7/30/2010 Poppy

poppy opened a couple years ago, give or take a couple months. we visited with a couple friends in it's 2nd month i think it was. the point i'm trying to make is it was before i started to keep track of what i ate and where. i wish i had been. there's 1 memory i'll never forget, and i want to share it with you now.

Chef Traunfeld had been the executive chef at the Herbfarm for a long time and he decided to open his own place. 1 of the items on the Thali was a curried cabbage. i hate cabbage. i have never liked it. this was fantastic! it was wilty like overcooked cabbage, but it didn't taste like overcooked cabbage! and it had a kick you didn't expect. about half-way through the meal chef came over to our table and said hello. of course we talked about the food. Chef asked us what we thought about the cabbage, and when we told him it was great he says to us "yeah, it tastes a lot better than it looks, doesn't it?" it's not often one hears a chef say these words, i think.

the back of poppy has a few tables in the herb garden but it was too hot for us to eat outside.

left: bada bing; middle: artifizz; right: lemon verbena drop

to start:

batata wada (potato fritters) with cilantro lime sauce

the sauce makes the fritters. don't even try them without the sauce.

spice crispies

this is a mix of cashews, sesame seeds, puffed rice, fennel seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, golden raisins and perhaps a few other things.

it's not my thing, but all those parties where trail mixes are served - i never have eaten any. at least this does have a spice kick that most of those others don't have.

eggplant fries with sea salt and honey

you may have had fried zucchini at your local eatery but you've never had it like this. the batter is so light and the honey just adds that sweetness you don't get any other way, YUM! i could make a meal of these.

we all had the 10 item thali only i substituted the salmon for scallops

that's my plate. 

alaskan king salmon with pinot noir sauce, sea beans and bacon

beet soup with coriander and yogurt

chilled and really sweet. there was no dirt flavor which often follows beet dishes. 

zucchini basil gratin

this was really good. the zucchini was very finely shaved, not like a lot of eggplant casseroles you are probably used to. it was yummy

snap peas with creamed leeks and lemon thyme

cauliflower with sesame and dill

apricot-currant pickle

heirloom tomato, leek, and taggia olive salad

well, i just went and praised the tomatoes in the last post but this dish for me was a bit sour. that's the best i can describe it. i think it was the olives. maybe if they hadn't been a part of it i would've like it..?

radish, grilled spring onion and purslane salad.

grilled wagyu coulotte steak with red pepper walnut sauce

the walnut sauce was fantastic. i thought it made the dish

qualicum scallops with carrot sauce and fennel-shiso salad

they looked so good and i took a big bite and ... the scallops were not hot. now as it turns out i don't think they were meant to be served hot. they weren't cold. they were cooked, just served warm. they were pretty good i just had a little shock and i think that kind of turned me off them a little bit. 

to finish:

goat cheese pudding with raspberries and mint

divine, that's all i can say. i prefer the grapefruit over the raspberries. chef cree, would you please teach me how to make this?