Raw Almond 2016 - An American Ensemble of Delicious

I write this post with the utmost enthusiasm and renewed optimism for the already excellent food scene in Winnipeg. Raw Almond is the culmination of all things to like in regards to the city's food. The vision is simple: create a pop-up where food lovers can coalesce, give chefs a clean canvas to make unique and novel food creations and see it explode into a food movement that the entire country is talking about. And while there are development hiccups in Raw Almond this year it still delivers on that vision and can only be described as a resounding success.

My third ... I know it has been excessive ... meal on the ice was a culmination of chefs including Richie Nakano, a popular chef in the San Francisco Bay Area known for his take on upscale ramen, BJ Smith, owner of a modern Oregon smokehouse; Dan Geltner, a Montreal chef known for his Asian fusion cuisine; Ryan Lachaine and Karen Man, head chef at the vegetarian-centric Oxheart in Houston Texas. As the first meal at Raw Almond with an ensemble cast, the interplay between the dishes intrigued me with each chef having a entirely different repertoire and style of food. And really I viewed it as an opportunity to taste each chef's menu without having to travel all across America.

Chef Richie Nakano explained this Chicken Broth dish simply as a simple starter to warm up the soul on a cold winter night. And while I completely agree about the soul warming part, there is nothing simple about this soup. The end product of a full days' work of boiling and rendering chicken, the soup has taken up all the inherent flavour of the meat to create a thin but rich soup that is salty, slightly sweet and extraordinarily aromatic. A perfect starter to the meal.

The second creation of Chef Nakano was a Bison Tartare. Manitoba is blessed to have a rich supply of bison meat which is best described as as meatier and slightly chewier than similar cuts of beef. It works excellently as a tartare with each small cube of meat perfectly seasoned and mixed in with tiny bits of celery and onions. The meat is nicely contrasted with a delightfully creamy sea urchin (uni) that has a slightly underlying sweetness. Masking all that protein is a potato chip and fresh amaranth leaves that supply a strong earthy flavour and a crisp potato chip, the vehicle for the entire dish.

Chawanmushi is a Japanese egg steamed custard often filled with a variety of vegetables and meats. Chef Nakano delivers a unique and upscale version here with black cod, scallions, salsa verde and fresh trout roe. The custard itself was perfectly cooked and refreshingly light and while, by itself, is relatively bland it mixes well with the spiciness of the salsa, saltiness of the roe and freshness of the scallions. The black cod pieces add a nice textural and proteinaceous contrast to the dish.

The next few dishes came out in a dizzy. Meant to be shared family style, this tart was meant to accompany the bison dish (see below). Yet by itself this Roasted Vegetable Tart was excellent as well. Phyllo dough is arranged similarly to a pizza and topped with beets and thinly shaved carrots. Crispy and crunchy interplay beautifully here with the roasted phyllo supplying the former and aromatic roasted beets the latter. Acting as the "sauce" for the tart, the roasted beets also imparted a wonderful sweetness to the entire dish.

Another accompaniment to the bison was Kimchi and Lettuce. This was perhaps the most simple and uninteresting of the entire meal. Wanting to give a Korean-esque kick to the dish I commend the use of fresh and spicy Kimchi and loved how its flavours played well with those in the bison. Yet we were expected to use the lettuce as a "wrapper" for the meat, but it calm wilted and too small to wrap anything within it.

To be completely frank I started losing track of the dishes at this time. I recall this as Roasted Parsnips and loved the contrast of the roasted tender vegetables with the crunchy seaweed and the slightly salty roe on top. The sauce is a creamy avocado-esque that worked well to bring all aspects of the dish together.

The mainstay of the course was Bison Three Ways. The picture does not do the dish justice as what seemed like an entire bison made its way around Raw Almond. The smell of the bison was incredible with its aromas wafting all the way through and permeating the restaurant. The three cuts of bison were as thus. First off, large Bison Ribs were served bone-in and finished with a sweet BBQ sauce. Immensely fall off the bone tender, the ribs were meaty and had just a hint of sweetness and char from the caramelized sauce. Secondly, rounds of Bison Sirloin were cooked medium rare and served with charred scallions. The appearance is simple but the meat was expertly cooked to become devoid of any gamey-ness but still retained the juiciness and richness of the meat. I found it best served with the Kimchi above as the vegetable gave it a nice spicy kick to the meat. Lastly, a large serving of Pulled Bison (think pulled pork) rounded out our feast. Unfortunately the meat was overcooked and bordered on being so dry it was missing any flavour. And while by itself the meat is not bad, it paled in comparison to the other two options given.

Chef Karen served the dessert consisting of a Chocolate Ganache topped with a whipped sour cream, puffed wheat and preserved blueberries. I loved the creamy ganache with the airy whipped cream while contrasting the crunch of the wheat and burst of berry flavour. Nothing overpowered any other aspect of the dish and it worked well as a not-too-sweet finishing to the huge savoury meal.

There is no amount of adjectives that can properly describe Raw Almond. I have to commend each chef working tonight as the ensemble cast worked well together to create a cohesive theme for the night, despite their wide and varied styles of food. And ultimately that is what Raw Almond is about, giving fantastic chefs the opportunity to create and hungry diners a chance to be wowed.