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Michael Voltaggio, Top Chef winner, Executive Chef and owner of ink., is known just as much for his reputation as a culinary badass, as he is for his tattoos and brooding good looks. Voltaggio's mission at ink. is to create a "revelatory experience through food and service." Their intent is to leave each of their diners with an indelible impression. Their mission? Accomplished. This diner? Over the moon impressed! Every dish that arrived to the table was full of contradictions. Delicate ingredients, but full and robust in flavor. Seemingly new and unfamiliar in presentation, yet comforting and familiar in taste. Best of all, each dish had an element of surprise that left me eager and on the edge of my seat waiting for the next to arrive.
A quick FYI about me. I don't drink. No, really... I don't drink. The smallest amount of alcohol, even just the neck of a beer and suddenly I speak fluent Spanish, my face turns stop sign red, and my heart feels like it'll pump right out of my chest. For all the reasons above, I tend to avoid drinking alcohol. Lucky me for me, ink. makes unique hand-stirred sodas from syrups made in house. Flavors vary frequently; we had the apple ginger, pomegranate mango, and cucumber mint lime. All refreshing and balanced in both sweet and tart flavors. Please note the ice blocks! Utilized for their slower melting factor, these ice blocks were just one of the many examples of ink.'s great attention to detail.
Brussel Sprouts- pig ears, lardo, apple puree.A crunchy tower of crisp pig ears were the perfect textural contrast to the slippery lardo and tender roasted brussel sprouts, while the surprising addition of the green apple puree gave a tart balance to the savory and umami brussel sprouts. Green apple and brussel sprouts?! A combination that had never crossed my mind before, but now seemed as natural a combination as peanut butter and jelly.
Crab-mushroom chicharron, charred avocado, whipped fish sauce
Sweet crab wrapped with charred avocado reminiscent of a California roll in form and flavor. But only reminiscent in a distant cousin of an uncle's sister in law's brother kind of way. Of the many things that impressed me about ink., I loved their ability to balance every element on each plate. Salty and pungent by nature, the fish sauce foam imparted the perfect salty balance to the sweet delicate crab. Or the contrast of the crunchy and crispy mushroom chicharron balanced with the the toothy meatier oyster mushrooms. The highlight to this plate was easily the chicharron. They were so incredibly light and crisp, with the same textured air bubbles and crunch of a traditional pork chicharron!
Egg Yolk Gnocchi- bay scallops, accents of spring
A soft pillowy pasta made of potato, ink.'s innovative take on gnocchi is made of egg yolk. The outer texture mimicked a perfect traditional gnocchi, soft and yielding to the teeth, but the center of this golden pillow of joy yielded an incredible surprise: an oozy rich creamy egg yolk! Sheer molecular gastronomy magic. The crunchy sweet snow peas and rich ramp butter sauce really did taste of spring. Visions of rainbows, bunnies, and flowers danced on my head.
Foie Gras- waffle, smoked maple, hot sauceSandwiched between two thin crisp wafers of waffle, a cold thick slab of rich foie gras laid waiting for our attack. I was skeptical of how the sweet flavor of maple would pair with the unctuous foie and spicy Sriracha hot sauce. But as soon as the plate hit the table, we dug in and didn't stop until every last bit of smokey marshmallowy maple cream and fatty duck liver was scraped off the plate.
Hope you enjoyed the re-christening of Sweets & Sass. Let me know what you think. I'm already looking forward to sharing one of my favorite San Diego eats with you next week!
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