Food porn: NOMAD pop-up dinner with Ian Kleinman
Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, crowds convened at Mona's on South Broadway after having received an e-mail just hours earlier revealing where they were supposed to meet.
Laura Shunk
They were greeted with a torrontes white wine, and they introduced themselves to one another. And once a sizable group had filled the spot, Ian Kleinman, the molecular magician who runs the Inventing Room street cart and catering company, began a demonstration, showing the crowd what he could do with liquid nitrogen.
Kleinman played host for four NOMAD pop-up dinners with HUSH over the weekend, unleashing a multi-coursed menu replete with table-side explanations and techniques on guests lucky enough to nab one of the seats at four different seatings.
The dinner, smacked with ingredients like charcoal oil, buttermilk dippin' dots and sriracha cubes, finished with a miracle fruit tasting, when each diner received a berry that numbed all tastebuds except the ones that detect sweetness -- and then ate lemons, limes and vinegar to experience the effects.
If you weren't there, here's a taste of what you missed.
First: Grilled shrimp carpaccio, dried chilies, carbonated citrus cells, charcoal oil, peeled cherry tomatoes and cilantro. The charcoal oil on this dish added both the illusion of grilled fish and a mild smoky flavor to the otherwise cold, fresh plate. As for the carbonated citrus cells, well, we couldn't really taste them, but then, we downed the fiery dried chilies all in one go, so that may have had something to do with it.
Laura Shunk
Second: Buttermilk dippin dots, compressed celery, cornbread foam...
Laura Shunk
... and fried chicken consomme, made from a gelatin extracted from fried chicken.
Laura Shunk
Chef Kleinman gives a demonstration with liquid nitrogen, making sorbet for the third course at the same time.
Laura Shunk
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