As I mentioned a while back, we went to Studio Kitchen a couple of weeks ago. On the drive across town, I was trying to figure out exactly how many times I have been to Studio Kitchen–and I believe I have been fortunate enough to have five meals with Shola (although I am very bad at math, so…).

Let me back up. Both of you reading this might not be familiar with Shola but I will not go into his somewhat ‘controversial’ past here. The premiss is rather simple and straightforward, yet unique (notice I did not say ‘very’ or ‘quite’ unique–unique is unique people, no need for a qualifying adjective) as far as I can tell: Shola cooks dinner for you and 8-10 of your closest friends in his apartment. It is not all that ‘inexpensive’ by most measures, but each time I have attended, the meal has been fantastic and well worth the expense.

This time around, we had arranged the dinner for friends that were visiting from France and really wanted to go. In the end, they could not make it, so we quickly found some substitutes and were ready to roll. The day before the dinner, I got a brief planned menu in order to help us plan the wine pairings a bit:

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup. Prune . Chicken . Earl Grey Tea

Fluke . Radishes . Fall Apples . Citrus Vinaigrette

Butterut Squash Agnolotti . Nantucket Bay Scallops . Sage . Porcini Mushroom

Braised Halibut . Sweet Miso . Sherry Vinegar . Tomato Condiment

Anise Scented Duckling Breast . Quince . Cauliflower Butter

Almond Financier . Banana Caramel Sorbet . Maple . Olive

I figured on some Champagne to start, followed by a few whites, a medium red (Pinot Noir) and then a bigger red for the duck. I know–I am ‘oh so creative’. When we got there, Shola told us that he needed to change the individual ingredients up a bit so it was not exactly as stated above. If I were a blogger that was primarily interested in accuracy, I should have duly noted the changes and indicated them here. We all know that I could not give a Honey Badger about accuracy when I am getting my drink on (which was certainly the case).

Let’s get straight to it.

As is my wont, we started off with a couple bottles of Champagne: A N.V. Montaudon (which used to be one of the better deals in Champagne, but has since raised their prices up to most N.V. Bruts) and a 2002 Vintage Montaudon. It was not a fair fight.

First Course:

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup. Prune . Chicken . Earl Grey Tea

The second course ended up being my wife’s favorite and interestingly, perhaps my least favorite. This is more a testament to Shola’s creativity and ability than to the disparity between my wife’s preferences and my own (although clearly she has some issues–look whom she married).

Fluke . Radishes . Fall Apples . Citrus Vinaigrette

I realized after we got home that I did not remember to take photos of all the wine pairings, making me somewhat of a disgrace to the wine blogging/food porn community, but I guess that is a cross that I will have to bear. I did get a shot of the Babcock Chardonnay which caused me to recall the time I have spent down in Santa Barbara County, hitting the wine trail (I would normally make some sort of reference to the movie Sideways here, but that has become cliché–I am also reading the sequel, Vertical right now and I am not quite sure I like it yet).

This third course was likely my overall winner (but everything was really top-notch) since it had all the flavors that pair so nicely with Pinot Noir (but I have no shot of the wine–there goes being chosen for ‘Freshly Pressed’).

Butterut Squash Agnolotti . Nantucket Bay Scallops . Sage . Porcini Mushroom

Here is one of the changes I was actually able to pick up–he swapped out the halibut for salmon. I could tell because halibut is white and salmon is not.

They do not give out Ph.D.s to just anybody…

Salmon . Sweet Miso . Sherry Vinegar . Tomato Condiment

The duck course paired very well with the Cabernets that were brought along for the fowl’s sacrifice. The duck was exquisite and came in a close second for my dish of the night.

Anise Scented Duckling Breast . Quince . Cauliflower Butter

Lastly, came dessert for which Shola broke out one of his toys which lead to a cacophony of oohs and ahs.  Here he varied quite a bit from the script and produced some of the best ice cream that I have had in a while.

Quite the remarkable evening.  Thanks to everyone who came!