10-course dinner at One Door East is a feast for the eyes
Recently, five chefs joined forces in the kitchen at Fort Lauderdale's One Door East for a 10-course dinner with wine pairings that was a feast for the eyes.Chefs Timon Balloo from Sugarcane, Xavier Torres from Drunken Dragon, Carlos Garcia from Alto, Clay Conley from Buccan and Ricardo Chaneton former chef de cuisine of the 2-Michelin star Mirazur in France worked their magic to create the evening's menu.It was cool to peek in at the kitchen, which was visible from our table, and see them working together.
Chef Carlos started us off with a delicate clam/tomato/avocado soup with a skewered cherry tomato and avocado delicately placed over the broth soup with a small clam at the bottom. The tomato popped, the avocado added creaminess and the clam in the warm broth was a wonderful surprise.
That was followed by an eye-popping hamachi crudo beautifully created by Chef Timon. The refreshing hamachi worked with the light white soy flavor and crunch of raddish and pretty blossoms completed the second course. An interesting cocktail made with French 75 Tanqueray 10 and Veuve Clicquot champagne was ultra refreshing.
Chef Timon also prepared the third course of duck and foie gras dumplings with dried shittake dashi and burnt orange essence. Subtle flavors and perfectly prepared dumplings were followed by Udon Carbonara which was a perfect portion and prepared with ramp-dashi buttter, soy and egg yolk by Chef Clay. When I saw carbonara and udon in the same name I was skeptical but it worked. These courses were paired with a very crisp Francoise Chiadine "Les Argiles' Vourvay 2014 Vintage.
The bowl used for the fifth course of red mullet with edible scales prepared by Chef Xavier was as beautiful as the dish itself. Bok choy, tahini dressing and mango chili sauce were perfect with the fish. Then we had the Calamari Ramen with the traditional perfect hard boiled egg and rich flavors you'd come to expect from ramen. This dish is a regular on the Drunken Dragon menu.These dishes were paired with Kanbarra Bride of the Fox Junmai Ginjo sake.
The final two savory courses on the menu included the mushroom dominant Kamameshi Hotpot with miso shiitake duxelle, kinoko, dashi and enoki ragu by Chef Xavier and the buttery and no-knife needed Wagyu beef Nikujaga prepared by Chef Clay with fava bean, mushrooms, brown butter and yuzu. Espelt Garnacha wine from Spain was the pairing for these.
Dessert was daring and interesting. I've never had tostones (fried green plantains) in any dessert course but Chef Carlos paired these with avocado and gouda. The other ambitious dessert offering was a corn, coffee, kumquat concoction by Chefs Ricardo and Carlos. These were paired with Wynwood Brewing Company's La Rubia draft.
The perfect ending to this amazing meal was snapping a photo of the chefs together in the kitchen. The atmosphere and decor were really cool too.
The 10-course dinner is $150 per person and there will be more of these in the future. Visit their website for more info.One Door East, 620 S. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, (954) 368-6902
