de Porres Dinner Series

Amitha attended a supper club a few months ago named de Porres Dinner Series, and had a great time. She received an invite for December and let me know that she had already gotten me a ticket since she knew I would love this kind of food experience. The dinner series are held about once a month, normally at a historic mansion in Brooklyn, but this time, the December series was held at the home of the hosts and chef, Danielle and Pablo. 

As soon as I arrived, Danielle poured me a glass of bubbles to get started. I introduced myself to my fellow guests. It turns out that most of my dining companions had attended a de Porres dinner series before and had come back for more - so I was even more excited for what was in store!

                   

For our first course, we were given oysters on a shell, served with caviar and a vinegar pearls.

                   

My first oyster of the night topped with some vinegar pearls.

                   

I had never heard of vinegar pearls before, and I think it is a modern twist on mignonette that you would normally serve with oysters. This is why I love attending supper clubs and things like this - I am always introduced to something new and tasty!

                   

Our second course was a duck confit croqueta served with an aioli-like sauce.

                  

Our third course was something I'd also never tried or heard of before. It was a dish named Bacalao Causa, a potato salad that was served with beets and horseradish. You can also see below some dill on top - I thought this was an interesting garnish - I usually find dill paired with Scandinavian dishes, and I'm normally not a fan of dill, but it worked really well with here!

We were then served a toasty warm celeriac root soup, stopped with pomegranates. At some point in the night, we were also served my new favorite wine, Tokaji!

AHHHhhhhh. Now for my favorite part. Pablo prepared a fantastic lomo saltado served with yuca fries. Lomo Saltado is a dish of Chifa orgin. Chifa is a food type that originates from Peru. Back in the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants were brought to Peru as laborers, and created their native dishes using Peruvian ingredients. I remember seeing a lot of these restaurants when Becca and I were briefly in Lima!

I know I say this with every post about medium rare steak, but, seriously, why is this so delicious? As I mentioned in my New Year's post, mastering a medium rare steak will be my culinary resolution for the year.

                   

And last but not least, Danielle prepared alfajores for dessert. Not just any alfajore! The chocolate ones you see below were prepared with chicory coffee ganache. Yes, as in chicory coffee that is famous in NOLA! Wow! 

                  

And this alfajore was prepped with a meyer lemon curd. The cookie part of the alfajores were almost like a short bread - so light and delicious I surely could have eaten the entire plate.                 

                 

It was kind of cool how the various elements of the dinner tied back to different travels or experiences I have had: the tokaji wine, which I most recently had in Paris and loved, the chicory chocolate ganache, reminiscent of when I was in NOLA earlier this year, Chifa, and alfajores, since I will be in Buenos Aires at the beginning of 2014. 

Pablo and Danielle will be moving to LA next year, but will have a few more supper clubs before they leave. I enjoyed this dinner as we got to mingle with some new foodie friends in a much more intimate setting than any restaurant could provide. 

If you are interested in attending one, see their website here!