The Make It Local dinner, as chronicled in this blog, was not my favorite meal or event of the year. In fact, it didn't even make the top 100. It was a thorough disappointment after several years of enthusiastic participation and high expectations.
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| Chef JJ addressing one of his tables |
While Chef JJ's Backyard did not provide all of the food for that dinner, they were the hosts. Within a few days of posting the f+f blog about the event, they had emailed me thanking me for my honest feedback (impressive). Also within a few days, the owners of Chef JJ's Backyard had organized a "Make It Right" concept: a series of available dinner dates for everyone who had attended the first event (beyond impressive). We reserved our spot immediately.
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| Stunning opener of smoked Beef Bruschetta |
If ever there was a successful customer service initiative, this was it! From the moment we walked in we were treated like something between close family (remembering each of our names all night) and royalty (the service level was impeccable). The food was mind-blowing, but we'll get to that.
Chef JJ started off by an informal introduction to address the reasoning behind the Make It Right. Though they weren't directly responsible for all of the details of the Make It Local event, they wanted to take this opportunity to thank us for our support and show us their brand of food and service. Dually noted!
We started off drinking some phenomenal wine provided by Graybull Organic Wines and local beer from Sun King Brewery while we met the people at our table. I should note that my glass never even made it to half-way empty.
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| Roasted Prawn Panzanella + Chilled Cucumber Soup |
The first course was a home run called Dig-IN's Beef Bruschetta**. This was the description on the menu: "slow smoked beef shoulder paired with our famous grilled bread and spicy pickled Indiana vegetables." What the description didn't say was how the beef melted in your mouth, the crunch from the pickled carrot and onion exploded with flavor, and the subtle watermelon-peach barbecue sauce set the whole thing off. I didn't start the meal exceptionally hungry (late lunch), and I made a Herculean effort not to wolf down my generous portion in 5 seconds. In fact, our incredibly chatty table ceased all conversation in favor of appreciative "mmm" noises. What a start!
The soup and salad course was a duo of chilled cucumber soup and a roasted prawn panzanella. If you've ever eaten at my house you are probably familiar with panzanella--that incredible summer staple of crusty toasted bread, tomato, mozzarella and basil in some sort of delicious vinaigrette. Truthfully, I have never liked anyone else's better than mine. Believe me, I know how narcissistic this sounds, but it is true... everyone has that one thing that they rock! This roasted prawn version was heaven.... The chilled cucumber soup was creamy, slightly smokey (from grilling the cucumbers on the EGG), and amazing. It had a distinct Greek tzatziki characteristic that was marvelous.
**Yes, for those of you who were savvy enough to attend Dig-IN this year, you may have tasted it at the Chef JJ's Backyard booth.
This was such a phenomenal experience that it will require a two-part blog. To be continued...
