experiment #56 - Cobaya Seagrape with Chefs Jason Schaan and Tony Velazquez

Another experiment successfully completed! For #56, we paid a visit to Seagrape, Michelle Bernstein's restaurant in the Thompson Miami Beach hotel, where hotel executive sous chef Jason Schaan and restaurant chef de cuisine Tony Velazquez played host to 26 of us guinea pigs. Befitting the Mid-Century Modern style of the restaurant, the dinner they put together was a little modern and a little classical all at once.

You can see all the pictures – in all their varieties of bad lighting situations – in this Cobaya Seagrape flickr set, and we'll update here when recaps are posted read recaps at Food For Thought and The Chowfather. Here's the menu for the evening:

SNACKS

Maine Lobster Toast

salted butter, shaved radish, trout caviar

Masami Wagyu Beef Belly Tartare

chorizo, quail egg, bearnaise sabayon

Gougéres

l'explorateur and shaved lardo

Sparkling Rosé of Gamay, Grandin, Nuit St. Georges

FIRST

Brussel Sprouts

tonnato, bottarga, rye toast

SECOND

Pasta "Vongole"

hand-rolled garganelli, venus clams, manila clams, salsify, uni butter

Domaine Lupin Roussette de Savoie, Frangy

THIRD

Whole Roasted Foie Gras

vadouvan spiced pumpkin jam and house brioche

La Tour "Vielles Vignes" Banyuls, Roussillon

FOURTH

Crispy Potato Wrapped Fluke

burgundy black truffle, artichoke barigoule, calabrian chili roe

Domaine Joseph Voillot Bourgogne Rouge, Volnay

FIFTH

Colorado Lamb Chop

fall legumes, lamb sweetbreads, potato gnocchi, roasted bone jus

August Clape "Vin de Amie," Northern Rhone

DESSERT

Pie and Ice Cream

A big thank you to chefs Schaan and Velazquez, to wine director Zach Gossard for some really outstanding pairings, to GM Jorge Anaya-Lopez for everything he does, to Michelle for giving her guys the freedom and guidance to do this dinner, and as always most of all, to the guinea pigs whose interest and support make these kind of events possible.

Also, a reminder: our pre-pre-sale of tickets to our second dinner with the South Beach Wine and Food Festival coming up in February (featuring Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods, Carlo Mirarchi of Blanca, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal, and Alex Chang of Miami's Vagabond), is over, but the "official" pre-sale is now on-line at the SOBEWFF website. There are still a limited number of seats available; if you'd like to join us on February 25, 2016, use your MasterCard to purchase seats here.