Heirloom Tomato Dinner Pop-up

As you've noticed when you go to your farmer's market, tomatoes are everywhere. You'll see some cherry tomatoes, roma, green, early girls, brandywine and so much more. They come in different shapes, sizes, colors and flavors. With all these amazing tomatoes there's only one thing left to do, an amazing tomato dinner.

movie started at sundown

live music

Dinner was held at the Coffee bar. There were 2 seatings per night for Friday and Saturday. It was my first time at the location and I thought it was really a nice place to hold this pop-up. I got the chance to work in the kitchen with Alex Marsh aka The JetSetChef, who's also the man responsible for this event. It was cool to be working in the kitchen with this guy. He's just pretty laid back and even if it got pretty intense which it did a couple of times you'll still see him smiling and just focused.

It was all about tomatoes. Just looking at the menu, you know you are in for a treat. There's a little bit of molecular gastronomy happening, tomatoes being pureed, stuffed and made into a gelee. It felt like I was a judge on Iron chef and the secret ingredient was Tomato. You can sense that the chef was having fun with it and really utilizing the tomato in different ways. It was a bit playful especially with last course. It was a green tomato was stuffed with vanilla ice cream, dipped in walnuts and then placed on top of this amazing caramel powder. You'll just have to use your hands and catch as many powder as you can fit on that ice cream.

The menu

Here's the food and how it all came together

Making of the 1st course

Chef Alex with his finishing touches

1st course - "Caprese molecular" (tomato, mozzarella and basil). This is the gastronomical approach to the caprese salad. The mozzarella just bursts in your mouth and the basil oil adds a great sweetness to this amuse.

plating the 2nd course

2nd - Crab salad with ahi tuna, avocado mousse and a tomato gelee. This is my favorite dish of the night. I especially like how the tomato compliments the whole dish.

3rd - Brandywine tomato gazpacho, cucumber cream, basil and shaved almonds. Good dish but a bit too spicy for me to finish the whole thing.

4th - the vegetarian option. Sauteed spinach, with cauliflower, fennel and potato puree. The best presentation for me.

Making the 4th course - Lamb dish

4th course - Lamb 2 ways, loin and shoulder, potato puree and tomato jus. Love the shoulder part. It melts in your mouth.

Final course - "caramel apple" - green tomato, walnut crumble and caramel powder. Great ending except for the sticky caramel that's stucked on my teeth.

Overall it was a successful event and the tomatoes were really the star of the night. Now I just have to watch out what the jetsetchef will be playing with in the near future.