‘Top Chef’s’ Marcel Vigneron – Magician, molecular gastronomist does Hatchi

No, I didn’t get to attend “Top Chef” contestant Marcel Vigneron’s Bar210 (Two One Oh) party on Saturday, Feb. 20 (like MyLastBite did!). Some of us had previous engagements. Or were washing our hair. Fine, I wasn’t invited.

I decided to console myself by looking back on my blog post for Marcel’s Hatchi series dinner in December 2009 instead. Only problem: I hadn’t blogged it yet. D’oh! Two months isn’t too long to wait is it? Nope, not when the meal was this memorable.

The Breadbar monthly Hatchi series invites one chef a month to create a special dinner: eight courses, $8 each in whatever combination. Although reservations were sold out almost immediately for Marcel’s night, I was lucky enough to horn in on The Minty’s party with Gastronomnom and Minty’s friend D. Jo of MyLastBite let me tag along for the ride that Charles of 100 Miles provided

A look at the very telling statement on the bottom of the menu:

“The edible alchemy presented here is a food movement representation intended to not only express a culinary philosophy but also to evoke a conscious perception of the natural shape and flavor of substances, colors, and textures that exist within the earth and have been interpreted by your sorceror composer. May your appetite grow and your belly be satisfied.” — Marcel Vigneron

I was so excited, I was shaking like a whippet!

Amuse bouches and Chinese spoons are the perfect marriage that your parents insist are possible. The pomegranate spherification was a burst of pom juices held together by a gossamer skin of pure imagination. A whole blueberry was trapped inside like Zod in the Phantom Zone. WTF? How? I don’t know, but banishment tasted tart and lively.

Apparently, Marcel also served this amuse at his Bar210 party.

Of the numerous drinks offered, I was immediately drawn to the Coke in Manhattan served in a martini glass. Two spherifications (the dark blob and the shining translucent blob) lurked within to provide the cola and carbonation. Diabolical. I had two.

The hamachi sashimi was cool and sweet with a bit of fire from the espelette powder and ice from the ice plant (c’mon, I had to). The peachy momo chan and kumquat contrasted each other, smooth and tart to create a rather complex complement to the straightforward fish.

Ah, dayboat scallop lying on a bed of grainy cauliflower “couscous” and topped with seaweed, you were my favorite one of all. I’ll miss you the most.

The pretty “candy buttons” decorating the plate were more cauliflower, this time as a puree.

From left to right: Crispy fried fish, avocado nest, langoustine ravioli. The dish was accented by the swoop of thom khai foam and petite basil and coconut milk powder.

Surprise! Bits of mango tumbled out of the avocado like the Gosselin sextuplets out of Kate. I’m not really big into avocado or mango, but it was a good balance for the strong thom khai and fish. The ravioli was rather dim sum-esque. I love a translucent dumpling where you can eye the goods straining at the wrapper. Huge chunks of langoustine delivered on that tease.

After all the seafood, we got more terrestrial with a Lyonnaise salad of frisee, bacon, sherry vinaigrette, endive and a “nesting” egg made nesty with crisp wonton skins. So fun, and hey, who doesn’t like a perfectly cooked egg …

… bleeding out golden semi-firm yolky goodness? It wasn’t lost on me that this was the fanciest bacon and eggs I’ve ever had.

The miso honey black cod came as advertised, cooked just to flakiness and a bit sweeter than I like. The broth poured into the bowl tableside and the sesame oil powder was more my speed, balancing out the sweet. And the menu’s “nasturtium textures” came in the form of that very pretty flower, the leaf and equally bright green puree.

So light and pleasing, and yet I was beginning to get a little full. Good thing there were only three courses left.

Lamb! Okay, so courses were getting heavier, but I wasn’t complaining. I could have just gnawed on that vadouvan lamb by itself. Its rather obvious fattiness made it taste that much better. As an afterthought, I tasted and enjoyed the tzatziki with chilly cucumber balls, pickled onion and toasted lavosh.

In direct opposition to the scallop earlier, this was my second favorite dish of the night.

Now, it’s the cow’s turn. The grass-fed “corned beef” was sous vide short rib, so a scaled down Rubik’s cube of super-tender and flavorful beefiness. Saul’s pastrami (named for but not made of Saul Cooperstein at SBE) was nice but did we really need it competing with the beef? Working much better was the black trumpet mushrooms and a triumvirate of corn: baby corn, corn puree and, you got it, popcorn. Get it? Corned beef? Love a visual food pun.

Belly check: I’m sitting up a little straighter so I can accommodate the last course.

This was a rather hefty souffle, which was keeping with the whole evening. I mean, $8 per plate was a good deal for food of this caliber, but the hefty portions and extra attention to detail made it a ridiculous steal.

Anyway, back to dessert. I devoured the vanilla bean ice cream which is a classic favorite and a wise choice to balance out the unusual green chartreuse of the souffle (nicely fluffy and bursting out of the vessel).

The chartreuse definitely made its presence known like a Santa at Easter, but the egginess was equally strong. The more I ate it, the better I liked it. Weirdness, I know. To this day, this flavor combo and Marcel’s genius brain under that Wolverine hair still fascinates me.

I really didn’t need the mignardises, but was happy to taste the tiny macarons and marshmallows. Tonight was a night of excess anyway.

We had heard buzz about the dragon’s breath treats, and after a failed attempt to make them work (we took too long photographing the first batch), the management took pity on us and gave us another batch. The popcorn also has liquid nitrogen which you release once you pop it in your mouth and exhale.

I managed to get video of my tablemates puffing like asthmatic dragons with varying levels of success:

So how did Marcel do? I was utterly impressed. Seriously, his food surpassed anything I had expected, and in speaking to him, it was apparent how much stress he was under to live up to those lofty words that were at the bottom of the menu.

I rather like this picture of Marcel because it represents to me the energy (he was hummingbird-quick and created many a blur that caused me to delete my photos) he puts into his work and because those mysteriously “Back to the Future” disappearing hands were just part of the magic that evening.

For other accounts, also read:

Marcel Vigneron’s down the Hatchi at Breadbar
Hatchi with Marcel Vigneron

Hatchi at Breadbar with Marcel Vigneron
10250 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 277-3770

Tagged as: Breadbar, hatchi, molecular gastronomy, mracel vigneron, spherification, Top Chef