Maude (Tomatoes)
This is the month for tomatoes. I generally love tomatoes. They can come in so many different sizes and textures, such that it makes it very tasty. I will say that the meal for me did not disappoint.
We ended up getting the wine pairing which was about $70 extra. According to my buddy, the wine pairing was excellent throughout the meal and complemented the foods very well. I’ll just take their word for it.
Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. This has 1 Michelin Star.
Food
1. Chips and Salsa. This was tomato chips and foamed salsa. The foam stuff is pretty gimmicky, but it’s still impressive. I love the taste of the tomato chips as they were sweet and salted.
2. Tomato Salad. Oven dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and balsamic. This has various types of tomatoes. Some were plump and juicy, and others were decadent. I honestly was hoping for some type of play on cheese and basil, but this did just fine.
3. Confit Ocean Trout. Tomato powder, cranberry beans, and hatch chili. This was very delicious. I’ve never had trout that was so fatty and oily. It reminded me of a salmon being how it’s very fatty and oily. There was also a subtle kick in spicy that I liked about the dish too.
4. Tortellini. Lobster, tomato fondue, and basil ricotta. The tortellini was delicious. Inside the tortellini was lobster and basil ricotta cheese which was really awesome. The lobster was succulent and sweet, and it wasn’t minced. It was actually a decent size chunk of it. The tomato sauce was nice and very fresh.
5. Tomato Gratin. Veal tongue, smoked egg, and piperada. The veal tongue was delightfully tender and smokey. When the dish was served, there was a transparent bowl covering it, and inside the bowl was smoke. The tomato was a nice thick cut with some crunch on top. I loved the sweetness of the tomato with the crunch as well as the veal protein.
6. Braised Short Ribs. Quail egg, spicy ketchup, and pomme puree. The braised short ribs as expected was very tender and fatty. With the little tomatoes and quail egg, it provided a nice complementary balance to the saltiness of the marinade of the short rib. In the background of the picture, you can see a small bowl with some paste in it. That is the spicy ketchup. It was cold, but it provided a very delicious complement to everything.
7. Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup. The tomato soup was interesting as it had a corn tortilla type flavor in it along with the sweet aroma of the tomatoes The cheese was nice and crispy and was really good with the soup. It’s simple, but it’s a nice ending after the protein parts of the meal.
8. Waffle crisp with tomato. I don’t remember what was in this unfortunately, but it was also really good. Maude’s desserts have always been the epitome of excellence. This one had a waffle crisp with some type of cold sweet tomato broth in it. It definitely cleanse the palette of the tomato soup and cheese.
9. Mint Semifreddo. Pistachio financier, watermelon consomme, and tomato sorbet. The long log is basically the pistachio element. The sorbet is to the right. The pistachio financier is very good. The tomato sorbet is pretty interesting as well. I think overall, this was a pretty interesting dessert as it highlighted creativity in using tomatoes in dessert dishes. It works.
Dessert: (left to right) dark chocolate macaron, passion fruit caramel, and lychee raspberry gummy candy. The dark chocolate macaron was sublime. It wasn’t too rich but it wasn’t bland. The passion fruit caramel was the highlight of this dessert as it was sweet but sticky with lots of passion fruit flavor. Lastly, the lychee raspberry was good too, but nothing all that special.
And like past experiences, Maude gives you a nice bottle of tomato hot sauce for your breakfast burrito or for making a bloody mary. I haven’t used it yet, but I will look for some eggs to throw this on.
Final Verdict
My all time favorite Maude month was rhubarb hands down. I think this month is surprisingly very good especially with the wine pairing. Next month is pear, and I’m really looking forward to that.
Revisions
- Nov 19, 2022 - Migrated post from other blog.
- Sep 5, 2014 - Initial revision.