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Health & Fitness

Sunday Suppers at Butcher's Best

Chef Plum bring wonderful underground dining experiences to Butcher's Best.

The idea of Underground Dining is quite the rage these days.  It's an “alternative” dining experience - almost like a supper club. The idea being that chefs or talented home-cooks put together secret closed-door dining events which are by invitation only.  Word of mouth or social media sites are used to spread the word.  Venues could be the chef’s home or some other location which is not typically a restaurant setting. The concept has fascinated me for quite some time.

I was so excited when I got a tweet from Chef Plum (a local culinary talent) announcing his upcoming underground dining event: “Sunday Suppers at the Butcher’s Best” in Newtown CT.  One look at the menu and I tweeted him back saying that I am SOLD!  

Butcher’s Best is a fabulous, really spacious butcher shop in the heart of Newtown.  They are closed on Sundays, and Chef Plum came up with the brilliant idea to convert the space into a dining venue. 

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Chef Plum.  Yes, thats his name.  He is a really fun-loving guy with a great sense of humor.  An avid football fan with killer cooking skills, he is sure to give you a highly memorable dining experience.  He delights in quality produce and locally sourced ingredients.  On the day of our underground dinner, chef Plum was so excited to have discovered this amazing spinach at Holbrook Farms.  He could not stop talking about it.  He insisted that I taste it when I went to visit him in his kitchen.  The spinach was indeed remarkable.  Buttery soft and very smooth with an easy bite.  Chef Plum decided to showcase the spinach in a salad with candied strawberries, spiced almonds and a vinegar reduction.  The tang of vinegar, the spice of almonds and the sweetness of the strawberries created the most perfect showcase for this buttery, soft spinach.

The first course was a Seared Sashimi Tuna with black garlic and lemon miso rice threads.  The tuna was so fresh and delicious, and that black garlic with a decadent aroma was even more fabulous to taste.  For second course we had Pork Balls which was pork belly with pickled ginger green rice (yup! green rice) and a sweet and sour green onion sauce with red chili.  This was a delicious dish inspired by asian flavors. The spinach salad was our third course. Then we enjoyed a Smoked Pacific Salmon with fried watermelon, pickled rind, dill fronds and parsnip puree.  As I savored each course, it struck me that Chef Plum manages to introduce unique cooking techniques and flavor-rich ingredients to delight as well as surprise the diner at every turn.  My favorite course was Lamb Lollipops with mint pesto, roasted asparagus and poached pepper.  Everyone at our table could not resist putting our cutlery down and simply picking up the lamb lollipop with our hands to make sure we get every morsel of tender meat off the bone and into our mouths.  Yeah!  that good.  :-)

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The dessert course was mind-blowingly delish!   A simple concept with and execution that made you want to keep on eating.  It was a grilled cheese sandwich made with pound cake, filled with mascarpone and a side of apple confit and Baileys cream.   I cannot tell you how incredible this was.  An amazing balance of soft and crunchy textures as well as sweet and tart flavors.  The grilled pound cake made us feel totally sinful but the light and creamy mascarpone filling took us straight to heaven!

Chef Plum, a CIA graduate and owner of Plum-Luv-Foods, has over 18 years of experience as a chef.  He has featured on ABC’s The Taste, Better Connecticut as well as on The Food Network.  If you google him you will find tons of his cooking videos on YouTube.  And you may just find yourself totally enamored by his sunny personality and superior cooking talent. :-)  The only way to enjoy his culinary skills in real life, however, is to join him on his special dining events.  He is currently coordinating a wonderful event in New York called the Gridiron Chef.  Its a cook-off between New York Giant’s Stevie Brown and Washington Redskin’s Rob Jackson.  The event will benefit Sandy Hook Promise.  Check out his website for details.

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