Wednesday, January 11, 2012
'Eat' / SOMA
AQ's Food Is as Intricate as It Is Seasonal
Posted
By Jonathan Kauffman
on Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 8:45 AM
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Melissa Barnes
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AQ's scallops with parsnips.
AQ's conceit is that the restaurant changes both its decor, its menu, and even the waiter's outfits, every season. Liberman is a former chef de cuisine at La Folie and a contestant in the last American Bocuse d'Or competition who's going more "casual"; his food is wrought in formal French technique and the occasional modernist flourish. Where some restaurants serve dishes that fit into neat sentences, each of Liberman's plates is a paragraph, packed with prepositional clauses and rife with adjectives. The scallop and parsnip appetizer above, for instance, involves roasting, braising/pureeing, searing, sautéeing, and deep-frying. Other dishes incorporate dehydrating, juicing, gelling, and sous-vide cooking, too. Entrees cost $25: They're one of the best deals in town.
Tags: AQ, Mark Liberman, Image
