Oh, and the cocktails were outstanding, too. I loved the simplicity of the menu. The items were all one word names, straight to the essence of the dish. For instance, these two fine cocktails were named Mezcal and Islay Scotch, despite the fact that many other ingredients were involved to make these delicious and unique drinks.
Can I please have another one? There were so many interesting cocktails to choose from, I wanted to try them all, even if I wasn't a big fan of the liquor contained in them. That's the Ink mystique. You just want everything, no matter the ordinary preferences of your palate.
While we obviously couldn't try every item on the menu, these were the dishes we narrowed it down to. First, Corn. Like I said, one-word dishes.
This was advertised as "homemade Doritos," which is fairly accurate. It was two large, cheesy, crispy chips of I don't even know what over a bed of creamed corn. Whatever it was it tasted better than a Dorito.
Next, the Octopus.
We were a little on the fence about ordering this dish, but I wanted "ink" at a restaurant called Ink. I'm weird like that. This ink was black ink pasta shells. Lucky for us, the octopus was the most delicate, tender squid either of us had ever eaten. It was almost the texture of perfectly cooked fish, just melt-in-your-mouth buttery. I think this might have ruined any other octopus I will ever eat because I doubt many places can get the texture so sumptuous.
Lollipop Kale.
On the menu, the white sauce was creme fraiche. I have no idea what the green sauce was, but this tasted so good combined with the bed of flash-fried kale and shoe-string pig ears. So many different textures and rich flavors. The definition of decadence.
And, rounding out our savory dishes, Cereal.
Doesn't this look like a piece of art? Well, it tasted like one, too. I love a savory, hot cereal breakfast. Whole grains cooked in chicken stock with a runny egg is my go-to. So having this amaranth dish, such an elevated version of my choice breakfast, was pretty wondrous and I bow down to it. The chicken crackling' added the perfect salty crunch.
I find that with many restaurants where we enjoy the savory dishes to this extent, the dessert ends up being a letdown. Not that it isn't good, but it's just not as special as the meal that came before. Well, Ink didn't falter with its desserts. They were right up there with my favorite dishes of the night, so I was elated that we ordered two of them.
The first was Chocolate.
Three different kinds of brownies/cakes with "cream frost," like a more solid ice cream that melted against the warm cake. It was chocolate heaven. I love ordering chocolate desserts, and this was one of the finest I've had.
So, after the chocolate amazement, I wasn't expecting to be as crazy about our second dessert, Apple. I'd much rather have chocolate than fruit, thank you very much. But this Apple was one of the craziest things I've eaten.
The apple had been cooked with caramel into a solid, flan-like form and tasted like apple pie. It was topped with a baseball-sized sphere of fluffy "burnt wood semifreddo." And that's what it tasted like, a hint of campfire. The rest of the dish was a smattering of sugary cooked grapes and chunks of tangy shortbread, the texture of biscotti. Put it all together, and it was one of the best desserts I've ever had. I liked it more than the Chocolate. No one was more shocked than I.
This is what the inside of the semifreddo looked like.
The meal was just amazing. Like Alma and Trois Mec, this is a place that I know I would get a memorable meal from every time I dined. It's also tempting to go back often because the menu is going to keep changing and I want to eat everything. It's a little overwhelming. In a good way.
