Dining where you work

The first job I took after moving to RI for culinary school was at Fluke Wine Bar in Bowen's Wharf, Newport.  It has a three person line in a tiny little kitchen, and I was their garde manger, doing their charcuterie, salads, and small plates as well as their pastry guy.  

In chatting with the executive chef, I mentioned that I wanted to take my girlfriend out for dinner somewhere nice that summer, since we had been dating exactly one year, and he suggested eating there at Fluke and he would personally put together a tasting menu for us.  The owner heard about it, and generously offered to pair each course with wines.

Now bear with me, this was two years ago and I had nine glasses of wine that evening, but this was the best meal I've ever had.  Also note that my girlfriend doesn't eat meat except seafood, and the restaurant with its location on Bowens Wharf is a bit seafood heavy.

Here is what I remember.  The dinner started off with several small plates; crustini plate with white bean puree, nut and olive tapenade and fine julienne of roasted red peppers.  Salt cod croquettes with an orange saffron aioli and basil oil.  There were a few other small plates and amuse-bousche, but I can't recall them as well.

There were three main courses, and each impressed me more than the last.  The first was a dish with sautéd filet of skate.  I had never had skate until I worked at Fluke, and it has a really wonderful texture and flavor.  It is tender and flakey, but has a meatiness similar to a sea scallop.

The second main course was monkfish, which if you've never had it, also has a really interesting texture and flavor.  I can best describe it as the fish version of lobster tail, but it more readily takes on the flavors of the dish and has a much smoother taste. 

The third main course was sea bass caught the day before and bought on the wharf.  Honestly, I worked the day before and chef came in with the largest sea bass I'd ever seen (coincidentally, I was the one who scaled and filet the fish).  The sea bass was cut thick into a portion roughly the shape of a cube, as thick as it was wide.  It was seared hard on once side in butter and olive oil, then flipped, finished in the oven, and plated over a smear of a chinese fermented black garlic vinaigrette.  

The main courses were followed by two salads.  One was a roasted beet salad with watermelon radish, fava beans, amaranth microgreens, and a hint of a thin but pleasantly strong dressing made from Roquefort cheese.  The other salad was an arugula salad tossed lightly in olive oil, freshly roasted Marcona almonds, white grapes all plated over a verjus dressing.  The salads were followed by a cheese plate of seven cheeses and even more wine.

We finished the meal with two desserts, along with dessert wines.  The first was a honey cheesecake, french style as opposed to New York, which was much lighter and less sweet (the honey drizzled very lightly over the top was where most of the sweetness hit).  The second was a tart filled with pastry cream topped with sliced banana which was then bruléed.

Considering all of this is from memory, nearly two years ago, and having drank an excessive amount of wine that evening, it goes to show how much of an impression food can have.

-Mittensworth