Farm to the Table – An Evening at Sustain with South Florida Foodies

This past Sunday, my DH (Daring Husband) and I had the chance to meet up with a group of fellow foodies (South Florida Foodies @SFLFoodies) for an evening of local, sustainable fare from Chef Alex at Sustain restaurant + bar in Midtown. All produce for the evening was donated by Swank Farms and the caviar was provided courtesy of Caviar and Caviar.

My DH and I already knew we were in for a treat, having dined at Sustain previously. (see my review on Foodie In Miami)

Luckily, we thought to bring one of the cameras and my DH was able to get quite a few nice shots of the evening’s offerings.

Sustain restaurant + bar
@SFLFoodies Menu

cocktail and bites

‘old smuggler’ aperol/cocchi americano/martin millers gin/orange/blossom water

This cocktail presented an interesting mix of floral/citrus notes. I enjoyed the sweet orange fragrance; my DH not quite as much. He thought the drink was overly floral; I liked that it didn’t taste like straight alcohol or sugar and thought it was the perfect pre-dinner beverage for a warm spring-going-on-summer evening.

‘tanglewood farms’ crispy chicken skins

Ok, so maybe I now have to say I don’t entirely hate chicken skin (after all, I ate it in Vegas without even knowing and again somewhere else very recently with relish), maybe just 95%. This was great–lightly citrusy from a bit of lime zest; lightly spicy from a dusting of unidentifiable heat. Kind of like chicken pork rinds–deep fried and delicious. These were a big hit with the diners, too, and were devoured almost immediately upon being brought out.

fried chickpeas with herb oil

Not as big a hit–the taste was nice, but these were under-crispy (I prefer mine more like corn nuts), almost impossible to eat politely (no chip or spoons were provided for easy scooping) and were on the greasy side. Not the best of the bunch, by far.

‘swank farms’ padron peppers a la plancha

Awesome. I think most people were scared that these would be hot, and I was too at first, but they weren’t at all. Almost sweet, smoky and deeply ‘green’ tasting, this was my favorite appetizer. I could have happily polished off a bowl all by my lonesome.

first course

‘surf + turf’

‘cape cod’ petite oyster/ local lychee jelee/ ‘caviar + caviar’

‘hudson valley foie gras torchon/ challah toast/ local mango jelee

Holy crap, this was great.

Turf: I have had foie in things and on things, and now having had it prepared simply with the mango as a perfect foil for the creamy fattiness, I have to say I now get it. I understand what drives people so crazy about this particular ingredient. Foie is great on a burger or steak and all, but it’s even more amazing on toast. Geese be damned, this was frickin great.

Surf: The oyster was briny and perfect: the caviar was salty and delicate and the lychee gave a silky almost richness that tied the whole bite together perfectly.

I have the sneaking suspicion that the guys at Caviar and Caviar have created a mini-monster. This was the first time my DH had tried caviar as a stand-alone (he ate his separately from the oyster and lychee), and he now can’t stop thinking about it or wait to taste it again. This was also his first raw oyster, and I’m happy to say he enjoyed it quite a lot.

second course

’50 mile salad’ with local heirloom tomatoes/ ‘swank farms’ purslane/ ‘hani’s’ feta/balsamic drizzle

This is not the same 50 mile salad from the menu–this version was tomatoes, tomatoes, more tomatoes, purslane, feta and good quality balsamic. Did I mention tomatoes? I loved the dish–late spring in a bowl–my raw tomato-hating DH, not so much. He gamely ate a portion, but just couldn’t get through a bowl of straight tomatoes, no matter how heirloom in variety they were. I loved them immensly, though a few were a bit under-ripe.

third course

‘swank farms’ eggplant capponata/ sous vide short rib tartare and wasabi foam

This was fantastic. The color of the short rib juxtaposed against it being cooked sous vide was a great contrast. The meat was velvety and soft, looked raw, and tasted of pure heaven. The capponata was a nice touch too, bringing needed sweetness to the dish. The meat when eaten alone was a bit on the peppery side, but when combed with the wasabi (which I think my have been fresh–I got a nice hit of actual horseradish in the back of my mouth) had a great balance. A big hit with the table, too.

**The foam on this dish was not wasabi, it was watercress.**

fourth course

‘4 arrows’ porchetta

What can I say other than holy crap? This was amazing–a thick rind of crispy, crackly pork skin over possible light sausage and a succulent pork loin roast–porky goodness at its finest.

‘tanglewood farms’ fried chicken

Well prepared fried dark meat with honey on the side.

***Can you believe neither of us remembered to take a picture?! I can’t either!!***

‘wet fries’

These are the fries from the menu–fresh french fries slathered in bone marrow gravy– oh yeah, you heard me: bone. marrow. gravy. The gravy gave a nice shellack to the fries, and it was all that I could do not to stick my face into the dish.

‘swank farms’ creamed kale

Decent. I prefer my kale with a little bite to it; this was pretty indistinguishable from spinach. Spinach is great, but I like my kale a bit different from it.

dessert

‘banana split’
1 scoop cookies and cream/1 scoop vanilla/ local apple banana/ housemaid oatmeal & graham cracker crumble/ florida peach compote/ chocolate drizzle/ florida blueberry compote

This was a decent finish. Not my favorite, but I wouldn’t kick it out of bed, and I happily ate every bite. In a slight menu variation, the blueberry was replaced with strawberry and the peach was replaced with I think pineapple, but maybe it was just weird peach on second thought. This was all on some sort of shortbread cookie that looked kind of like a banana peel. Nice, but no foie, caviar, porchetta or wet fries.

All in all we were more than pleased with the meal and appreciated having the opportunity to taste something amazing from a great Chef. My DH and I also enjoyed getting to talk ‘food geek’ with some interesting people and look forward to many more ‘South Florida Foodies’ evenings of gastronomic debauchery to come.