love+butter

i made it out of wyss in time for dinner at love+butter, my first time back in over a year. they've moved into a new apartment with a massive kitchen, and their custom-made table is arriving within the month--frame welded by a supplier of aerial acrobatic equipment and top made by a cabinetmaker somewhere close by. there are also new toys: a vacuum sealer and an immersion circulating heater. they served:

fava pate with rye and whole wheat sourdough breads

spring salad (frisee, roasted zucchini, turnip, red carrot, and beet) on sardinian couscous in an arugula pesto

soft-boiled egg with miso, dashi (non-traditional variety, made with kombu, dried scallops, dried mushrooms), a sugar snap pea, and shavings of bottarga from their loaner fancy deli slicer machine

beef heart tortelloni with pea shoots (i think)

lamb tongue and lamb cheek with pan-roasted new potatoes, scallion, and a quivering pale fragment of mint jelly

cucumber jelly with preserved lemon granita

cherry compote and cherry preserve with a (possibly almond-meal) sponge and pine needle ice-cream

earl grey truffle, jasmine tea panna cotta with honey, and a square of lapsang souchong infused red bean paste

throughout: a salice salentino (epicuro 2005; it costs less than a 6-pack of bad beer!)

the final two courses were particularly awesome. red bean, lapsang souchong, and coarse salt? yes. i like it when people demonstrate restraint with chocolate. it is such an easy crowd-pleaser that i can't help feeling that desserts that depend too much on chocolate demonstrate a lack of serious intent.