Hot Dish Review

Some days the best course of action is to disappear. I had a day like that last week, so I went There, where the atmosphere is warm and the liquor is cold.

Proprietor BB offered me a Moscow Mule, made with ginger beer, lime juice, and Russian Standard Vodka, the only potato vodka produced in Russia available in the states. Served in a proper copper mug, it is a refreshing cocktail, albeit an odd choice for me at noon….on a Thursday.

But I wasn’t There to drink, I was There to eat some figs! BB has been up in his fig trees every day gathering the ripe fruit, both black mission and brown turkey. With his harvest he, along with his new chef BT, created several dishes for this late Summer menu, like the fig salad with black peppercorn chevre dressing and the fig creme catalan for dessert. I ended up having both, plus a sampling of rustic squash soup.

The salad was a lovely composition of lightly dressed greens, mostly red oak from There’s garden, puncuated with fresh figs glazed with raisin puree. Pretty. Some chunks of goat cheese in the dressing would have added to the pleasure.

But it was the fig creme catalan served in a tiny Le Creuset casserole dish that really blew me away. Beneath the crunchy layer of torched sugar was a rich vanilla custard studded with sweet poached figs. Creamy, dreamy, decadent. It was a lovely escape, if only for an hour.

305 Brookhaven Avenue 404-949-9677