How Diverse Influences Shape a Midwestern Tasting Menu | Bon Appétit
"The tasting menu is a constantly evolving, team-driven narrative of personal homages: dishes trace memories and teachings from the kitchen’s Bengali-American and Oaxacan cooks to Filipino classmates and Midwestern favorites. Star savory highlights include a Bengali goat curry sourced from the chef-owner’s mother and ladled over saffron-infused malloreddus; an idiosyncratic French onion chaat built for texture and layered with caramelized onion, potato purée, fried greens, crunchy jhalmuri, and three drizzles (apple chutney, creamy salsa, and a homemade “Heckuvagood” riff on a beloved Midwestern dip); and a moqueca- and shrimp-cocktail–inspired prawn course coated in buckwheat and toasted coconut with an aromatic horseradish-tomato-coconut sauce. Other inventive plates include Sichuan-style dumplings filled with a kebab-spiced family lamb recipe and sealed with seven pleats, meant to be eaten with a grilled duck skewer and sweet soy studded with Kashmiri and Tianjin chile oils; and a recurring, meaningful duck finale that reimagines adobo as a duck-stock reduction, features confited thighs rolled into lumpia, dry-aged breast, a koji-pickled duck egg, pickled eggplant, and playful touches like banana ketchup and coconut mustard. Meals often close with a cafe de olla–inspired pan de mollete bread pudding—made from leftover sourdough and finished with dulce de leche, coffee shaved ice, cookie crumbles, meringue, lime zest, and pineapple powder—reflecting the hospitality the team experienced in Oaxaca. Overall, the kitchen emphasizes collaboration, cultural specificity, and bold combinations that balance richness with bright, pickled, and textural counterpoints." - ByLi Goldstein
