Stepping Up To The Big Time

The thing that I referred to in a comment in the last post has finally happened. Finally, after two years of talking about it, the opportunity arose for me to go to Sanford.

Located just north of downtown Milwaukee, Sanford has been around since 1989 and is largely considered to be one of the best restaurants in the country. The chef, Sanford D'Amato, has won several culinary awards including a James Beard award, and is probably Milwaukee's most well-known chef. He also writes a weekly column for the local paper, of which I am an avid reader.

But enough free advertising, on to the food.

We were able to talk my friend's wife into getting the chef's choice tasting menu, which the whole table needs to order if you want to get it for obvious reasons. We also decided to leave the wine in the hands of the experts, and added the pairings to our meal. I will try to remember everything as best I can, but I'm pretty sure I will miss some details.

First came the amuse-bouche, basically a small bite to wake up your palate. It was a cherry gel with grilled scallions and either creme friache or whipped cream. It had a very intense flavor, and at first I wasn't sure the combination of cherries and onions was going to work, but as it came together in my mouth, somehow the flavors blended into something very pleasant. I can't really describe it.

Next came soup, roasted parsnip soup to be more specific. It came garnished with chantrelle mushrooms and truffle brown butter. Rich and delicious. It was paired with a very interesting California chardonnay.

The next plate that came out had a beautifully cooked piece of wild striped bass with apple, marinated beetroot, frisee?, and topped with a dollop of smoked trout mousse. This was probably my favorite dish just due to the complexity. There were so many things going on and I enjoyed every one of them. It was paired with a french white wine, I think I heard montrachet in the description but I'm not 100% sure.

Next came grilled shrimp with kohlrabi and tarragon mashed potatoes, topped with a rich red wine sauce. I haven't had kohlrabi since I was a kid, my neighbor used to grow it in his garden. Anyways, two perfectly grilled shimp came on a bed of the potatoes, flanked by bits of kohlrabi and drizzled with the sauce. The wine with this course was the most interesting wine I have ever had. It was slightly sweet, and tasted like flowers. I can think of no other way to describe it than drinking flowers.

Fish courses now over, on came the meat. Pork shoulder with escarole and burnt orange sauce, paired with a very full bodied Spanish wine. This was excellent, tender, rich pork shoulder was complementied by the caramelized orange flavor. The wine was very old-world with a lot of spice and tannnins.

More meat, a roasted (or maybe grilled) loin of New Zealand elk, with I believe some sort of persimmon reduction and pomegranate. Things are getting hazy at this point, so many delicious things on top of one another cloud the memory. This was the first time I ever tasted elk. It was lean and a little minerally, which is a common flavor with the game animals, and went well with the sweet sauces and big fruit zinfandel it was paired with.

Coming back down now. The next plate was an arrangement of spiced mascarpone cheese, candied walnut, pear, and pear sorbet. While everything on this plate was great, the mascarpone was my favorite, kind of like a cinnamon infused cream cheese.

And finally, a cherry tart with cherry sauce and some cherry ice cream. The ice cream was in a tiny cone shaped wafer and there was whipped cream on the side. As I described it to my friend, it was like 'here are three things we can do with cherries, and they're all awesome'. It was paired with an Italian (I think) sparkling wine that was very similar in flavor to the flower wine I described earlier.

I am exhausted just trying to remember all of this.

We had coffee after dinner, and they brought out a few bite sized treats with the bill, some kind of caramel pecan turtle type thing, chocolate biscotti, and shortbread.

I'm sure my description of this meal doesn't do it justice. Probably the most exciting thing for me was that until they brought it out, you had no idea what was coming next.

If you are going to try dining here or at a place like it (and I do recommend it) there are some things you should consider.

First of all, it isn't cheap. With tax and tip, our bill came to around $160 per person. But with that extra expense you get world class food, from world class cooks, and world class service. We got new silverware with each course! What I'm saying is I have no buyers remorse. Other than those who were at the restaurant, how many people in Milwaukee ate better than me last night, in Wisconsin even? I'm guessing few, if any. Plus you get to try things you just aren't going to get anywhere else, New Zealand elk and truffle brown butter come to mind. I certainly cannot afford to be a Sanford 'regular', but I think I will try to stop in at least once per year.

Secondly, and this kind of goes with the last thing, dinner is an experience. This isn't like Applebees where you get your entree knocked out in 45 minutes. We were there for a full two and a half hours.

Finally I should point out that the courses I described above were not a full plate of food. Each plate could probably be knocked out in 10 bites or less, although I cut everything up really small so I could take tiny bites and savor. Despite the smallness of each individual thing, you do end up with a very satisfying meal, I was good and full at the end.

Well that about wraps it up. This has been something I looked forward to for a long time, and I was not dissapointed. If you feel the need to splurge on yourself or want to try something different, seek out Sanford.

4 stars out of 4