A16 is the restaurant in San Francisco believed by many to be the best expression of Southern Italian regional cooking in the Americas. A16 is an autostrada that runs from Napoli to Canosa, and the restaurant by the same name serves local cuisine from the surrounding regions of this highway, such as Puglia, Campania, Molise, and Abruzzo. Don't ask how I got it, but here's a small sneak peak at the mastery of Chef Nate Appleman, who was recently nominated for the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year Award (recognizing the most influential rising young chefs age 30 or under).
I'm going to the leave the details on how to perfect this dish to the book, and while I've altered the approach slightly, I don't want to steal Appleman's thunder. This is an outstanding small plate, and the leftover components will likely result in another post once I figure out how to do them justice.
Essentially, this dish is a composition of walnuts served two ways, with blistered asparagus accented with austere pecorino and earty white truffle flavors. The crema is prapared by poaching walnuts in salted water, then blending these with olive oil and carmelized onions as if you're making a hummus. This contrasts and harmonizes with the toasted walnuts. The asparagus was, at least as I assembled the dish, a method of sopping up more of the crema. This was a magical dish that made me yearn for a week of exploring similar cuisine in Italy.
While it's been about 7 months since I cooked anything from a recipe, the lure of walnuts two ways was too strong to ignore. The tuna conserva (an A16 signature dish) is also a likely future candidate for me to emulate and play with ... really like the book so far, and I haven't even cracked the pages on wine (reputed to be filled with regional Italian vinicultural expertise). Bravo Chef Appleman, hope to make it to A16 soon, either yours or the one that inspired you.
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