Wednesday, June 16, 2010
'Eat' / Kauffman
At Hibiscus, Ex-Front Porch Chef Wades Deeper into Cali-Caribbean
Fusion cooking? The Bay Area's moved on from sushi rolls drizzled with demiglace, and even ― thanks to chefs like Sarah Kirnon ― from the seemingly inextinguishable fire of California-Mediterranean cooking. The chef of Oakland's
Hibiscus (in a simpler, less Oakland-y time, Kirnon opened
the Front Porch) melds the foods of her Barbados childhood (Kirnon
describes her inspirations here) with the farmers' market gorgeousness all around us. Today in
SF Weekly, food critic Jonathan Kauffman explores Kirnon's Cali-Caribbean explorations, and finds it fascinating, even as the experience of two meals at Hibiscus proved uneven. How to make sure a trip across the bay is worth it? Kauffman says Kirnon is at her best when she goes big (after the jump):
Kirnon works at her best when she takes brawny, even bombastic dishes and sharpens their focus. Her salt fish and ackee pairs ripe plantains and slices of cured fish ― not pungent so much as potent ― as well as custardy knobs of ackee, a Caribbean fruit. The savory and sweet come together thanks to a vivid sauté of peppers, onions, and a little oregano. Kirnon's pepperpot stew is braised down to the point where you'd think it would congeal into sludge: The oxtail and beef cheeks have all the toughness of the inside of a baked potato, and the skin on the pig's feet has melted into pure collagen. Yet the sweetness of the dark-brown sauce ― courtesy of cassareep, a cassava-based syrup ― never cloys, the cloves and cinnamon never overpower, and the deep meatiness is bracketed in just the right amount of Scotch-bonnet heat.
Check out the full review at
SFWeekly.com.
Tags: Caribbean, Jonathan Kauffman, restaurant reviews, Image
