Snacks
As usual the meal started with a couple snacks: a hazelnut torrone with rice paper and spun honey and a new version of Town House's black olive cookie. Both were delicate and delicious--as usual--and heightened our anticipation for what was to come.
Chilled Vegetable Minestrone
I am definitely obsessed with this dish. It's my computer's desktop background and the background of one of my credit cards. The myriad individually cooked, thinly sliced rolled vegetables is just extraordinarily beautiful. Every bite is composed of an ingenious complexity. Excellent.
Scrambled Egg Mousse with smoked char roe, sorghum, sweet spices, preserved ramps
One of the most decadent courses I've ever had--sweet, smokey, and salty with a spot-on Christmas-like smell. The texture is silky, and the pickled ramps are especially noteworthy. Again, excellent.
Smoked Ikura Roe with young coconut snow, delicate squash, parsnip, tonka bean
The winter-themed presentation concealed the unexpected combination of tropical refreshment and salty popcorn. The tonka beans added great crunchy texture. Another extraordinary dish.
Savoy Cabbages with Fish Roes and a broth of apple cider and bone marrow, ocean trout, oyster
One of Sweetmonger's all-time favorite dishes. Although the roes, ocean trout, and oysters were really tasty and gave the dish a distinct hint of the ocean, they certainly played second fiddle to the cabbage and the apple cider and bone marrow broth. Just unbelievably good. This four-course progression was as good a series of four dishes as I have ever had and as good as I can imagine. Truly extraordinary.
Town House's sommelier Charlie had a wonderful beverage pairing for this dish as well: a pre-dish shot of sake followed by sparkling wine.
Maine Lobster with cream from their shells, consomme, butter, crustacean oil
I like lobster. But I don't love it and rarely am wowed by a lobster-centric dish. This one was no different. The lobster had nice flavor and texture and the dish had a pleasing aroma, although I can't really describe it. But in comparison, this dish was nothing special. Good.
The lobster was followed by some deliciously doughy bread and olive oil though.
Stone Crab in Brown Butter and Lime with onions, dried scallop, banana, milk skin, vegetable crab meat
Another "good" dish. There was a lot going on in terms of texture, and in particular, the onion on the left and the vegetable crab meat--a roasted artichoke turned inside out--were impressive. I also liked the presentation a lot--the only evidence of crab in the dish was the artichoke on the side. Again, this dish, though tasty, was simply good.
"Risotto" of Squid
The meal was back on track with this "risotto"--squid carefully cut into tiny pearls to resemble risotto. The texture does a pretty good mimicing job and is creamy but nonetheless tastes of squid. My only complaint is that I thought the flavors dissipated a little too quickly. Very good.
Squab Breast Cooked in Smoked Butter with beets, chicken skin, rose, cured green strawberry, malt
I love squab and count Town House's squab with root beer consomme and foie gras butter as one of the best things I've ever eaten. This squab dish was not that good but still delivered a lot of joy--interesting textures, tasty flavors, and perfectly cooked squab. Very good indeed.
Beef Cheek cooked in grilled hay and glazed in beer, toasted farro and burnt hay milk, dried corn, oats, wheat grass, sprouts, spinach.
The ingredients here captured the life of the cow. This was a brand-new dish that the chefs substituted for their perfected--and extraordinary--lamb/beef in ash since we have had various versions in the past. I liked it, though I thought the the milk sauce eventually drowned a lot of the other flavors. Good.
Stones: textures of chocolate, black sesame, creme fraiche, coffee
There are all kinds of textures going on in this dish. It's stunningly beautiful in person and the middle stone--made primarily of what I was told is buttermilk from Cruze Farm in Tennessee--is jaw-dropping amazing. Easily one of the single greatest things I have ever tasted. Excellent.
Liquid Chocolate Bar with an ice cream of burnt embers, sour yogurt, toasted milk & Sugar
This one is so good you wouldn't know it had only been on the menu for about a week. There is so much dark chocolate and the burnt flavor that is in every bite is truly amazing. I have no idea how Chef Karen gets the chocolate bar in the middle to ooze like a perfectly melted chocolate bar once cut but with no such appearance of meltiness at first glance. Excellent.
A Curd of Sour Quince Juice & Olive Oil with black pepper, dill, douglas fir ice cream, toasted meringue
We finished with a dessert in stark contrast to the other two--refreshing while the others were rich and decadent. Although the sound of dill in a dessert was a little surprising, it worked perfectly. Town House's desserts always work with multiple textures and this one was no exception. Excellent. This trio of desserts was every bit as satisfying as the meal's opening act. Certainly the best dessert portion of a meal that I have had.
We ended with some tiny olive-oil balls.
This was another extraordinary meal at Town House. Although, I didn't love the lobster, crab, and beef dishes, I ended up having seven courses that are among the very best things that I have ever eaten and are as good as I could possibly imagine. In my, albeit limited, dining experience, that is quite rare, even at a restaurant of Town House's caliber.
Town House
132 E. Main St.
Chilhowie, Virginia 24319
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