Chef Richard Triptow is offering a six-course kaiseki menu at Dallas Fish Market on July 19. It’s the first time I’ve seen a local chef riff on this particular form of highly codified Japanese dining, which takes inspiration from the seasons and incorporates into its gorgeously simple-elegant dishes ornaments of leaf, twig, flower.
Triptow, who has been interested in the culinary form for a while, was spurred by a recent trip to Japan, where, in Kyoto, the cradle of the most refined kaiseki tradition, he dined on one particular spring-inspired kaiseki meal that stunned him. “It intrigued me so much, the culture, the meticulous craftsmanship and all the beauty that went into each dish and course,” he says. That meal is the basis for his one-day menu.
The very fact that the chef is doing it is interesting; monthly tastings at Dallas Fish Market tend towards the oysters and martinis, sushi and sake, bubbly and caviar.
In its original form, kaiseki involves a 13-course meal that proceeds in highly codified stages. Triptow’s abridged version is half that length, each course accompanied by a sake pairing. He begins with umeboshi (pickled plums) with yellowfin tuna and uplands cress.
Clearly, effort is going into the sourcing. I’m intrigued by the salted begonia leaf and basil blossoms that accompany the sake-steamed tilefish. Also the Japanese pepper leaf buds and bamboo leaf that accompany ahi tuna in the “hassun” course, which is often the most eloquent expression of the season in a kaiseki line-up and might traditionally blend ingredients from mountain and sea. Other courses include yakimono of grilled tofu and fish.
“I was there in April in the peak of cherry blossom season,” says Triptow. Hence the fifth course: cherry-smoked salmon as homage.
Eschewing clean, modern, minimalist lines, Triptow is also going for some more traditional plating. For the second course, he explains on the phone, each table will have delivered to it fish wrapped in sushi rice, bound in an ornamental bundle that must then be untied. It’s all an evocation of what he experienced in Japan’s Old City. “The presentations were just…” he says, searching for words. “Everything was just so beautiful.”
From the press release:
WHAT
KAISEKI
A premier culinary event of fine-ingredient Japanese-inspired dishes paired with select and delightful sakes.
This elevated dining event honors a Japanese tradition of great cuisine prepared with careful attention to the beautiful balance of taste, texture, presentation and color. Courses on Chef Triptow’s menu also represent a months of the spring and summer seasons.
Chef Triptow’s menu includes the following six courses:
ICHI
Umeboshi pickled plum, yellowfin ahi, toasted ground sesame, upland cress
Hakutsuru Awa Yuki Sparkling
NI
Sake Steamed Wakasa Tilefish salted begonia leaf, ground glutinous rice, ginger juice, basil blossoms, babu arare
Ozeki Platinum Junmai
SAN
May Hassun chimaki- zushi (sushi rice/ glutinous rice) ahi tuna, Japanese pepper leaf buds, bamboo leaf
Ozeki Karatamba Hojozo
SHI
April Yakimono broiled tofu, egg sauce, tangerine lace
Kasumi Tsuru Kimoto Extra Dry
GO
March Yakimono cherry salmon, miso marinade then cherry smoked, mint blossoms
Yoshinogawa Winter Warrior
ROKU
Crispy Rice Pudding sushi rice, dried blueberries, gingered carrot coulis, carrot sorbet
Murai Nigori Genshu
WHEN
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE
Dallas Fish Market
1501 Main Street (Main and Akard)
Downtown Dallas
$60 per person.
Reservations required. (Click here for link.)
