I had a big birthday this year and Tammy surprised me with a number of things, including a very cool dinner at Heidi’s at their special Chef’s Table. We got to enjoy 13 individual courses of vegetarian delights! First a few pictures from the evening. It was a great time!

The menu was designed by Chef Stewart Woodman, aka Shefzilla. The service was led by one of the sous chefs. It was great fun to be in the kitchen, although predictably a little hot. 🙂

Now, to dinner…

The Bennie

This is an item that is on Heidi’s normal menu. It is an eggless eggs benedict with huitlacoche, also known as corn smut. It was a very nice start to the meal with great flavors and textures.

Ranch Salad

This salad was really fun and surprising. The thing that looked like an olive was actually a dwarf peach with really interesting flavors.

Beet Sorbet

I like beets a lot! It was really cool to have an entire course of beets with all being so different. Their was a beet gel that had great flavor. In the middle of the plate was the beet sorbet, yes, beet sorbet. I wasn’t so sure about the sorbet flavors but it was really fun.

Potato Sphere

The potato sphere was one of the stranger items and I can’t even imagine how they made it. It was served with a wasabi sauce and the thinnest of shoe string potatoes on top. The potato sphere itself was the smoothest and creamiest potato thing I’ve ever tasted, and then it was prepared in a chemical bath of some sort and topped with an edible flower.

This was maybe the most intriguing dish to me.

Squash Soup

This soup was delicious. It was crazy smooth with great flavors. I wonder if it was strained or something because it was “more than pureed”. Yum!

Apple Granité

This was the intermezzo in the meal and described as the “tribute to America”, playing off of Apple Pie with a slice of American cheese on top. It had a smear of pine cone honey on top as well. The cheese was heated ever so slightly. I liked it, but Tammy refused to eat it on the basis of not touching American cheese.

Black Truffle Pappadelle

This was a delicious pasta course with great truffle flavors. The pasta was incredibly thin and delicate.

Papaya Salad Pappadam

I’m not a big fan of pappadam, but this course was really good and I think this is the right way to use pappadam.

Celery Root & Lentil Crêpe

This dainty course had great flavors. The celery root was subtle but very good. Beautiful on the plate.

House Made Tofu

The tofu was likely my favorite course of the evening. Heidi’s makes their own tofu and it is noticeably better than what we typically get at the store. This was delicious and the only thing I would have done is add more peppers to it.

Cassoulet'

The final savory course was a delicious cassoulet with giant, tasty lima beans.

Nitro Mousse

This mousse is a signature dessert at Heidi’s and they bring out the liquid nitrogen to make it. It was fun to see them making it with the characteristic fog of the liquid nitrogen flowing around the plates. Delicious as well. The peanut powder is the winning touch on this one.

Sassafras Lollipop

The final “course” is the sassafras lollipop made by Heidi herself. A lot of people at our table it turns out were not huge fans of sassafras, but it was a nice way to finish the evening with the commemorative menu from the evening attached. A very nice touch!