Loading ...Every so often I look at the daily menu and realize that we’ve reached a new level in what we’re doing. That happened really strongly yesterday when I was sitting at the bar dining with Michael and Ernie.
We’ve been getting really amazing local fish from Tommy down at Catalina, right now we have parrotfish that Michael bought as the fisherman was unloading them. Ingredients like that are what makes it possible to serve great food. We’re working with more local farms than ever: Sage Organics, Stehly, Valdivia, La Milpa, Wingshadows Hacienda, Foutnain of Youth Farms and Weiser Farms are all giving us incredible produce.
Same thing with meat: We just got a beeve (gender-neutral jargon for beef animal) in from Spanish Oak Ranches, and Seth from Open Space Meats brought us a bunch of beef yesterday too (a pleasure to meet him in person, finally!). Both these farmers are bringing us totally pastured, grass fed beef that tastes better than the best of the corn-fed stuff. (It turns out that, we don’t have to choose between eating sustainably and eating deliciously.) Of course, you’ll see Bill Niman’s goats on the menu as well, and Kelly Biensen’s Berkshire pork including the suckling pigs we got from him. These are two of the best farmers in America in terms of breeding and raising high-quality meat.
I’m also really stoked on some of the new preparations. We picked up a cast-iron kettle so we’re able to do a little more frying, such as on the kettle-fried Mexican shrimp dish. Using the spit went really well, our cabrito preparation on the menu right now is our best yet. I paired it last nite with a bottle of Stone Smoked Porter and the combination was damn near perfect.
And we’re also making progress in nose-to-tail eating, which of course is the best way to show respect to a meat animal. The heads from the spit-fired suckling pig are right now yielding headcheese pot pies and cabeza tacos, and we’ll soon have posole.
The aforementioned goat brains are also a real treat. Before this, I’d only had brains with our friend Jair — once at his restaurant Laja in ravioli for a Thanksgiving treat, and once in a market stall in Mexico City — and while I liked them in both cases the circumstances made them exotic. The preparation we have now — fritters — highlights the flavor and texture of the meat while being a very familiar and delicious dish. The sauces are great, too. I paired that with a cask-conditioned Stone IPA and was very happy.
And, the sausages are coming out really well, too. I had a hand roll with a hot dog and loved it. There’s something about a hand made hot dog made from pastured beef that is to me an exquisite treat, kind of the whole inspiration for the Linkery to begin with.
I just wanted to share these things with you in case you are likely to enjoy them as much as I do.