The Last Suppers #9 (the end)

Well, that's it.

Last night, I had my last meal at Journeyman in quite a while. And it was very good.

I dined with six others -- folks I know from the virtual glass project. And they got it; kept things hip and interesting, provided great conversation, debated and explored the food; and wore glowsticks in their hair (I had some left over in my apartment).

We were lucky enough to be able to beta the non-alcoholic drink pairings with our meal and, well, they were interesting! Certainly added interesting compliments to each dish. I think people are going to be really into them in the future.

After dinner, the Journeyfolk gave me a notebook that they'd signed. It wasn't a tearful goodbye, but it was really close on my side. There was no reason for them to go out of their way for me, and I really appreciate it. I think I'm going to use it as a food journal in their honor.

This morning I managed to snag a loaf from iggys and a ice cream sandwich from beakers and cream before heading out. So, food-wise, pretty much a perfect exit.

Last Suppers #8 (in 3D)

(Note: this post was written on the 27th, but I'm back-dating it to the 26th because that is when the meal described herein was consumed.)

Last Saturday, I ate at Journeyman. Last Monday, I ate at Journeyman. And I have plans to eat there on Friday. So, understandably, I decided to drop in on Wednesday to keep the alternation going.

Also, I wanted to do a post with pictures of food, and since my meal on Friday is with a group, it seemed a bit awkward. This Wednesday, on the other hand, afforded me the opportunity to go all out and take pictures with my digital camera, my 3DS, and my iPhone4. So not only do you get reasonably high-res images below, you also get stereo pairs!

Anyway, this was a confusing meal, as I attempted a-la-carte ordering, and ended up truncating my salad and soup through miscommunication. Also, the amuse-bouche went by so fast that I was unable to capture it on sensor. So the composition of the meal is atypical, but those dishes that did appear were in top form.

The Food

Black Cherry & Black Pepper Soda

Unfortunately, my 2D captures didn't come out. As you can tell by the noise level on the 3DS sensor, it's a low-light environment.

This soda has a serious burn to it. Great with the cheese course, mind you.

Clams and Oysters

One of the prettiest and tastiest dishes on the menu right now.

Foie Gras Ice Cream

I really can't get enough of this. The mushroom is a wonderful complement.

Polenta

Also fantastic; nicely varied texture. No wonder it's in the Foie's slot on the vegetarian menu.

Lamb

It's lamb. It's good, but I find myself enjoying the garnish more than the meat.

Shiro Plumb Sorbet

Still a perfect bite.

Apple

There's molasses in the custard, and the sauce is mole. This pairs really well with black pepper soda.

Bits-n-Bobs

Generally presented in a pile; I like the mathematical layout!

The Last Suppers #7 (Birthday)

I cannot express in words how amazing the food at Journeyman has been lately. But that isn't going to stop me from trying. Perhaps it's just the expectation of having to see it go, perhaps it's that I've been eating on Mondays recently, perhaps I'm just easily amused.

Today, I finally convinced my colleagues to join me for dinner, so there were six of us ordering different variations on the menu. And there were five people lightly mocking one person for knowing a bit too much about the food. They're just jealous, I'm sure.

I went straight-up omnivore (with the vegetarian amuse-bouche; a sign I'm perhaps over-familiar with the menu at this point). But Tse Wei and Diana threw in three excellent surprises.

Now Actually Talking About The Food

Amuse-bouche. Carrot cheesecake with an everything bagel crumble and a crisp. Great savory flavor. (The omnivore version has salmon roe, something I'm not partial to.)

Tomato Salad. Running out of time. Tse Wei said afterward that they aren't finding tomatoes that have the flavor they want any more. And they were out of olive crumble today; for me, the olive was a crucial non-tomato element. I know I have praised this dish repeatedly, but it has finally passed its prime. Still good, but I'm glad it's leaving (and that I may get to see its successor this Friday).

Zucchini and Marjoram Soup. As king tomato retires, this smooth, full, spicy and wonderfully green soup (with its inclusions of roast corn, corn flan, blueberries, scallion(?), and pickled watermelon) is poised to take over the crown as the strong anchor of the start of the meal. This course is unashamedly delicious -- of everything that came out today, this is the only one that stopped conversation.

Cod. Milder than the last iteration, and with a bit of actual fish-y flavor (oddly enough). They have finally found the correct way to prepare the wheat it is served over -- slightly crunchy, but not combative.

Clams and Oysters. Clams, oysters, watermelon, citrus, dill -- I'm still amazed at how well this course works. This version had smaller watermelon cubes, which is actually quite nice when going for that perfect bite of a cube and a dill flower. (Clams are still great with their citrus-y flavor, oysters still great in general.)

Sweetbreads. (A surprise course!) This extra course was completely unexpected, and quite enjoyable. There is an opportunity to compare thought processes here:

Some of us: "sweetbread... that's some sort of organ meat, right?" (turns out it's the thymus) "well, let me take a bite; ooh, chewy, fatty. Nice."

Others: "Hmm, chewy, fatty. Nice." (conversation turns to what sweetbread means) "I don't think I can finish this."

Regardless, it was a delicious, slightly chewy morsel presented wonderfully inside a ring of squash, and with a great cashew-based sauce.

Foie Gras Ice Cream. (surprise presentation) with cacao, smoked salt, matsutake(?) mushroom. Wow. A further play on the rich and savory strengths of the foie gras; a clean presentation; wonderful taste. This eclipses the previous iteration (presented as part of the standard foie dish). Good enough to make me think about shoehorning yet another visit to Journeyman into my last week.

Lamb. Still very good, but I've already written about this dish at length. I will mention that the presentation is slightly improved from the photo in the previous article.

Prunes on Shiro Plum Sorbet on Hazelnut Meringue. One of my two favorite things in this meal (the F.G.I.C. being the other). So simple, but so nicely balanced. The shiro plum sorbet adds a bright note, the prunes add body and follow-through to the flavor. The meringue adds harmony and texture contrast.

Peach Dessert. I hope I've written about this before. It's still good, and it's still very pretty on the plate. I think it was plated better today than the two previous times I had it -- managing that brush stroke of sesame sauce takes a certain touch.

Post-dessert treats. An as-usual wonderful assortment of various little treats. One of the financier cakes had a (surprise) candle; which was a very nice gesture. Oh, and the caramel featured an interesting herbal flavor that I couldn't quite place (lemon-something; lemongrass?).

The Last Suppers #6 (short report)

Went to Journeyman with my neighbors today (birthday celebration). The whipped egg dish has gotten more interesting (kimchi! rice cake!).

After-Dinner Conversation

Jim: Do you suppose the foie gras ice cream will last until Monday?

Tse Wei: Yes, you're the only one eating it so far.

The Last Suppers #5 (two good plates)

Every so often -- perhaps more than that -- Journeyman manages to put together a perfect meal. Eleven plates come out (in general: amuse, salad, soup, fish, wildcard, fat, main, cheese, palette cleanse, dessert, "with the check"), and every single one is balanced, flavorful, and interesting. This is tricky, because those criteria are darn subjective.

Last night they were ten for eleven, stumbling only in the amuse, and only because of my ambivalence toward salmon roe (it's just a bit too salty for me, unless paired very carefully with something to take the edge off). But the rest of the meal had perfect flavors (and near-perfect presentation). (This is more exceptional given the return of a foie gras course; another dish where I often seem to be outside the target customer range.)

In this post, I'm going to talk about two plates I enjoyed and also happened to take pictures of. I can't say these were highlights of the meal only because the meal was so consistently good. But they certainly contributed to my overall enjoyment.

The Zucchini Soup

This has been on the menu for ages, and it has only gotten better over time. This iteration was delightfully spicy, and the pickled watermelon rind, blueberries, roast corn, and corn flan all complimented each-other wonderfully. In the past, the corn flan has been too large, and dominated the dish, or too cold and off-putting. But recently, it's been proportioned correctly, leaving more focus on the blueberries and the rind and the all-important interplay of their flavors. (Mind you, I only know it is correctly proportioned in hindsight, having observed that it works so much better now than it did before. And I don't rule out it becoming even more correct in the future.)

And look at it on the plate! There's wonderful color contrast, different interesting shapes, a nice bit of mystery as to where to start in (each bite is a bit different, but each bite *works*).

The Lamb

This is the same garnish set as I've seen before with the steak. Though this time the meat is lamb. Goes without saying -- but I will anyway -- that it's seared outside and pink inside. Just right; warm and tender. The garnishes all add different notes; the beans were especially fresh, and the tomatoes and clusters of mustard seed are always appreciated.

I really liked the visual impact of the big stripe of sauce. Earlier versions have had the garnishes all over the plate. This round -- possibly because the sauce has scared them -- the little morsels are snuggling together on their zuchini blanket.

The Last Suppers #4 (perfection)

I just had a very enjoyable meal at Journeyman. Part of it was the food, as always, but part of it was that I finally cracked open my copy of the Acme Novelty Library #20, by Chris Ware.

As the first course served, a boy was born. Between each course, he grew and changed. There were happy moments and regrets; marriages and childbirth; contemplation and time passing silently; memories and premonitions. Rusty Brown appeared for about two panels. By dessert, the man who was born on the first page slipped back into the unconsciousness of death. A whole life lived over seven courses.

The food was consistently good; briefly:

Amuse was crab + nasturtium, as it has been for a while now. And I'm glad of that, because the spiciness of the soup continues to pair nicely with the crab.

The Tomato course was similarly excellent to previous iterations, and was visually tip-top today; the heirloom slices had wonderful color patterns and interesting internal structure.

The Zucchini Soup continues to be excellent. This time the pickled rind was cut differently (and maybe was a milder pickle than before) and the count of blueberries had risen from two to four. This gave me more of a chance to appreciate how the blueberries pair with the soup flavor. Everything in this dish works together.

The Cod, which was watery and really not good last time I had it, has become most excellent with the addition of a bit of salt. Also, this version included some sauteed mushrooms that played nicely with the overall flavor profile. I think Tse Wei might have been over-compensating after our pre-meal conversation because this version was just on the edge of too salty. Basically, if you squinted at the comment card enough in my last post to read anything about the cod, well, it's all been revised and the dish is now pretty much just excellent.

The Whipped Egg came in a glass over large hominy, topped with a pepper foam and garnished with chives. This is a most excellent revision of the whipped egg over mushrooms that used to be on the menu. Such a warm and rich dish, and filled with mystery as well (the egg obscures all within it). Fun to eat and good tasting.

I had Carrot with hazelnut at this point in the menu, even though it's generally a third course. This has had great flavor every time, and this time was no exception.

For the main, I had the Steak again, because I hadn't had it in a while. To be honest, I think I prefer the eggplant main very slightly, though the presentation and garnish on the steak is wonderful. (Indeed, both have improved since my last time with the Steak main.)

I skipped the cheese today. It just didn't feel like a cheese-having kind of night.

The Black Locust Sorbet with chokecherry and oxsalis continues to appear as the pallet cleanser, and I continue to love it. The portion keeps getting smaller, which makes me fear that it may not have much longer on the menu.

Dessert was that old friend Roast Peach, paired up with shiso ice cream and a whipped ricotta cream, surrounded by crispy cobbler-crust-y crumbles, and sauced with a sesame and a raspberry sauce.

After dessert the standard collection of bits and bobs appeared. Tomato pate de fruit has returned, though without basil sugar. The caramel is back to a traditional caramel (it's been white chocolate for a while). The macarons are still lacking a bit of the chew I like in the meringue, but I saw a new batch coming out today so I have hopes for the future.

Overall, it was a very pleasurable meal -- artistic and culinary stimulation interleaved.

The Last Suppers #3 (comment cards)

As I mentioned in my first post about Journeyman, I've been writing them rather long comment cards; I guess because it's fun, or because it's good to write longhand once in a while, or because it's good to articulate thoughts about something that isn't computer-related or -mediated. Today, when I stopped in for dinner, Catherine spent a bit of time rummaging and recovered a few of the cards I'd written over past visits.

Keep in mind that these aren't all the comment cards I've written (by far). Indeed, historical research (i.e. mint.com) indicates I've had 14 of these last suppers so far; and I recall writing comments for all but three or four of them.

Regardless, here are the comment cards I saw again today. (In case you are wondering: yes, they do have formal comment cards. They've been bringing me old menus because I tend to run out of space.)

The Smallest Card

This is back when the spring salad was still on the menu, and it had the wonderful corn mousse and a smoked cherry tomato. The current tomato salad is better, but the spring salad was also quite good.

I reference "fluke two ways" which was on the menu for a very short time before being replaced with the "fluke." (Which is finally off the menu, as of this week.) I thought the two-ways version was a bit confused.

Both the foie gras (with currants and duck) and the rabbit course were fabulous during this period. I think this was an early plating of the foie gras + duck, when there were still lots of currants on the plate. The acidity cut the fattiness of the foir gras wonderfully. The rabbit was served done two or three ways, all good.

The dessert at the time was a marshmallow dish which was kitchen-torched before being served. Wonderful toasted-marshmallow flavor, but the plating always looked like it had fallen over.

Fall Arrives Early

I had a meal that really reminded me of fall. Lots of warm, bold flavors. Odd, because Journeyman is generally about delicate flavors. Not that I objected in the least!

One of the stars of the menu at this time was the spicy eggplant with poached (braised? sous-vide'd?) egg. Particularly the little ginger and (scallion?) spears it was garnished with. A dish that was deceptively simple, but warm and generous and beautiful and interesting.

A Graph

Yes, I drew a graph. Mainly to point out that I didn't like the fluke. But also because with that many courses it's actually kind of interesting to see how things trend. And, yes, there's no reason to connect those points with a line, obviously the meal isn't continuous, but gimme a little slack here. Lines made it look cool, and I wasn't being rigorous anyway.

First appearance of the current peach dessert; plating was different (bolder saucing).

Unused Space

The comment card from last weekend. This much unused space is really rare.

And, Today

The cod replaced the fluke. But I didn't like the cod. However, I think I might like the cod if it had enough salt/acid/seasoning to not taste watery. So maybe I'll come to appreciate it over time. Particularly, the plum sauce is really interesting on there.

Tse Wei prepared some duck breast in as close to a traditional Singapore presentation as he could manage with the ingredients he had on hand. It was fantastic. Salty, spicy, simple.

It would even fit in on the menu, simply because it's so conventional for Journeyman to be unconventional that to have a conventional course would be unconventional.

And I think I'll leave it at that.

The Last Suppers #2 (with pictures)

Boredom is a dangerous thing. Isn't it said that idle hands often turn to the devil's work? Isn't it said that boredom is the mother of invention? (Actually, maybe only I say that second one.)
Regardless, today I'd had just about enough of staring at the walls of my apartment (...and the furniture, of which I'm building 3D models in some hope it will somehow help with arranging my new apartment). And, recalling that the menu at Journeyman was pretty good last time -- and that (when I ran into him yesterday) Tse Wei told me that they were changing out two dishes, the pig and the fluke -- I decided to head over despite it being a bit sooner than my customary week-ish between visits.
As I suspected based on his stricken look when I came in today, though, the fluke hasn't been changed out yet. Not that that matters, with the carrot dish being as good as it is.

So what did I have today?

First soda - apricot, ginger, fenugreek. The apricot shrub is so good, and the ginger keeps it interesting. I have no idea what the fenugreek adds.

Amuse - nasturtium soup with crab. Very good, I like the crab here better than the watermelon in the vegetarian version.

Tomato - see last post for a description; always good. I recalled today that it maybe used to have a smoked cherry tomato in it, and that it no longer does. (Perhaps that was only in the spring salad? Hmm. So many good dishes.)

Soup - see last post for a description. Then imagine that, but even better. This soup stood without the watermelon rind. The portion of corn flan was reduced, which also helped to focus on the soup's excellent flavor.

Carrot and hazelnut - one of my new favorite flavors. This version had a cute little "yoghurt cup" made from the carrot ribbon. This brought more yoghurt onto the plate, and into the overall flavor (and was nice looking, too). A good dish that was even better this time.

Second Soda - coffee, blackberry, (...many more ingredients...), bitters. Many visits ago, Andrew prepared for me a soda that included coffee. I decided to ask Catherine to revisit that (terrible) decision and give it a try. What she came up with tastes like the best cup of coffee you've ever had. All those complexities (fruity notes, interesting body, good finish)? Turns out you can fake those by just adding stuff from your collection of shrubs and syrups. Was it a good soda? Hard to say. Was it an interesting experience? Definitely.

Oysters and clams - this dish is great, with a clever plating. One oyster sits atop a sheet of gel, surrounded by watermelon chunks that have been lightly kitchen torched. Below the gel lurks another oyster and several clams. The oysters are unseasoned, the clams are dressed with citrus. The watermelon chunks have dill flowers atop them.
Everything in this dish tastes spectacular. I used to say that I hadn't met an oyster I didn't like. I can't say that any more, but these oysters weren't involved in that experience. The citrus on the clams is a great flavor, possibly my favorite preparation of clam.
And everything is working together. The sweetness of the watermelon plays with the acidity from the clam and the salt from the oyster. But the single most interesting thing in this dish is how the watermelon plays off the flavor of the dill flower. It's a really good, totally unexpected flavor combination.

Duck breast - I asked for a variant preparation of duck breast or cucumber (their call). The duck breast is normally served over mole and surrounded with sliced raw and whole cooked radishes. I ended up with duck breast surrounded with mezcal-soaked watermelon and a little bit of ground-cherry compote.

Steak - correctly cooked, good meat, with excellent accompaniments: tomatoes with mustard seed, zucchini cooked just right (not limp, not raw), green beans. And beautifully presented -- little cubes of meat atop the zuchini, beans arching overhead like some architect's form-over-function daydream, tomatoes and their clusters of mustard seeds outside in the courtyard; inevitable public art.

Cheese - nice soft cheese. The bread today was English muffins, so much of the finely crystallized wildflower honey that came with the cheese got loaded onto those. As did some of the cheese.

Cleanse - same chokecherry/black locust sorbet/oxsalis as last time. So well balanced, I really hope this sticks around for a while.

Dessert - same roasted peach as last time. There was a whipped-cream-like preparation of ricotta which I think was new. Added some nice lightness and textural balance to the dish.

With the check - tomato pate de fruit has run out, unfortunately (raspberry instead). The caramel was shiro plum flavored. This batch of macarons has not been as good as some of the previous batches.

The Last Suppers (introduction)

As you may, or may not, know -- I'm going to be living off of my savings for two years, starting this October. In support of this, I've been living a rather frugal life (and I plan to continue this as I live off of my savings). But -- as of a few months ago -- I have saved all the money I will need for my planned two years of TCHOW game development.

And so, as a last luxurious fling, I decided I should have one nice meal out every week. At Journeyman.

And I've been doing this for the last month or two. It's great. I know most everyone by name (For reference, that's: Tse Wei, Diana, Jared, John, "that other guy in the kitchen who never talks with me," Meg, Catherine, Andrea, Andrew, John-Michael, Bradford, and Sam [Backbar affiliated but he comes over to grab bread on occasion. Most serious looking bread-slicer I have ever seen.]). I also occasionally see Tse Wei and Diana at the farmer's market on Saturday. (And Andrea, but that's expected thanks to the Beakers and Cream ice cream venture.)

I have come to think of these as my Last Suppers -- a kind of  farewell to life in Boston ( / life with a real job).

And it's kinda weird -- good weird, but also uneasy; almost performance-art weird -- being a regular at a restaurant that doesn't really have any regulars. Look at the clientele for a night: stockbrokers and their well-dressed dates, an older couple celebrating their wedding anniversary, a small group of friends at a birthday party. And me, who just, y'know, stopped in for a bite to eat on his way home from work.

Being a regular gives me a different perspective on the food. I mean, it's certainly good. But on any given night, I've probably had a better version of one or more dishes earlier. And I probably fondly remember a dish that's no longer on the menu. I see the whole life-cycle of a dish, from the first, bold plating, to revisions of components and flavors, to dissolution and re-integration into other plates. With "special-event" customers, the food is competing with some sloppy home-made pasta from yesterday. With me, the food is competing with itself, last week, and everything else that has ever been on the menu (for months!).

So maybe I'm not enjoying the food as much as the special event diners. But I think there is other pleasure to be had in the experience; in watching the continuous innovation and the marveling at the effort that goes into every plate. Occasionally having the present incarnation of a dish overshadowed by my memory of the best version ever -- well, that's better than having never experienced the best version ever.

More about the restaurant

Journeyman is about 50 paces from my house. It's close enough that I once nipped home to grab some cranberry/pecan bread which I thought would pair well with a soft cheese I was eating. (It did.)

They offer 5- and 7- course menus in omnivore and vegetarian versions. My typical meal is the 7-course + a cheese course, paired with two house-made sodas which I generally ask for in very general terms so that they end up being creative and interesting. The worst that's ever happened was coffee soda, which I've made before, too. (It seems like a good idea until you try it.) The best sodas tend to feature Journeyman's (excellent) apricot shrub, their amazing ginger syrup, herbs, and/or bitters.

This whole meal experience takes about three hours from start to finish, and it's time well spent. I sit at the counter; between courses I read, or watch the chefs cook, or chat with chefs/staff. Or stare into space and think about how good the current soda is, or the previous course was, or a course that I'm anticipating is.

Also, the staff brings a comment card at the end of the meal. And I start, with the nicest intention of just writing down a few things, and end up filling the card. And when I say "card", I mean 8.5x11" sheet of paper. And when I say "filling" I mean that I end up writing margin-to-margin and putting some words and pictures on the back. Sometimes it's just good to write, y'know? I should ask to get a few back to scan/photograph. If nothing else, it's a testament to my built-in urge to critique ("thanks, academia").

But I thought maybe instead of just writing comment cards, I should write news posts for TCHOW. If not for others, then at least for myself -- so I can look back at myself in this time of my life and pine for food and curse my lack of frugality. Or maybe to think about how awesome I was to find something I enjoyed and exploit it. How I got this view into one of the best restaurants in Boston that almost nobody has, and how I tried to appreciate that view by being analytical about what I was enjoying.

So what did I have today?

Seven-course, Vegetarian Menu. (because I had the omnivore last week, and the fluke has never operated as more than a collection of parts for me, and the pork was a disappointing cut, and there were new dishes on the vegetarian side.)

First soda: peach/oregeno. Lovely combination, almost savory.

Amuse: nasturtium soup with watermellon and balsamic pearls. Spiciness of the soup plays well off the crisp watermelon. I wonder if the omnivore version still has crab? (I enjoyed that version because it hearkened back to the very good mint/pea soup with crab meat.)

Salad: Tomato slices, tomato ribbon, tomato sorbet, basil oil, roasted tomatoes, dehydrated olive, seeds-y granola, fried ricotta thing. This dish used to be on the vegetarian menu as the second course. I had the first or second version they ever plated (I recall it was bigger, but they used an opaque ribbon that broke, ruining the presentation -- this version has a transparent ribbon that's a lot thinner and generally plays better in the dish. I kinda miss having just a huge wedge of heirloom tomato though.) For a while, the amuse was tomato-water soda and that was a perfect lead-in to this salad.

Let me state clearly that I love this dish. It's got such great flavor pairings. Dehydrated olive + tomato is a wonderful match. It keeps up the Journeyman tradition of having exceedingly complicated salads that are like a playground of flavor pairings. And it has great temperature contrast, with hot, room-temp, and cold elements on the same plate. It's really masterful.

Just, y'know, not the best version I've ever had.

Soup: zucchini soup with pickled watermellon rind, corn flan, roast corn, blueberries, squash blossom. I recall the soup as being a bit flat, but the zesty rind really picked it up; similarly the corn flan was a bit bland but the squash flower was well-seasoned and brought it through nicely. First time I've had this dish, and I look forward to seeing it again. (I was getting bored of the corn soup that used to be in this slot.)

Hazelnut Terrine with Carrots, Mint, Greek Yoghurt: this is a new one, but an excellent one as well. The Hazelnut and Carrot both exist in this savory/sweet limbo, but the mint and the herbal sauce brought them down on the savory side. This is one of those dishes that connects flavors I hadn't associated; a fun experience. The colors of the components contrast well, making the dish visually exciting. And there was a carrot ribbon. I'm a sucker for ribbons. My only critique on this one is that the herbal sauce was a bit salty.

Whipped Egg with Mushrooms: a simple dish. "Almost clinical" I wrote on the comment card, meaning it neutrally. The mushrooms were almost so dry as to be off-putting, but not quite. Somehow it felt like a very small, almost stingy dish. (This is probably because I'm remembering the egg + eggplant dish -- no longer on the menu -- which felt warm, inviting, spicy, wholesome, and generous. Oddly, that dish didn't feel like Journeyman, and this one does. But I still liked that one more. It surprised me every time I ate it.)

Cucumber and roasted buckwheat with mole and kefir: I used to eat this to avoid the foie gras course; the foie gras course is now the duck breast course, and this doesn't really compare. It's good, mind you, just not roasted-duck-breast-good. Dish has a nice presentation with little heaps of green and brown over criss-crossing sauce stripes. I've seen several different platings; my favorite was with the mole in little drifts up against the buckwheat with the cucumber slices and chopped cucumber salad in similar arrangements elsewhere. Like a little city of two different colors and three textures.

Second Soda: Lime shrub + lime syrup + lime wedge + a touch of passion fruit. Intensely acidic -- a really good "sipping soda".

Eggplant with miso glaze, eggplant agnolotti, inexplicable but welcome shiso leaf, roasted ground cherry, eggplant glop [probably not the official term], green sauce: I've seen ground cherries several times at Journeyman, but never cooked. Turns out, they are way better when cooked (kinda like tomatillos, which they resemble). This was a new dish for me, and a really enjoyable one. It knocks the socks off the previous vegetarian main (a zucchini dish that wasn't more than the sum of its parts). The flavors work well here and contrast nicely, with eggplant showing its versatility, and the shiso leaf being a shiso leaf (which I can't help but love), and also tying the sweetness of the ground cherry into the more savory flavors of the rest of the dish.

Cheese: I asked for a plate which contrasted the blue cheeses on offer and got a French-origin blue cheese that was very sharp (think sharp cheddar) and an English-origin that was more mellow, along with an alpine cheese because Diana didn't want to just send me two intense blue cheeses (and because alpine cheeses have a characteristic bacteria-induced flavor, just as blues have a characteristic fungus-induced flavor). My only complaint is that having a super-acidic soda with blue cheeses is maybe a bit more than even my stomach is entirely happy with.

Cleanse: Chokecherry puree, black locust sorbet, oxsalis leaf. Really nicely balanced. Everything works together, from the calm subtle sorbet to the more aggressive sauce to the crisp and fresh leaf.

Dessert: Roast peach with crumble, various sauces, shiso sorbet. Who can argue with roast peach? I can't. The previous plating of this dish used a raspberry and sesame sauce as bold paints, looking like a sunset. This iteration uses only the sesame as a paint, looking much more coordinated on the plate (doesn't clash with the sorbet) but also less bright, which I kinda miss. Also the shiso sorbet has a very mild flavor compared to the previous iteration's basil sorbet. But -- as I said earlier -- I can't really argue with shiso.

With the check: tomato gel in basil sugar, macaroon, caramel, flourless chocolate cake, coconut financier. The tomato gel has appeared earlier in this "pate de fruit" role, but the basil sugar was a new (and welcome) innovation.