

A Gargouillou Study in Edible Glass inspired by Chihuly

broken glass jello, pretzel crumble, lavender ice cream, lemon curd raspberries, fruits

And of course, who can forget the cocktails...

War & Beets - Leo Tolstoy

Beet, Lime, Brown Sugar, Ginger, Tequila

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

Mint, Cinnamon, Lime, Blackberry, Rum

The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler

Bourbon, Lemon, Maple Syrup, Jalapeno, Luxardo, Angostura & Orange Bitters

Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

Gin, Irish Whiskey, Orange, Lime, Cayenne, Nutmeg, Chocolate Bitters

Cloak & Dinner: Carnevale di Venezia || 10/22/11

Our first private supper, booked exclusively by my parents for their friends who've all had yet the chance to try our cooking, even though we take over their house on a monthly basis and turn it into our own private kitchen studio.  Knowing that we were cooking for a group of massive wine fanatics, we decided to head to Italy for a little Carnevale experience...

A tavola non si invecchia!

Tonight, we travel to Carnevale di Venezia! Each year, forty days of pageantry light up the ancient canals and corridors of Venice, as masked revelers sing, dance, and feast their way to Martedì Grasso. A Venezia, you talk with your hands and cook con il cuore... (with your heart.) We've gathered tastes da tutto il paese to capture the intoxicating spirit of the Queen of the Adriatic, but in truth, the food is only one small part of the eternal essence di Carnivale. Unirsi a noi per gustare i sapori d'Italia, e, così facendo, diventano una vera famiglia. Mi scusi, I got carried away there for a moment. Park your Gondolas, don your bauta, and viva la vita! Tonight we celebrate il Carnevale, wishing it could last all year.

As always, here are a few housekeeping notes.  If you'd like to be added to the mailing list for future C&D dinners, please email rsvp@cloakanddinner.com. and remember you can also follow us on twitter @cloakanddinner.

Antipasto

compartmentalized caprese

deconstructed caprese salad with pesto olive oil in pipettes & sweet balsamic reduction
 

Zuppa

gazpacho of melon with prosciutto duo

a play on melon & prosciutto with both fried & fresh and a garnish of mint
 

Primo

smoked salmon lasagna

a fan favorite from the Rags to Riches dinner!
 

Il Contorno

a walk through the garden

edible mushroom dirt with an elderflower spiked salad garden
 

Secondo

array of scented sea salts with steak

taken from our A Day in the Life dinner we accented with baby potatoes, cauliflower & exotic sea salts including ghost pepper, garlic & hickory smoke

Fromaggio

goat + parmesan panna cotta

a goat cheese panna cotta topped with a parmesan tuile and "kalamata olive" grapes reduced in red wine

Dolce

not your traditional tiramisu

deconstructed. chocolate mousse with sponge cake, espresso mascarpone and bacon cocaine

 

And of course... onto the cocktails!

with a few non alcoholic drinkers in the midst, Isaac got to flex his creative muscles for some non-alcoholic libations

Eastern Standard Time (non-alcoholic)

cucumber/cranberry/lime/sugar/salt

Faux Kir (non-alcoholic)

raspberry/sparkling cider

Winter Warmer (non-alcoholic)

pear/cranberry/lemon/cinnamon

Clockwork Orange

gin/whiskey/orange/lime/miracle mile chocolate-chili bitters/nutmeg

Basil Gimlet

gin/basil/agave/lime

Honey Fig Redemtion

rye/honey/mint/lemon/fig/shiraz

Cloak & Dinner: The Time Machine || 9/24/11

This time around we thought, why not do a little time travel? What with the premieres of Boardwalk Empire, Pan Am and the Playboy Club right around the corner, this seemed perfectly fitting. 

There's no time like the present, but tonight we tastefully disagree. We've pondered over many a quaint and curious menu of forgotten food to discover the very best this past century had to offer. Cramming for this culinary history lesson has provided us ten decadent decades worth of tantalizing ideas, and we've selected our favorites from every era to create a meal worthy of Doc, Marty, Bill, and Ted. Sit back, relax, and strap your taste buds to their TARDIS because we're time travelling through the tasty twentieth ten years at a time. Let's see if you bastards can do ninety.

Having filtered through an arsenal of old menus, we selected our favorite representations of every era starting with the 1900's & worked our way up to the near future.

A few housekeeping notes.  If you'd like to be added to the mailing list for future C&D dinners, please email rsvp@cloakanddinner.com. and as always you can follow us on twitter @cloakanddinner.

Cloak & Dinner Presents

The Time Machine

The Progressive Era

“The Beginning of Trouble”

bread with fig, brie & thyme honey

The Golden Age

“Pisco Sour – Cocktail”

pisco, lemon, simple syrup, egg white, angostura

Roaring 20’s

“Blue Point Cocktail”

oyster cocktail

Prohibition

“Shine Gimlet”

moonshine, lime, simple syrup, cucumber, mint, celery bitters

G.I. Generation

“Tagliarini in Consommé with Crillion Special Combination”

 homemade pasta in beef consommé; haricots verts

Nifty 50’s

“Lavender French Seventy Five”

london dry gin, sugar, lemon, champagne, lavender

Swinging 60’s

“Kiss of Clouds”

scallops, cauliflower, apple, horseradish

Sexy 70’s

“Ko’aia Haia Kahiki, l’wi’ao’ao”

pineapple glazed spare ribs

Greedy 80’s

“Ginger Figgle aka Slow Screw”

gin, orange, fig, ginger root

Generation X

"Passionfruit Tequila & Grapefruit Sorbet with Cinnamon Dusted Tortilla's"

intermezzo palate cleanser

2020

“Cloak & Dinner Especial”

aztec chocolate lava, orange, cayenne milkshake with snow

And here are the menu inspirations...

Cloak & Dinner: Rags to Riches || 8/13/11

Having recently moved offices (like the big move... building to building) I totally forgot to do my little write-up / photo log of our latest & greatest. So here it is, Cloak & Dinner: Rags to Riches!

It doesn't take a Swiss bank account and a majority share of Microsoft to appreciate a tasty meal, and you'd be remiss to find a foie gras eating, souffle spooning, champagne sipping trillionaire who doesn't long for the simple days of Slim Jims, Twinkies, and Kool-Aid. Be it in dorm or double-wide, school lunch or stadium, we've all come to adore the bounty of salt, sugar, and cellophane that is America's vast extra value menu. Tonight, we've raised the bar on low-brow, bleached the blue collar, and taken classless cuisine to culinary school. Savor the sweet taste of success as some of our favorite down-and-out delicacies finally get a piece of the pie.

This was perhaps our most successful dinner yet... everything running smoothly and (for the most part) on time, thanks to the newest addition to the happy little family, our Captain Matt Portman!  It's always nice to have helpful friends & extra hands :-).  C&D will be taking a mini-break, Labor Day - Vacay whatnot, but follow us on twiter @cloakanddinner to get the scoop on our next invite expected mid-late September!

Also, if you'd like to be added to the mailing list for future C&D dinners, please email rsvp@cloakanddinner.com.

the table is set, the day is gorgeous, we're ready to go!

bread & water || stuffed baguette & cucumber acqua frizzante
this came out quite beautifully, a delicately stuffed baguette with a decadent array of Mediterranean goodies, chilled & then sliced into edible bites. 

~ shiny moon ~
hudson new york corn whiskey, apple cider, lemon, fee brothers orange bitters

fish sticks || sesame encrusted ahi tuna with mango wasabi tartar saucego figure, i scour all the asian markets and find nothing suitable, but lo & behold the awesome pavillions on santa monica had the freshest ahi.

p&bj || truffle mousse pate & blackberry jam
a little polarizing, this is definitely a dish for those who enjoy a heavy helping of pate.  i for one definitely enjoyed the balance of meat & sweet.

~ livin’ the high life ~
domaine de canton ginger liqueur, miller high life, lemon

chef Boyardee || smoked salmon lasagna
this came out freaking amazing.  and we put it in a bed of spicy dill mustard sauce & topped with goat cheese & heirloom tomatoes.  

~ lemonade stand ~
gin, cucumber, lemon, simple syrup.  mason jar.
 

danger dogs || bacon wrapped bison with onions, garlic aioli & curry ketchup
no words can describe.  the lean bison paired with the fatty bacon did wonders to the palate & who doesn't love a nice splattering of garlic anything?

fla-vor-ice || lemon mint granita
let's just call it what it is.  pennsylvania water-ice.  pronounced watah. a super fragrant lemon mint granita on top of a creamy mint soft serve.

~ homemade horchata ~
horchata, rum. made from scratch.

gruel || arroz con leche
topped with what else, disco dust!  who doesn't love eating gold?

cinnabon || duck confit brioche rolls
and finally, the surprise guest of the evening... a take home cinnabon for those midnight munchies.

you can read all about it here: http://www.cakeandheels.com/2011/08/suprise-cloak-dinner-guest-duck-confit.html