So I start off my meal with a little cocktail du jour called the Terrapin Station Shanty. I'm not a huge beer person unless I'm tailgating or watching football, but the ginger beer was very enticing. It was a simple drink of just Terrapin Hopsecutioner, ginger beer, and lemon that was so light and tasty. I could just tell I was on my way to becoming a Dead Head! If only I had worn my tie-dye!
We start the meal off with a dish so apropos for this hippie evening. The first course was an amuse bouche-like mushroom toast with a wasabi pea sauce. While it was a little bigger than bite-size, I was glad there was more after I took my first nibble! I loved the crispy outside and the soft, sweet inside of the shrooms and then there was a slight kick from the wasabi. Short and sweet and on to the next course!
This was a sweet potato risotto with an espresso glaze. If you've ever watched Top Chef, you know risotto can be a tricky dish to make and has been the end to some chefs on the show. However, the soft pieces of sweet potato went so well with the creamy risotto, and the richness from the espresso sauce complimented the warm feeling of this dish. Risotto is great comfort food for me, so this was such a treat! While this dish was so good, I knew if I finished my plate of the filling Italian rice I would be full before the 4th course but leaving food on the plate was freaking hard!
The third course was Ahi Tuna Tostada with avocado, corn, and radishes. Apparently this was a dish that was on the Food 101 menu which was the restaurant that inhabited the same building before Ron made it Rosebud. He brought it back for this dinner, and I'm so glad he did! I mean I love me some ahi tuna and when you combine it with avocado...Oh Lord, you had me at hello! The tuna was perfectly seared on the outside and raw on the inside. The tuna on top of the crispy tortilla with the sweet corn and the sharp taste of the radishes was a great combo.
This next dish came with some power heat which you know I love because all Koreans love spicy food and I am so Korean now. These 3 jumbo shrimp were cooked with a spicy pepper rub and had a BBQ, smokey taste to them. They were definitely spicy and not meant for the timid, but the contrast of the sweet cherry tomatoes with the spice made you realize a gulp of ginger beer was not necessarily needed right away. After this course I was wide awake and ready to take on whatever came next!
The fifth course was a smoked ham bone chicken stew with okra and peppers. After a couple courses came out, Ron would talk a little about the dishes we just ate and how they relate to the Grateful Dead and what not. This soup he related to the song Iko Iko, which he ended up singing at the end of the night and not in a tone-deaf karaoke kind of performance either I must add. Anyway, I learned that the song had creole roots and, therefore, this stew was meant to emulate that culture. I loved how small the pieces of chicken were, yet you could still taste the flavor of the meat. It was just as if the veggies were the main act and the chicken was to accompany. Also the stew had somewhat of an Asian persuasion; hence the wonton pieces. The broth was so light and fresh that I didn't mind eating it after such a hot summer day.
At this point I was getting close to being very full, but I just kept on truckin because we hadn't even had the main course yet!. One thing I did appreciate was that all the portions had been small. There was no way I would have been able to make it to the end if the first courses had been bigger because I still would have eaten all the food on the plate due to my lack of self control. The second to last course before dessert was a petite loin chop over corn sauerkraut with a wine reduction. Although you can't really tell from the picture, I swear this was the cutest piece of meat I have ever seen! It was like a miniature pork chop that someone had shrunk for Remy in Ratatoulle. There was even a little bone in the mini meat. So cute, but I will move on. I have to admit I am not a huge fan of sauerkraut, but this kraut with the corn was awesome! I think I'm offended by the strong vinegar taste of SAUERkraut, but this was not too overpowering at all and the corn helped balance out the flavor for sure. The chop was great as well. I was so tempted to pick up the bone and bite the remaining meat with my teeth, but I held off and reminded myself I was pretty full to be doing something like that and my mom would probably not approve.
Finally the last course before dessert arrived! And while it was the main dish, I was glad to see it was still a small portion as I was so full (in case you hadn't noticed). This was probably the best dish of the night! It was a short rib on top of a cheese and potato croquet with vidalia onion chow chow. The meat was extremely tender and had such a rich, smokey taste, but was also somewhat sweet. The croquet was perfectly breaded and creamy on the inside. And the chow chow was just icing on the cake when you mixed it all together in one bite.
At this point I was so full and ready to be rolled to my house like the purple girl in the Willy Wonka Factory. I couldn't tell if I was tipsy from the wine or the food, but I was surely on the way to a great night of sleep. Yet, there was still dessert to be had!
We finished the night off with some Very Cherry Jerry ice cream from High Road, a local ice creamery. Funny how full I was, but I ate about half off that huge cup of ice cream. Needless to say it was delicious and a perfect ending to a long, wonderful, musically driven meal!
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