"The Last Supper" / Iron Chef Part Two - 5.7.10

Six dinners and four months after that fateful night in January when we first opened our (Jared's) doors to both friends and random people, we arrived at our last dinner. Ever.

Jared's graduating and moving to Atlanta; Luke's going abroad to Morocco and then coming back and maybe starting a new dinner series in the spring in a new house with a new co-chef.

Either way, Dinners at 76 as you know it is, sadly, gone.

Since the internet never dies, this blog will live on as a testament to delicious dinners, new friends, and seriously great times. The two of us grew unbelievably as cooks, as hosts, and as pals and are so happy to have had the chance to share our food with so many of you. In the coming weeks we will make more of the recipes from past dinners available, but feel free to e-mail us if there's any recipe you want that isn't there. Or just to say hi.

Anyways, gushy stuff aside, here are the photos from "The Last Supper". As always, click on them for a much bigger food-porn-esque closeup.

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THE INGREDIENTS:

Avocado

Chipotles in adobo

Peanuts (or Seaweed)

Cashews

Almonds

Dark chocolate

Beets

Hibiscus

Pomegranate

Basil

Pomegranate-hibiscus martinis with bitter chocolate shavings

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Avocado-basil gazpacho* with fresh mozzarella, fresh fava beans, and nigella seeds

PHASE ONE:

PHASE TWO:

PHASE THREE:

*traditional Spanish "white gazpacho" is made with a base of bread and almonds. we used almond milk as the base for this, so it's sort of a take on white gazpacho. let's call it 'puke-green gazpacho.' the avocado oxidized :(

Cashew-crusted avocado maki with homemade chipotle-in-adobo aioli.
Red beet and cilantro fresh roll with fig-pomegranate horseradish sauce.

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Homemade chickpea burger with mole, guacamole, fried farm egg, plantain fries, and Negra Modelo

CROSS-SECTION:

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Beet salad sundae: Red beet ice cream (L) , golden beet ice cream (R), basil ice cream (TOP), and candied balsamic almonds

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Happy Guests. They applauded when we introduced the burger course. That's lipstick on Jared's cheek.

Photos courtesy of Catherine Nakajima.

The end (maybe)...Iron Chef 5.7.10

Our next dinner -- and possibly our last open dinner -- will again be Iron Chef themed. So sign up soon and send an ingredient or two along!

Dinner will be Friday, May 7 at 6:30pm. For pricing, please see this post. To make a reservation, click on the "reservations" tab at the top of the page.

4.23.10 -- Vegan Iron Chef

Click on pictures for closeups and on names for recipes

The Ingredients:
Mango
Jasmine
Ginger
Artichoke
Coconut
Pea Tendrils
Pomegranate
Coffee
Mushroom

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Local pumpernickel with coffee-date-almond spread
Pea tendril mojitos



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Artichoke hummus with pomegranate tahini. Fried baby artichoke "alla giudea".





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Jasmine miso soup



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6-c* braised portabella mushroom. Mashed parsnips and purple carrots with coconut. Sauteed pea tendrils. Mango pickle**.



*coffee, cardamom, cumin, coriander, cloves, cayenne
**refers to an indian quick-pickling method based on salt, spices, and oil; not acids like in other "pickles"

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Sticky rice with sweetened pomegranate-coconut milk and mango. Ginger-jasmine ice cream.




Photos courtesy of Catherine Nakajima and Jesse Kornbluth

About the price

Some of you may have noticed that we have increased the price of the dinners from $20 to $25, and some of you have complained about it. We'd like to explain a little bit about why we did this...

Really, there are two parts to it. The first is simply a matter of freedom and quality. We really enjoy putting on these dinners and we strive to make them as good as we possibly can. That means buying only fresh, high-quality ingredients from mostly local and/or organic sources. And the fact is that at every single dinner we have had to not buy something that we really wanted to incorporate because of cost. The amounts aren't necessarily large (although they can be), but when we're talking about 4-5 courses and wine, it quickly adds up to a lot. Basically, the difference will allow us to create the dishes as we envision them.

The second aspect is that...well, we think the food we make is really good. Other closed door dinners cost anywhere from $50-$200 per person, which, compared to our dinners, is of course pretty exorbitant. Essentially, we spend about two whole days planning and preparing these meals and while the dinners themselves are ample compensation for this, and we do it cause we love to do it, we think it's fair to make a modest profit as well.

All that being said, we understand that that majority of the people who come are college students (like ourselves) for whom shelling out $25 for ANY meal is a lot, no matter how good it is. So we'll leave the choice up to you. If you are willing to pay $25, that's great. If not, just pay $20 and that's also great. No pressure, nothing personal (we don't ever actually know who pays what anyway since it all gets passed up to the front while we're prepping the first course). We'd rather have you here for the experience than not at all.

So, we hope this clears some things up and that you find our solution a fair one. And we hope to see you all at our next dinner!!!

Much love,
Luke & Jared

4.16.10 -- Iron Chef

The List of Requested Ingredients:
Lime
Honey
Lemongrass
Green Tea
Seasonal Fruit (Rhubarb)
Jalapeno
Goat Cheese
Eggplant

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Coconut Patties with Cilantro-Lime chutney. Blood orange & cara cara orange salad. Shot of rhubarb & meyer lemon infused vodka.



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Napa cabbage, mung bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, asian pear, avocado, cashews. Honey-lime-ginger dressing.



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Green tea spaghetti with lemongrass/basil pesto and sauteed eggplant.



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Lemongrass-lime cupcakes with green tea frosting. Honey-glazed eggplant "cannoli" with goat cheese and gjetost filling. Jalapeno chocolate chip ice cream.

Luke+ guests enjoying the meal

Photos courtesy of Jesse Kornbluth and Catherine Nakajima

Next Dinner: "Iron Chef II" 4.23.10

It's been almost a month since our last dinner, and we've missed it. Spring break, crazy schedules, and all sorts of things have been getting in the way, but now we're back and ready as ever! See, we've even learned to write like stereotypical bloggers.

So here's the deal. We just finished the menu for the first Iron Chef dinner (this Friday), and we enjoyed the challenge of incorporating everything so much that we've decided to do it again.

Iron Chef II -- 4.23.10

The price will be $25 per person and will include 4-5 courses plus wine. When making your reservation, include an ingredient of choice for us to incorporate into the meal. Just about anything is fair game, except for the following:

1) animals or parts of animals
2) prohibitively expensive materials
3) really too weird

If you fear that your ingredient choice might fall into one of the above categories, go ahead and send a backup choice or two.

Til then,
LJ

3.13.10 -- Indian

(click on pictures for great close-ups and on the underlined names to jump to the recipe)

Chili-garlic naan with cucumber raita





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Curried deviled eggplants



hard-boiled egg filled with curried eggplant & topped with poppy seeds.
thai & indian eggplants hollowed, roasted, and filled with curried egg yolk, topped with brown mustard seeds.

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Coconut soup with fresh turmeric, ground pistachios, and cilantro



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Coriander-chickpea pancakes with tamarind-date syrup. Fenugreek homefries with ginger ketchup.



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Homemade cardamom ice cream, garam masala blondie, caramel peanuts, mango-turmeric coulis.



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Guests (minus one), hosts





Photographs courtesy of Quin Childs.
Special thanks to Vanya for her post-dinner assistance.