Catching up on kitchen posts.

Ive been slacking with my kitchen and food posts lately(more like again) so since its 430 am est. And I cant sleep, figured no times better then now to blast out a few pictures of some of our current menu items.
We like to consider the food we do " New American" with an Italian influence, we use flavors and ingredients found in different cuisines around the world(America is a melting pot) but usually try to tie it together with something most people would consider Italian. But above all we strive to use simple and fresh ingredients of the best quality we can find.
One of our most popular pasta dishes is our Squid Ink Fettuccini: blistered heirloom cherry tomatoes, fresh crab meat, lemon zest, shaved botarga(salted cured fish roe) we've been using a gray mullet roe recently but blue fin tuna roe is very common in Italian and Mediterranean cooking. Toss all of this together with a splash of white wine, some vegetable stock and a heart attack worth slab of butter and you're done!

This isnt a regular on our menu but something we ran as an appetizer for our County's restaurant week. Crispy wild mushrooms, tossed in creme fraiche we make in house, pilled up on garlic rubbed grilled bread, with a balsamic vinegar reduction, fresh thyme, cracked pepper and some pink Himalayan seasalt.

I could go on about a 3 page rant about what most places do wrong with crabcakes. If you ever order crab cakes and split one open and can't tell theres crab in their its for a good reason. Most places use about 60% filler mainly Panko or Italian bread crumbs and 40% crab meat. Its a disgrace in my opinion. Its called a crab cake for a reason. We prefer to use jumbo lump crab meet. It doesnt break down so much and get stringy. Dump all that into a mixing bowl, an ok size spoon full of mayonnaise, dijon mustard, a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice, chives, maybe a dash of old bay if youre feeling daring, and an egg. Mix all off that together, then slowly toss in Panko untill the mixture starts to tighten up(maybe a cup or 2 depending on how much crab, maybe less)and you can form a ball with out it just falling apart. Wrap, refrigerate for an hour to let it set. Then portion, I like using an icecream scoop, makes doing large batches quick and easy. We served ours with a remoulade, roasted asparagus and whipped potatoes.
Lemon tarts for dessert. This is lengthy process that I'll dedicate a solo post to with a recipe for the crust and the filling.