Thought for Food

Anything but böring

Ty-Lör Boring put on quite a show at City Grit last night. Befitting a man raised in Manhattan with a Japanese nanny and the kind of parents who come up with a name like Ty-Lör, his meal was herbaceous, thoughtful, worldly … and way too light for the amount of wine I was drinking. Oy. 

He began with the dish that won the Modernist Cuisine Quickfire challenge: compressed watermelon with vanilla-honey syrup, olive oil and saffron powder, and telecherry reduction. (Imagine me eating it seductively, like Padma.) Could have done without the vanilla, but still, a winning dish.

Ty-Lör talking to the crowd.

Sea bass crudo with oyster coriander puree, fried curryleaf, corn starts, and smoked Maldon sea salt.

Buckwheat noodles with cherrystone crowns (the best part of the clam) and turmeric prik nam pla, lacinato kale, and a smattering of miso panko. I really loved this course — terrific balance of flavors and textures.

Golden tilefish with lapsang dashi, hon shimeji mushrooms, black radish, and schmaltz, which I just learned is a Yiddish term for chicken fat (“you live in New York and you don’t know what schmaltz is?” M. asked me. Well I do now.).

Pandan chocolate financier with mango juniper curd, candied coconut, and kaffir lime spuma. I dare say: a perfect dessert.

After dessert, they gave us little bags of popcorn flavored with truffle, saffron, vanilla bean, espelette pepper — all flavors we had in the meal. Ty-Lor explained it was his homage to the power of taste memory (the idea being we would eat it later or the next day, and reflect). I was just grateful for the extra food! I didn’t even stop to take a picture — my bag was empty before we even got the check. No shame.