experiment #22 - School of Cobaya with Chef Michael Bloise

Another experiment completed. This time, Chef Michael Bloise (currently at Sushi Samba Dromo on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach) sent everybody back to school with a "School Lunch" themed dinner. You can read recaps at Food For Thought, The Chowfather, and Blind Tastes, and my pictures are in this School of Cobaya flickr set. It's a shame I didn't get better pictures, as Chef Bloise really did an outstanding job both conceptualizing and executing his theme, right down to the brown bags with a "Love, Mom" note inside. This was a lot of fun.

Here's the menu:

Apple Juice Box

Unfiltered Apple Juice, Vanilla, Acai Vodka

Brown Baggin' It

Lunchables - Rabbit Ham, Truffled Mozz, Manchego-Thyme Crackers

Taco Belly Trio

Lamb, Mint, Blood Orange

Pork, Melon, Nuoc Cham, Thai Basil

Tuna, Butter, Garlic, Soy

The Tray

Country Fried Beef Tongue with Foie Country Gravy

Paiche/Linguica Corn Dog with Kabocha Mustard

Spicy Pork Cheek Empanada with Black Bean Ice Cream

Scallop Tater Tots with Kimchi Ketchup

Vegetable Medley Pudding Cup

Tripe Churros

Berry Cobbler with Tempura Bone Marrow

Panna Cotta Spaghetti

Many thanks to Chef Bloise and all his "cafeteria" crew, and as always, to all of our guinea pigs who make these events possible.

experiment #22 - 1/30/12

Time for another experiment! Short notice!

Quick Details:
Date: Monday January 30, 2012
Price: $75 (inclusive of tax & tip)
Start time: Likely 7:30pm

No film crews this time we promise!

We will do a similar routine as the last several dinners, with a drawing for seats from all requests received over the first 48 hours, and additional requests filled, if possible, in the order they're received.

The rest of the drill is mostly the same as always: please send an email to request seats, and let us know how many you're requesting.

You will be advised by Monday January 23 if the request has been confirmed. You'll then need to book your seats by Thursday January 26, or we may need to release them to the waitlist to ensure all spots are filled.

We have limited seating and while we try to accomodate everyone who is interested, that is usually not possible - most events are filled very quickly.

When your seat request has been confirmed, please book it using the PayPal link which will be set up on this page. Please do not book unless and until you've received a confirmation. When you do receive the confirmation, please book your seats through PayPal promptly. There will be a short window of time to book before seats need to be released back to the waitlist to make sure they're filled.

A brief, but important, refresher course on the whole Cobaya thing: there is no "menu". There are no choices. You'll be eating what the chef chooses to make for the night. If you have food related allergies, strict dietary requirements, religious restrictions; are salt sensitive, vegetarian, pescatarian, or vegan; don't like your meat cooked medium rare, or are pregnant: this meal is probably not for you. Do not expect white-glove service. Don't ask for your sauce on the side. Just come and enjoy.

Confirmed and paid-up attendees will receive an e-mail the day before the event, confirming the location and other details.

As always, thank you for your interest.

FOR CONFIRMED SEAT REQUESTS ONLY:

cobaya #22

1 seat w/o pairing $75.00 USD 1 seat with pairing $100.00 USD

experiment #21 - CobayAzul (a/k/a A.B.C. - Azul Bizarre Cobaya)

Wow. Our chef for Experiment #21 was Joel Huff of Azul restaurant, and he did it right. My pictures from the dinner are in this CobayAzul flickr set, will follow up shortly with some further thoughts and my recap is now up at FFT. You can also read a recap from Chowfather, get a glimpse from inside the kitchen at sous chef Brad Kilgore's blog, "The Power of a Passion," and see another take on the dinner at "Tinkering with Dinner." I'm also adding, in a comment to this post, an insightful recap I received from one of our guests who is also a chef.

Many thanks to Chef Huff and all of his kitchen crew, as well as all the FOH folks at Azul who took great care of us throughout the night (Bread service? Napkins refolded when you leave your seat? Is this a Cobaya dinner?); thanks to our special guest Andrew Zimmern and all of his crew, who were very well behaved as party-crashers go; and thanks most of all, as always, to the guinea pigs who make these events possible, for your support, and for your tolerance for all the cameras and other distractions. If you're interested in more of a glimpse of the interesting things going on at Azul, I also encourage you to check out sous chef Brad Kilgore's blog, The Power of a Passion.

Our menu:

Uni Monstera Fruit Sorbet

Pumpkin Swordfish Tataki, Pickled Squash, Pumpkin Oil

Beetzanella, Beet Textures, Wisconsin Blue

Smoked Mediterranean Octopus, Cauliflower Vadouvan

Carnaroli Risotto, Chanterelles, Forest Floor

Turbot, Lemon Scented

Beef Duo, Snake River Farm Wagyu NY Strip Loin, 72-Hour Short Rib

Local Strawberries, Sesame Brittle Sable

experiment #21 - 12/13/11

Time for another experiment! Short notice!

Quick Details:
Date: Tuesday December 13, 2011 
Price: $105 (inclusive of tax & tip) with optional $45 beverage pairing 
Start time: Likely 7:00pm 

We will do a similar routine as the last several dinners, with a drawing for seats from all requests received over the first 48 hours, and additional requests filled, if possible, in the order they're received.

The rest of the drill is mostly the same as always: please send an email to request seats, and let us know how many you're requesting (please use the "contact the underground" link on the right to email a request).

You will be advised by Monday December 5 if the request has been confirmed. You'll then need to book your seats by Thursday December 8 or we may need to release them to the waitlist to ensure all spots are filled.

We have limited seating and while we try to accomodate everyone who is interested, that is usually not possible - most events are filled very quickly.

When your seat request has been confirmed, please book it using the PayPal link which will be set up on this page. Please do not book unless and until you've received a confirmation. When you do receive the confirmation, please book your seats through PayPal promptly. There will be a short window of time to book before seats need to be released back to the waitlist to make sure they're filled.

A brief, but important, refresher course on the whole Cobaya thing: there is no "menu". There are no choices. You'll be eating what the chef chooses to make for the night. If you have food related allergies, strict dietary requirements, religious restrictions; are salt sensitive, vegetarian, pescatarian, or vegan; don't like your meat cooked medium rare, or are pregnant: this meal is probably not for you. Do not expect white-glove service. Don't ask for your sauce on the side. Just come and enjoy.

Confirmed and paid-up attendees will receive an e-mail on Monday, December 12, 2011 confirming the location and other details.

Oh, one more thing: there may be cameras filming on site for this dinner, and diners may be asked to give a release. If you're in the witness protection program, this may not be the dinner to come to.

As always, thank you for your interest.

FOR CONFIRMED SEAT REQUESTS ONLY:

cobaya #21

1 seat w/o pairing $105.00 USD 1 seat with pairing $150.00 USD