We somehow found ourselves back at Cafe Barcel, starting another long weekend with a nice relaxing meal. We got to talking to the new chef, Tim Trombley, who said he had just finished prepping for his New Year’s Eve dinner the following evening. He brought out this little tasting of tuna tartar —
— and then told us about some of the other dishes he’d be serving the following evening, including a root vegetable soup with a little hint of truffle oil. Would we like a tasting?, he asked. Why, certainly!, we said. And off Tim went to the kitchen. We looked at each other. Then we looked at Ozzy, the bartender. Did we just order a tasting menu? I think you did, said Ozzy. And so we did. But it was one of the most retrained, easy-going tasting menus we’d ever seen. Really, just a few tastes. Come and see, after the jump.
So first of all, the tuna was great. Fresh fish and avocado, nice flavoring, salty taro chips and a sweet-sour taste from the kumquat preserves.
Next, he sent out a little mini salad with some figs and cheese and a balsamic dressing:
Just lovely. After that, we had the soup that started the whole thing:
Just a little dollop of truffle oil — not so much that it overwhelmed. And there was some texture in the puree; it wasn’t completely smooth. I liked that.
Now this is the gnocchi, but before it was shaped into gnocchi shapes with little ridges. Best part about this dish? Green olives. Such a nice, bright flavor to mix in with rich pasta.
And then for our last course, a big giant meatball!
Sorry for the blur. On New Year’s Eve, the meatball was going to be served over parpardelle. But since we just had a pasta course, Tim just sent out the meatball with a little bread. It was perfect.
No, this wasn’t a traditional fancy-ass tasting menu. Just a nice little sampling of what a new chef is up to. And he’s up to something good, for sure.
