Vincent - Tasting Collective Dinner

 

About 8 years ago, a restaurant specializing in Belgian food, Vincent, was born.  When I heard about it, something that was pretty easy because it got a lot of buzz, I thought it was named after Vincent Van Gogh.  This is actually kind of funny, because Van Gogh was Dutch and not Belgian, so there isn't much reason to name a Belgian restaurant after him.  FYI, the restaurant was apparently named after the owner's dog.  After a time, the buzz died down and I actually thought that it closed.  This disappointed me a little because I had actually wanted to go there.  I was surprised, then, to receive an email inviting me to a Tasting Collective Group Dinner at Vincent.  I was excited to see that it was still open and quickly signed up for a dinner.  Located on a side street and not on a corner in Edgewater/Andersonville, it's kind of off the beaten path, but it easy to find.  I discovered quickly that while it is still a bistro, it no longer specializes in Belgian food, though there is a definite northern European spin on what they serve.  The space is small and intimate with hardwood floors and divided into two rooms.  The room in which you walk is dark and very much more old school European.  This room has the host station and the bar in the back and it looks very cozy.  The main dining room, where I dined was also small, with seating for about 60 people.  It was had high ceilings, mismatched hanging lights and some interesting wall art.  One wall was covered in hanging mirrors, but the main event in the room was the wall hanging above the table at which I sat.  There was a sculpture that looks like like a deer head hanging on the wall, except that no animal has anything to do with it.  The form of the head is wrapped in gold foil, the hardwood frame looks like painted cloth, and the large antlers, which take up a large amount of air space are made of flowering tree branches.  The restaurant has a curated list of cocktails and beer, with a slightly longer list of wines.  Because Tasting Collective is a large group, when a dinner is planned, we will take over the restaurant, so the available drinks are curated even more.  While I will generally lean toward gin drinks, I will look to see what drink sounds most interesting to me.  There was a Mezcal drink on the menu that interested me, though it sounded very much like a drink that I had had recently, so I decided to go with the gin drink that they had on the menu.  Called Sneaky Peach it was sweet, had a  strong peach flavor and was made with Broker's Gin, Cynar, Peach, Raw Ginger, Lemon, Mint, and Soda.  While the peach flavor was strong, there was enough cool spice from the ginger and mint to make it more than a one dimensional drink.  It was pretty good despite being a little sweeter than drinks that I normally go for.

Tasting Collective dinners are made slightly easier for the kitchen by being served family style with each plate serving three or four people.  We quickly learned that that the kitchen had gone into "overwhelm" mode as the course sizes were enormous.  For our first course, we were served a heaping salad with Bitter Greens, Pickled Beets, and Apricot Dressing.  It also tasted as if Walnuts were used, though they were not mentioned on the menu and I did not bite into one.  I am generally not a huge salad fan, but the beets and the apricot dressing helped give it some flavor.  While it was just a salad, it was a pretty good salad.

Our next course was a favorite of mine, Blistered Shishito Peppers, which we were again served a large amount.  Shishito Peppers are interesting in that, for the most part, they are very mild, however, about 1 in 10 have enough spice to give you a surprise while eating it.  It doesn't reach any level that you might call hot, but it is a surprise when wolfing down peppers that have no burn at all to encounter one that has a slight burn.  While the majority of the peppers were not hot, I was surprised with two, one of which was the first one that I ate.  The spiciness of the dish was augmented by Togarashi dressing which added a slight bite to everything.  While there was a slight bite from the Togarashi, you could tell when you encountered a spicy pepper, because the togasrashi remained on the outside, and with the pepper, there was a slight delay from the spicy bite.  These were very good and I probably ate more than my fair share, but my dining partners were all slightly spice-phobic, so the fact that I was happy to eat them was fine with them.

Our third course was melon, and while I am a little leery when I see melon on a menu because I dislike cantaloupe, I will still eat it.  This melon was not cantaloupe and I am not actually sure what kind of melon it was, but it was good.  The Fresh Melon was served with Burrata, Chia Seeds, and Edible Flowers.  The fruit of the melon was slightly sweet, but it was seasoned with salt and a something like paprika.  The burrata was light and creamy and the chia seeds interestingly gelled together.  It all provided an interesting combination of flavors and textures and I enjoyed it.

For our next course, I wish I had known ahead of time that I could have asked for a leftover box because we were again overwhelmed.  It was our one pasta course and it was again served in a huge size.  Called Poblanos Pappardelle, it started, obviously with Pappardelle Pasta which was served with Summer Squash, Poblano Peppers, Zucchini, and Tomato Aubergine (Eggplant) Sauce.  It was very fresh,  had a lot of flavor, and we unfortunately sent much of it back because there was a lot left to eat and we were starting to get full.

 

On our menu, the last item, the pappardelle, and the next item, Charcuterie were switched, but the chef made a game day call to switch them because he thought that serving three entrees in a row would overwhelm the diners even more than he was doing with the large serving sizes.  As it was, with the amount and different types of charcuterie we were served, we were still overwhelmed.  We were served Chicken Liver Mouse, Pate, and a Terrine with Tomatillo Jam and a large amount of Toast made from Housemade Bread.  It was all good, though I think that I liked the Terrine on Toast with Tomatillo Dressing best.

And then came the whole fish.  We were served a whole Roasted Branzino which was served with Mussels.  When it came out, many of the diners, myself included, puzzled as to how we would attach the fish.  The Mussels would be very easy, but no one was looking forward to fileting a fish for a group.  Luckily we didn't have to worry about it for long because one of the servers came over with a very sharp knife and removed the head, opened the skin, and removed the bones.  The flesh inside was very tender and flavorful and the mussels and broth complemented it very well.  This whole fish was shared among four of us and while we did eat most of it, there was still a significant portion left over.  While it was good though, I would not take fish home.

With the last savory course, I hit the wall and needed a box.  We were served a Roasted Rack of Lamb with Licorice Gastrique and Roasted Turnips.  It was divided into four, but my dining partners were also feeling pretty full and while I took a few bites, I ended up taking much of the plate home as my dining partners were not interested in taking home a box.  It was tender and very flavorful and the turnips were also very good.  I enjoyed it at the restaurant and then for a later meal.

While I probably could have eaten all of my lamb, when I got to dessert, I would have then been very uncomfortable.  As it was, I ended up full, but I was going to be able to handle dessert without much discomfort.  We were served Panna Cotta with Fresh Cheese and Peaches.  The Panna Cotta was fairly standard and maybe even a little boring, but with the fresh cheese, some salt, and the peaches, it bumped it up and made for a very good finish.  I really liked the food here and will have to return to try more and also to compare to see if their normal serving size is extra.