Dinner Lab: Nashtoberfest

Dinner Lab is a members-only social dining experiment & experience.  I'd love if you would use my referral link to sign up/learn more about Dinner Lab, so I can earn $ towards future events!
Dan and I had our second Dinner Lab meal recently, themed Nashtoberfest and featuring the amazing guys behind Porter Road Butcher, James Peisker and Chris Carter.  While they're known in town for their delicious, sustainable, locally-sourced meats, they really have a lot of culinary experience between them... which is one reason we signed up for this meal!  The space for this meal was Impact Hub Nashville.

Dinner Lab kicks off with a welcome drink, and that night's cocktail was a Pumpkin Old-Fashioned.  Meh.  Despite my love for pumpkin pie, I'm not a fan of everything being pumpkin-ized.  Dan had the drink and wasn't a fan, as he really prefers a traditional Old Fashioned.  There was good, imported German beer available though, which was appropriate (and paired) with the meal!
The idea behind Nashtoberfest as a theme was taking traditional and familiar Oktoberfest flavors and gussying them up (chefs' words).  All the meats are "sourced with thought", and several courses had beer pairings from Weihenstephaner, one of the world's oldest breweries.
We kicked off the meal with a Pretzel Consomme, garlic & parmesan panna cotta, mustard greens & vinaigrette, and bacon lardons.  The panna cotta was a bit bland, but the consomme was flavorful.  The broth itself was Dan's favorite part.  We both loved the crunchy bacon lardons!  Our second course was Roasted Brussels Sprouts with brusselkraut, carrot puree, caraway crackers, and chives.  I'm not a fan of green stuff, so Dan helped me finish mine, and it got his approval.  (Wasn't I just saying in a recent restaurant recap that everyone in Nashville is all over Brussels Sprouts lately?)

The third course was a palette cleaners, an Apple Cider Vinegar & Celery Sorbet.  Wowza!  While I don't like celery, this sorbet was perfectly cold, had a great consistency, and zinged your palette clean.  It was really good!  But our fourth course, the main course, was my absolute favorite.  There was Seared Duck Breast, smoked duck bratwurst, spaetzle, braised red cabbage, and hunter sauce.  I loved the crispy outside of the tender duck breast, though Dan preferred the bratwurst.  I also ate every little bit of spaetzle that I could!  Yum yum yum.

The fifth course had a pastry theme: Cloth Bound Cheddar Gougeres, which were topped with pickled apple and beer mustard.  I would have preferred the gougere be served warm, though it still had a great cheesy flavor.  It was kind of like an amazing grown-up Goldfish cracker turned into a pastry.  In a good way!
For our sixth and final course, we had dessert.  Flourless Chocolate Cake, buttermilk pecan anglaise, beer glazed coconut, and pickled spiced cherry.  EVERYTHING was good about this.  It was scrape-the-plate-clean good.  The cherry too!  I don't even like coconut, but this was a perfect combo without an overpowering coconut flavor.  They NAILED it on dessert.

Much like our previous Dinner Lab experience, we didn't leave feeling overly stuffed.  While the price can be steep for these meals, when you factor in how much you are able to taste (and the fact that you don't get to experience these chefs very often), it works out.  Plus the bar is always open.
Dinner Lab is currently available in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, DC, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and St. Louis.
Dinner Lab is a members-only social dining experiment & experience.  I'd love if you would use my referral link to sign up/learn more about Dinner Lab, so I can earn $ towards future events!

@DinnerLab: A First-Timer's Experience in Nashville

Disclaimer:  I purchased my own Dinner Lab membership, so this review is purely my own.  I'd love if you would use my referral link to sign up/learn more about Dinner Lab, so I can earn $ towards future events!

Recently, Dan and I had our first Dinner Lab experience.  Recommended by my friends at work, we paid for a subscription to Dinner Lab events, and made a reservation for Chef Ryan Haigler's "The Market Room: Taste + Technique + Tradition" meal.  Chef Ryan is part of a current chef's tour for Dinner Lab, competing for a chance to get funding for his own restaurant.

Menu, Scorecard, and the Chef!

The way Dinner Lab works: It's basically, as Forbes put it, a modern-day supper club.  You pay for a year-long subscription ($100-200 depending on where you live), and they e-mail you about upcoming events.  You then make a reservation (they sell out fast), ranging from $50-95 per person.  Your meal price includes a minimum of five courses, an open bar, and gratuity.  They e-mail you the venue location 24 hours in advance (lovely mystery!) and then you just show up and give your name.

The venue was 506 Events Gallery, located in what appears to be a former industrial building converted to the space and some apartment lofts.  It was near the river, and there wasn't much else around but public works buildings and other industrial complex stuff.  Unique, to be sure!

We kicked off with a half hour of cocktails and mingling.  It's open seating, so it's nice to get to know the people around you.  Dan had some beer (note: they pour it in little glasses unless you ask for can/bottle) and I had the Planter's Punch.  I love that Chef Ryan was raised in the Lowcountry, because this punch reminded me of Savannah!

Soon, it was time to eat!  We kicked off with a first course of Burnt Pepper Sambuca Sausage, paired with a pilsener beer from Germany.  Chef Ryan has been hunting/butchering pretty much since he could walk, and he ran the butcher program at Emeril Lagasse's Delmonico for two years.  As we ate this delicious sausage, complemented by pickled giardiniera and fresh mustard, he recounted how he learned to make sausage from his grandmother the old-school way, filling casings using an old cow's horn!  This was definitely a delicious course.  Dan felt that with the pickles a pairing with a more tart beer would have been even better.

I was a little nervous about the second course, a Chilled Avocado & Yogurt Soup.  The thing is, I don't I don't like cold soup, or green stuff.  But with the cayenne crema on this, the cold soup had a spicy kick to it that kept me from thinking, "I'm a carnivore trying to be polite and taste this green stuff."  I had more than a few spoonfuls!  As people who know me will tell you, that is a surprise unto itself.

I don't eat a lot of seafood, but I was excited about the Crab & Mascarpone Crepe.  Crab is one of the few seafood meats I eat, so long as I don't have to get it out of a shell.  Dan was skeptical about this course, but he was pleasantly surprised; he cleaned his plate!  The filling was slightly warmed,and the pepper & spring onion jelly on top was delicious.  Seriously, I'd eat it on toast.

The main course (you read menus ahead of time) is what sold me on the meal.  Black Garlic Stuffed Pork Shoulder, served on a Carolina grit cake with braised greens and pot likker liaison.  The pork was so tender, you didn't need a knife.  The grit cake was delicious, and surprisingly not soggy from everything else going on the plate.  The course was paired with a California Chardonnay.

Dan and I were both floored by dessert.  iPhone photos simply don't do it justice.  Peanut Butter & Jelly Cheesecake, with a blueberry-jalapeño jam, peanut butter candy, and malted marshmallow?  DIVINE.  You could hear people's spoons clinking against the little jars as they scraped every last bit into their mouths.  The guy next to me (originally from Iowa) and I agreed that the filling reminded us of a tasty Midwest peanut butter sheet cake.

Throughout the meal, you fill out comment cards on each of the courses.  Was it tasty, creative, restaurant-worthy?  It feels kind of weird judging a chef's meal, given we aren't trained like they are... but these ratings and comments are the constructive criticism they gain to improve their craft.  I think that's why they come to Dinner Lab.  It's great exposure, but it allows experimentation without too much risk.

On the way home, Dan and I discussed this first experience with Dinner Lab.  First, we discussed how the portion sizes were perfect; after five courses and plenty of drinks, we both felt full but not stuffed.  Second, we thought that Chef Ryan Haigler absolutely nailed it.  The meal was creative, but not overly pretentious.  It reminded us of the time we each spent near Savannah.  Lastly, we both agreed we want to do this again.  When we did the mental math, it was cheaper than other upscale dining experiences we've had in the past.  It's a great way to taste unique flavors and live out foodie fantasies.

Dinner Lab is currently available in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, DC, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and St. Louis.

Disclaimer:  I purchased my own Dinner Lab membership, so this review is purely my own.  I'd love if you would use my referral link to sign up/learn more about Dinner Lab, so I can earn $ towards future events!