I was lucky enough to be invited to a tasting of EDGE’s new Spring menu. SPOILER ALERT: Everything was really freaking good. We started out tasting four appetizers, arranged artfully on four miniature plates. My favorite was the Ahi Tuna tartare. I hate it when people put a bunch of stuff other than meat in their tartare, but this was perfect. Like a pile of little translucent red gems, each bite was better than the one before it. The chef had drizzled a little lemon-ginger vinaigrette on top, and I detected just a hint of cilantro. The black pepper crostini that accompanied it complimented the flavors well, but I felt like the crunchy texture of the crostini was a bit distracting. I also got to try their melon mache and prosciutto salad, which had a perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors. The crispy pork belly with baby root vegetables was quite good, but didn’t make my mouth as happy as the others. Last, the spring onion soup (pictured on the left) with goat cheese bruschetta and duck confit on crostini was excellent. I must admit that I missed the usual mass of gooey cheese atop the soup, but the goat cheese and duck confit more than made up for it.
For the main course we got to sample two entrées, pan seared halibut (upper left) and Colorado lamb (lower left). The halibut was flaky, moist and delicate. Instead of a heavy sauce which might have obscured the subtle qualities of the fish, it was seasoned with a light lemon broth. It was accompanied by tender, just slightly bitter citrus braised fennel and some sweet baby carrots (lower right). The fish was very very good, but the lamb was my favorite. That’s not the halibut’s fault, lamb has long held a place in my heart as my preferred form of protein. It was cooked to perfection: medium rare, yielding gracefully to the knife. Topped with pea-stuffed morels and a little jus, it was the best of the best. I only wish I’d gotten more. The minted spring potatoes (upper right) it came with were pureed and looked mundane, but I had never had anything like them. Mint is a perfect companion to lamb, as we all know, but I loved it on top of the creamy spring potatoes. Bravo to executive chef Simon Purvis!
Dessert made me feel like a king. The chef created a de-constructed bananas foster for us. On the bottom is a rum babka, topped with banana semifreddo. Leaning against it is a roll of ice cream sandwiched between two thin boards of EDGE dark chocolate. Toffee sauce provides the mortar for this edible and artistic edifice. And did you notice the gold flecks on the semifreddo? Nothing says luxury like edible gold flakes. I’m a food mixer (I like to have a little of everything on each forkful), and I loved building each bite from the components on the plate: a little more babka in this bite, more of the EDGE stick in that one. Bananas foster never looked so good.
Out with the old, in with the new. Come do some Spring cleaning (of your plate) at EDGE.