After he recently “flayed” Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America with the secret ingredient- Cabbage - he was repeatedly asked to prepare that menu at his restaurant. He created the “Battle Cabbage” Dinner that was immediately sold out so he added two more dates. Sandi Watkins, Willie Pritchard, Bill and I signed on for the dinner on May 24th to celebrate Bill’s birthday as well as partake of cabbage! David takes this most humble vegetable to gastronomic heights and, not surprisingly, we were very impressed! We’ve been fans of David’s cooking since he was the executive chef at the Quilted Giraffe in NYC and Ernie’s in SF and then locally at Sent Sovi in Saratoga. We’ve been friends with David and Estaban, his Maitre d’, ever since Sent Sovi and have become regulars at Manresa so we know Michael, his restaurant manager; Jeffrey (his sommelier) and Dana, one of the servers who’s been there a long time. It’s always a joy to spend an evening at Manresa.
The amuse-bouche was house-made Pastrami and Eggs and was served with a Hitachino Nest Beer Belgium White Ale. Although we brought wines out of Bill’s cellar, we were so curious about the white ale that we bought a bottle of it to share among the 4 of us. It was a very strange taste…I compared it to Japanese pickled cabbage…that, of course, made it perfect for the dinner this evening. The pastrami was moist and not salty which is what I hate about commercial pastrami. The eggs were scrambled perfectly so they too were moist and custardy. It was topped with a piece of seaweed. A very good start!
The first course was a “Delicate Salad of Sea Bream & Geoduck Clam, Toasted Sesame, Seaweed and Mushroom.” It was one of my favorite dishes of the evening. Thin slices of geoduck were sweet and the sashimi style sea bream was so fresh that the whole dish just exuded of the ocean. The cabbage was bok choy and the mushrooms were shitakes. finished with seaweed and a light sauce of soy, sake & dashi(a Japanese soup flavoring)and a sprinkling of bonito flakes. It was about 4 bites and was perfect since we had 5 more courses to go! We shared a 1997 Chablis White Burgundy Les Clos Grand Cru Jean-Marc Brocard, Chablis, France with this dish and it brought out the flavors of the seafood. It was rich with a clean finish that we all enjoyed.
The next dish was “Red Cabbage and Pear Borscht, Stone Ground Mustard, Pear and Cabbage 'choucroute.'" This dish was a wonderful take on Borscht, using pears and red cabbage instead of beets to add the red coloring. The quenelle shaped choucroute (French for saurkraut, in case you, like me, didn’t know what the word meant) of pear,and cabbage was served in a bowl and then a creamy pink soup was poured around it. Very nice presentation and if you love borscht, you’ll love this dish!
We then had the “Cabbage Patch: stems, leaves, flowers…Benton’s Country Ham.” It was the dish on the Iron Chef that was served on a bed of “Dirt,” composed of roasted ground hazelnuts and ground chicory roots and some other ingredients we couldn’t identify except that we all loved it. It was one of the creations I was most curious about and it did not disappoint. It was crunchy, munchy and yummy! The ham was crispy…my guess it was it was sliced very thinly and then low temp baked to a crisp. It was cabbage at it’s freshest and a dish that simply highlighted the vegetable. David finished the dish with a light sauce of Reisling. Bill opened a 1999 Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling “Eroica,” Washington made by Dr. Loosen who is a well-known German winemaker. The Riesling was very dry and acted as a foil against the forward flavors of the cabbage and ham.
The dish that I loved watching him prepare on the Iron Chef was the napoleon type preparation he calls “Stuffed Cabbage with Forgotten Vegetables, Exotic Spices and natural vegetable juices.” The forgotten vegetables were parsnips, rutabaga, fennel, onions, carrots, & turnips, all minced into almost a mirepoix. They were layered with blanched savoy cabbage. The exotic spice was Moroccan and added a touch of sweetness to the dish. It was finished with what seemed to us to be finely ground panko crust that added just the right amount of crunch to the napoleon. We could have eaten more than 4 bites of this dish!
The last cabbage dish was “Farro Grain cooked like a risotto, Roasted Breast of Duck, Napa Cabbage, both stems and leaves, Fried Brussel Sprouts, meat juices.” I am not that familiar with Farro (a Near East variety of ancient wheat) but it was a grain I’d like to try now after tasting it as the bed for the slices of duck breasts. I am not a fan of brussel sprouts but I definitely would eat them fried! They added a nice crispy note to the duck. Bill opened a 1990 Gevrey Chambertin Red Burgundy 1er Cru Clos St Jacques, Domaine Armand Rousseau that elegantly enhanced the duck.
The dessert was “Joe’s Strawberries, both raw and cooked, Strawberry consommé, Goat’s Milk Fromage Blanc Sorbet.” In case you were wondering, Joe is a strawberry grower in Watsonville. The Goat cheese fromage blanc sorbet was a wonderful contrast to the cooked and raw strawberries. We drank a 1999 Barth Riesling Beerenauslese Hattenheimer Hassel, Rheingau, Germany with the dessert and it was the perfect pairing that complemented the strawberries and visa versa, the strawberries also enhanced the Beerenauslese. There was something that we thought might be a miniature crepe but upon reflection, I think it was the “skin” from heating goat's milk. Very innovative! …and no cabbage!
David came by to chat for a while and David’s parents stopped by to thank us for sharing our wines with them. We also shared a glass with a colleague and his wife who reciprocated with wines that he brought. We were so enchanted with the evening that Bill opened a 2002 Weingut Johann Peter Reinert Riesling Eiswein, Wiltinger Schlangengraben Goldene Kammerpreismunze, Mosel, Germany. After we checked to make sure no one was waiting for our table, we just savored the evening and enjoyed the Eiswein. A great birthday dinner for Bill and a gourmet treat for all of us!
A side note: Watsonville, besides being well know for it’s strawberries, is also where the cream comes from that the restaurant hand churns into butter. Well, actually, it’s a cow that lives in Watsonville who provides the cream….The butter tastes like butter. It’s served soft with a sprinkling of sea salt AND, before I forget, the restaurant’s pastry chef also makes the artisanal bread for Manresa. It is, by far, the BEST bread I have ever tasted. I’ve been an Acme Bread fan for many years and Manresa’s bread knocks the socks off of Acme! Crisp crust, chewy interior and healthy whole wheat adds a nutty flavor to the bread. I’d buy loaves of this bread if I could! I actually take a “doggy bag” home of bread if there’s any left on the table, I love it so much!
As we left the restaurant, Esteban Garabay, the Maitre d’, offers everyone house-made caramels that are to die for! I always make a pig of myself and take several!
So if you want to try this dinner, David is going to offer it again in June on Sundays, June 7, 14, and 21…$135 pp.
Bon appétit!
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