For this visit to Stone Flower, I returned again with a friend.  Upon arrival, we discovered that there had been some personnel changes, including the sommelier who had been there for my first two visits.  The staff who assist with the service had also changed.  Otherwise, the booking and seating time remained the same as my  prior visit.  For this dinner, there were six diners total seated at the counter.  My friend and I decided we would split one beverage pairing.

The first pairing was an orange wine from the country of Georgia. Unlike previous visits, the new sommelier did not show us the bottle nor provide the name of wine’s producer most of the time.

The first bite was a savory barley grass ice cream in a dehydrated and shaped banana roll.  This was garnished with cucumber, jalapeño pepper, finger limes and oxalis flowers (for a touch of tartness).  The intent was to open up our palates with these flavors.

The next wine pairing was a Portuguese Alvarinho. 

The next dish was skate wing cheek, cooked in oil and served at room temperature in celery juice with curry leaf (green curry flavor).  Circling the upper part of the bowl was applewood-smoked celery root purée, which supported additional garnishes of smoked soy ribbons, snail caviar (smaller ones than I’ve seen here before), and alyssum flowers.

For the next wine, we were given a little more information.  It was a Valmur (one of the 7 Grand Cru regions of Chablis) Grand Cru Chablis from 2018.

The next dish featured Great Lakes white sturgeon that was poached in its own juices.  On the side was  a little Yukon Gold potato nest seasoned with malt vinegar and sea salt.  The sauce was a beurre monté made with dashi, dill, and osetra caviar.  The fish was firm in texture, but I would have liked it to be cooked just a tad longer and served warmer.

The next wine was a natural wine from Ribera, Spain.  It was a 2013 Treixadura (the grape).  The age gave it a complex and smooth flavor experience.

To go with the Spanish wine, we were served a Spanish carabineros (red scarlet prawn).  This was half cooked (“mi cuit” is the French cooking term) and served with fried kombu shreds, sorghum popcorn, whipped bone marrow dots on the side, and a foam of peanut leaf and kefir lime emulsion.

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A quick trip to Chicago made for a stop for the fall menu at Stone Flower.  This was more of a typical experience, as I dined with a full complement of other diners at the counter.  They offer two tiers of wine pairings.  As usual, there is no menu presented beforehand.

The first bite was a brand-new dish for the menu.  It was a dehydrated banana log (wrapping on the outside) filled with Santa Barbara uni and ginger, with finger lime at the ends.  It was topped off with whipped roasted bone marrow and oyster blossoms. This was a nice opener.

The next dish was skate wing cheek.  It was lightly cooked and served with celery juice and  curry leaf.  Around it was a sauce made with smoked celery root purée, brown butter, smoked cream and a touch of buttermilk.  This was garnished with alyssum flowers and snail caviar.  The dish was full of delicate flavors and textures, with a small crunch from curry leaf on the sides.

This upcoming dish was paired with a 2015 Grand Cru Chablis, which I was able to taste. I thought it was the best Chablis I’d ever had.

The dish featured lightly poached sturgeon (still firm) served with a beurre montage sauce made with dashi instead of water.  It was topped with a potato nest, a little osetra caviar, and dill.  The dashi-based sauce provided a nice umami flavor to go with the moist fish, very different if it had just been the standard beurre montage sauce.

For the full write-up, click here.