Rachel Miller and Alex Caruso have taken a tiny space in Lynn and turned it into one of the most interesting and challenging restaurants in the US.
We went because we had an anniversary, and it was terrific. Nine courses, maybe ten? Caviar and potato chips with ethereal custard fluff was the first course. Fresh Portuguese barnacles — barnacles! — poached and chilled and served over crushed ice, with the delightful spicy dipping sauce that, I’m told, is simply ⅓ salt, ⅓ black pepper, and ⅓ lime juice. Beats mignonette by a country mile.
There was an amazing shrimp toast would not be out of place at Alinea. There was a tiny Vietnamese-inflected lobster roll in a tiny custom-baked Boston-style bun. There was a kabocha squash course with crispy confit duck tongues. All with some really daring wine pairings.
This goes beyond authenticity: it’s not your grandmother’s Vietnamese/French comfort food. (Neither Miller’s grandmother nor mine, I expect, was Vietnamese. My grandmother didn’t cook if she could help it.) This is really thinking through what terrific food we can make, in a world where we can get Nước Chấm and diver scallops. The only comparable I can come up with is Mandy Lee’s Escapism Cooking: Miller, like Lee, likes to have a lot going on, fireworks in the mouth and excitement on the plate. She’s very big on flavor and texture contrasts, and they pair nicely with some really complex wines (oh, that Lapeyre Jurançon had a lot to say!). But Lee’s book is, at least in part, performance art; Miller is doing stuff on the plate, four nights a week.