Saturday, April 04, 2009

take the voyage to VOLT in Frederick, MD and you'll flip!

We had the pleasure of meeting Chef BRYAN VOLTAGGIO when he first returned to the Washington are several years back to open Charlie Palmer Steak. If you read my reviews then, they were always raves as he continued to garner awards and was only in his 20's!

He recently returned to his hometown Frederick, MD and opened VOLT (www.voltrestaurant.com) which has truly electrocuted the food world of Frederick. Located in a beautiful historic district mansion with a large number of dining areas and options, I can't imagine anyone making the trip there and not coming home with the opinion that VOLT is definitely one of the premier dining spots of the Washington area. It would definitely win my award for FINE DINING!

The dining rooms are reasonably comfy with nice chairs of white leather and dark wood, the music a bit loudish odd (some thumpy noise bothered me at the start) at times, but never awful or blaring so that the conversation is disturbed.The waiters sport lace dark reddish brown sneakers (Keds?) and the upper echelon staff (captains, etc) are in suits and shoes. The walls are white, there is some artwork on some walls (I couldn't' see any from my seat), but what mattered here more than anything was the sublime heavenly quality of the food. As I mentioned there are numerous options and be sure to make your choice clear when you reserve your table as NOT all the rooms serve all the menus. The regular menu is an up to 4 course dinner with all items a la carte. There are tasting menus of 5 and 7 courses as well as a vegetarian option (served only at the kitchen tables I believe) and finally TABLE 21 where four folks are served a 21-course tasting; I can't wait to go back for this!

Three of us went for the 7-course($89) with paired wines ($45more), which is an amazing deal for seven LARGE courses, plus extras and the reasonable 2 1/2-3 ounce pours of 7 wines. The fourth person chose the 5-course eliminating the cheese and sweetbread courses from our 7-course which ran $69 and an extra $35 for 5 wines.

Yummy breadsticks with salt and caraway are brought immediately and the water is all complimentary with a choice of still or sparkling all filtered and gas-infused in house. This is one of the greenest ways to avoid those awful plastic and glass bottles wasted as the water is served in glass re-usable carafes and you can refill at the table to your heart's content. BRAVO for this.

We ordered a bottle of DOMAINE FERRATON Semorens 2007 Cotes du Rhone white which was superb and an amazing deal at under $30! Our bread came and we were already impressed: French soft rolls, Buttermilk chive biscuits, Rosemary Bacon Brioche and House Whole Grain were served hot with sea salted butter from the Vermont Butter & Cheese Co,

I have always believed that an amuse is a good sign of what is to come. Well, our three amuse were amazing, not just amusing: CHILLED RUTABAGA Soup with Lemon Oil & SALMON ROE which exploded in my mouth made me want a couple more of the tasty eggs MEDJOOL DATE was filled with CURRIED YOGURT and sprinkled with FENNEL POLLEN (I asked if people who have outdoor allergies need to avoid this pollen?) BEET MACAROON was filled with FOIE GRAS MOUSSE and sprinkled with Orange Powder. This was a crunchy fun and not heavy teeny taste that was just right.

The sommelier Neil knows his wine, but had one or two odd pairing choices with the tasting that we were not crazy about. The Ferraton was a perfect starter because it goes with so many different things. Next came a LOOSEN, Dr. L RIESLING 2007 from Germany which has a teensy amount of residual sugar, which Will never likes, so Neil quickly subbed a glass of Latour Ardeche 2006 for him. The first course was a TASTING OF TUSCARORA (Penna.) FARMS BEETS with Balsamic Six (6% acidity with a huge fruity taste), GOAT CHEESE (from Cherry Glen MD), Garden Tarragon, Mizuna & Peppercress. This may sound simple but the dish had a dehydrated beet meringue that was wild and the gout cheese was whipped into a light and frothy mousse with the beets having to be some of the best ever tasted on earth!

The SHITAKE VELOUTE with PINENUT SABAYON and Crisp SHITAKES in CHILI OIL was a divine and rich soup served with a BRUNO FRANCO NEBBIOLO d'ALBA 2005 from Piemonte which we all agreed was a bit too red and intense for this very divine creamy soup. Will actually preferred his with the Latour wine he had remaining!

SEARED YELLOWFIN TUNA with PARSNIP, BLACK FORBIDDEN RICE, Braised BABY BOK CHOY, Fermented Black Garlic Vinaigrette and COCONUT Air (foam) with MADRAD CURRY was another divine creation. These portions by the way were not small. The fish was probably about 6-7 bites, the veloute an entire bowl. We had to start pacing ourselves so we could manage the rest of the meal. Nobody seemed to know why the rice got its name, but it is a small black grain that is quite risotto-like and truly flavorful. Every element in this dish was perfectly combined. We actually felt that here it was indeed a combination of the ingredients that worked so well. I often like to taste the separate elements and then combine them randomly; here it had to be all together. Neil chose a brilliant THISTLE PINOT BLANC 2007 from Dundee Hills Oregon which we all loved with the dish...perfection indeed.

SWEETBREADS were tempura fried with flavors of PICATA, MEYER LEMON, KALAMATA Olive and a Veal Reduction with Golden Raisins and Caper & Parsley Powders. Here it was fun to try the sweetbreads with a taste from each of the "sauces" making for many different tastes indeed. The wine is a new find that I will get immediately, as I could drink it forever. PUNTO FINAL MALBEC RESERVA 2006 from Mendoza in Argentina (from 50 year old vines, Neil tells us) is so smooth, you could drink it for days.

A large piece of superbly-tender 48 HOUR BRAISED WAGYU SHORT RIBs came over a Puree of YUKON GOLD POTATOES with a Garlic Transparency (like a 1 inch square of that Listerine papery thing you toss in your mouth to freshen your breath), Roasted Pepper, Sundried Grapes and Beef Reduction. Again, a dish with many options to taste different combinations and a wine that I will also purchase ASAP-CHARLES SMITH 2007 The VELVET DEVIL MERLOT from Columbia Valley Oregon is a medium bodied Merlot that is soooo smooth and perfect with a delicate meat like this.

One of use did not eat red meat and had a delish ROASTED CHICKEN with Chicken Mousse cooked sous-vide with Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes and Ruby Chard.

The cheese course was POINT REYES BLUE, Celery Variations and Beet-Port Glaze which was actually a Beet-Port Sorbet and Puree. A salty crisp was on the side and it was a wonderful new take on the same old cheese option. As you know, I don't care for beer, and Neil served a WILD GOOSE SNOW GOOSE from Frederick which Will loved alone, but he did not care for with the cheese. The rest of us switched to a superb ROBERTSON 2008 Late Harvest GEWURTZTRAMINER from South Africa that was light sweet and just right with this excellent blue cheese and the accompanying beet variations.

The first dessert on the tasting was the TEXTURES of CHOCOLATE with mint consisting of PRALINE FROZEN CUSTARD, Chocolate GANACHE, Chocolate CARAMEL, Cocoa and some other items I missed. Having been overdone by Hershey PA, Will and I switched and had the lighter MACOUN APPLE SORBET & VANILLA BEAN ICE CREAM with BUTTER CANDIED GRANNY SMITH APPLES, CINNAMON DOUGHNUTS and crumble...it was all top notch and the accompanying TALIJANCICH, White SOLERO SHERRY aged 10 years from Swan Valley Australia was a novel sweet treat (made from Pedro Ximenes, Muscadel and Verdeho).

A not so interesting LAVENDER POWDER COCONUT Sorbet and pudding with vanilla simple syrup came next, but I think e were verging on way too full anyway. The mignardises were tasty POMEGRANATE Pate aux fruits, ALMOND MACAROON with Chocolate Ganache and Lavender Madeleines....all yumyum.

We got Blueberry Coffee Cakes to take home for the next morning knowing that despite the 50+ minute drive from our home, we would be back to VOLT for another JOLT real soon!