Little, more
Lately, Restaurantarama has noticed a growing interest in the smaller plate. Waning is the era when you’d dig into a platter piled with a pound or more of one entreé. Now—at least at your more trend-conscious eateries—it’s more likely that you’ll order at least two dishes, maybe more, and that they’ll be served in diminutive portions. With willing dining partners, you can sample half a dozen items for only a bit more than you’d pay for that old-fashioned steak or penne vodka.
People used to call this concept “tapas” or “dim sum”—but now that it’s grown beyond those specific ethnic boundaries, “small plates” is the preferred term. Unless you’re at Clifton Inn, that is, where chef Dean Maupin would rather you refer to his new format as a “tasting menu.” The dishes on the new menu, he explained recently as we sampled a few, are meant to fall somewhere between appetizer and entreé.
In any case, the plates themselves aren’t small; they’re dramatic teardrop-shaped affairs at least a foot in length on which Maupin’s creations perch like edible jewels. And shine they do! We started with a hunk of burrata cheese (that’s ricotta with mozzarella wrapped around it) topped with fresh arugula and drizzled with olive oil and aged balsamic. Next up was a tender piece of seared ahi with fresh grated wasabi (Maupin even showed us the actual wasabi root), avocado tempura and a lovely sauce of butter, Sauternes and shallots.
Here (we were sitting at the chef’s table, right there in the kitchen) Maupin took a moment to explain that he means the new menu to be “approachable.” That term applies, it seems, to both diner and chef alike. If you eat at Clifton, you get to combine dishes as you please, and tailor the meal somewhat to your budget. Maupin is even willing to throw off the shackles of culinary convention that say a meal equals protein + starch + vegetable. “There will be no boundaries,” he declares, rather thrillingly.
On to a sweet corn gnudi—which is a ricotta-based puree with parmesan and greens laying atop—then two desserts: cheesecake with a key-lime center and sticky toffee pudding with dolce de leche ice cream. Delicious and artful, every one.
Five courses of this loveliness will set you back $69. It’s certainly not budget dining, but Maupin was at pains to explain that, despite Clifton’s exclusive image, no one should feel embarrassed to try just one or two items. Nor will he balk at an order for three desserts, should some weird mood strike you. In this era of the iPod and niche marketing, such flexibility seems nothing if not timely.
Tealights
We hear from Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar guru Matteus Frankovich that his longtime partner El Duce will soon head for the chillier climes of New York City. We cannot imagine what that major city has to offer that our perfect little town does not, but to each his own. He will, apparently, continue to book musical acts for the teahouse.
In happier news, Frankovich tells us he’s opening a second tea establishment in that other perfect little town, Staunton. It’s to be guided, he says, by the following aesthetic: “More tea, less rock.”
Ready or not
Quick updates on a few stories we’ve covered before: Zydeco, the New Orleans-themed place on the Corner owned by Walter and Alexander Slawski of The Shebeen, is now open. So is Acme Smokehouse and Barbecue Company, the reincarnation, by Christian Trendel, of his former Rivanna Grill on 29N. And old-Charlottesville standby Tiffany’s Seafood will be coming online in its new Seminole Square spot, still under renovation, within a couple of weeks.
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