Salt and Limes

The Dancing Chef and His Table

If you like 90's rap and want one of the most simultaneously entertaining and delicious meals in Tulsa, look no further. Chef Ben Alexander of The Tavern, located in the Tulsa Arts District, will custom design a menu just for you and up to 6 people. You will be seated in the kitchen directly adjacent to the chef and all of the associated action. The Chef will not only cook but likely dance and possibly even light things on fire with torches. Although I have multiple videos of him dancing, if you want to see it, you'll have to book a reservation at the Chef's table.

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Don't get me wrong, this is not like a murder mystery dinner where the entertainment is meant to distract you from the piece of leathery steak served alongside toothpaste textured asparagus. This is one of the most talented and creative chefs around and his food is absolutely the center of the show.

One of my favorite things to do is let the chef decide what I will eat. This forces me out of my comfort zone and allows me to experience foods I would have never chosen on my own. It also gives the chef full artistic authority which can be a very powerful ingredient in the right hands.

For this particular evening, we asked Chef to create a menu of his favorite dishes. Each course was professionally paired with a different wine by Scott Zeier, certified sommelier from The Tavern's sister restaurant, Bull in the Alley.

Course #1

Slices of seared Spam on a block of perfectly seasoned sushi rice (Chef Ben spent 6 months of his life making nothing but rice). This was topped with green apples, green onions and Furikake (Japanese seasoning consisting of sesame seeds, salt, sugar, nori and msg).

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Course #2

Raw Maine oyster, uni espuma/foam (made with uni, lobster stock and cream), salmon roe, pickled watermelon radishes, quail egg yolk, soy sauce and yuzu (basically a lemon/lime/grapefruit combo).

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Course #3

Korean style beef short ribs were marinated for 18 hours in soy sauce, brown sugar, red wine, ginger, garlic, scallions and chili flakes. Next, they were air dried for 12 hours and seared on a very hot grill to a rare temperature. Served on a kimchi polenta variant of congee topped with wakame (seaweed), green onion and mushrooms marinated in gochujang and soy sauce.

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Course #4

Korean style noodles in a spicy 413 Farms chicken and lemongrass broth.
It was topped with a thin slice of Prairie Creek Farms pork jowl, seaweed, pickled mushrooms, green onion and cilantro.

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Course #5-

Bananas Foster with cinnamon sugar churros and jackfruit compote.



P.S. If you don't like 90's rap, we can't be friends.

The Tavern
Address- 201 North Main Street, Tulsa, OK 74103
Phone- 918-949-9801
www.taverntulsa.com


Written by Erik Paulson
Photos by Erik Paulson

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