Tag Archives: Sea Change

Conservatively Chic

August 15, 2011 – 8:05 am

I was given the task of creating a look that was conservative in a contemporary space with amber windows at The Guthrie.

Rather than try to neutralize the yellow, I decided to use the yellow as an asset and created a simple, minimalist design that still conveyed a conservative feel.

Thank you to Lauren B Photography for the great photos (and how she neutralized the yellow in the photos…I have no idea!)

I fell in love with the silver and yellowish-gold damask linen at Linen Effects.  Fresh and modern with the use of a conservative design such as damask.

Adding a bit of whimsy by using billy balls makes me smile.  Cheerfully understated (kind of like the florist, Summer Harsh Botanical Artistry).

When you have a view like this, it is important to use it as part of the design.  Gorgeous.

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The Salvador Dali of Cooking

May 16, 2011 – 6:46 am

When I was invited to an eleven course dinner at Sea Change inspired by a Salvador Dali book, I had to go…yes, because I love Chef Erik Anderson’s cooking, but also due to the pure curiosity of what would Dali inspiration look like on a plate.

Dali was known as a versatile artist, which is parallel to how I view Chef Anderson – artistic and versatile.

The dinner started with a vegetable bruschetta including ramps.  If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know I love ramps.  The spring onion has such a short season that it makes me covet them.

As we were seated for dinner, we were served an hors doeurves that was similar to a mini cheese crisp, followed by an absolutely gorgeous oyster.

As we moved onto the next course, the lobster puff (above) was quite fascinating.  The puff was so concentrated in flavor that my dinner companions and I were caught by surprise.




The chicken course looked like it was encased in a pastry, but yet it was just pure chicken stuffed with foie gras and mushrooms topped with truffle and served with the most beautiful morel mushrooms.

But the major explosion of flavor came from the romesco – ramp course.  Encapsulated, as one bit into the sphere, the flavor absolutely exploded, so much so that there were a lot of “oh”s and “wow”s.

This course was chicken liver and foie gras. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of chicken liver (odd as I do like foie gras).  Although the course was very thoughtfully and skillfully made, it wasn’t enough to make me a fan of chicken liver.  However, the foie gras was very yummy.

My dinner companion, Matthew, said his favorite course was the lamb course.

So perfectly prepared, the lamb was served with a very tasty sauce and asparagus.

Not normally a fan of banana cream pie, this time I fell in love.

But the showcase of the dinner was this four foot tree of pastries.

Chef Erik Anderson’s last day cooking at Sea Change is Friday, May 20th.  He will be doing a stage (also known as a cooking “audition) at the European Noma, arguably the top restaurant in the world.  After his stage, he will be settling in Nashville and opening a restaurant with his best friend, Josh (who has been cooking at Alinea for a number of years).

I’m going to miss his cooking and just Erik, as a person.  When I worked with him on The Culinary Mistress, I discovered a humble, passionately talented chef.

Follow his adventures on Twitter at www.twitter.com/airick72

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Chef Pride

February 15, 2011 – 1:04 pm

Having found out recently that my biological mother owned a restaurant for twenty years has added to my love for chefs and restaurants.

I’m thrilled that my friend and featured chef of The Culinary Mistress is up for a nomination of Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2011.

There are a lot of reasons I voted for Chef Erik Anderson of Sea Change.  Obviously his food comes number one.  Second he is a lot of fun to watch in the kitchen – his plating precision and his experimenting of flavors and textures.  But mostly I love his passion for cooking and food.

If you happen to agree with me I would appreciate it if you would take a few seconds and vote for him.   Click on the image below and it will take you to the voting page.

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Parma 8200

July 20, 2010 – 5:32 pm

There are fewer things I enjoy more than eating and I have been doing a fair amount of it, as of late.

I spent Thursday night having an absolutely delicious dinner at OM with Jen, joined by Amy and Amy of Mi Mi Weddings. If you haven’t tried OM, may I make an extremely strong suggestion that you try it? Even if you say you don’t like Indian food. I promise you, it’s like no other Indian food you’ve had before.

As a side note, we’ll be clueing you into what our dinner conversation entailed very soon.

Friday night, Susan and I went to Streetcar Named Desire at the Guthrie. What a long (but entertaining) play! We had dinner at Sea Change before the play and I have to say, I felt like I’ve been missing out for a long time. I’ve dined there several times now, but tried the Ocean Trout for the first time and thought it was one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever had in my whole entire life. The broth totally makes the dish.

On Saturday night, a group of us decided to go to the Parma 8200 VIP reception. It was a late afternoon – early evening affair and we thought we’d go for one drink. Well, seeing General Manager Ann in her old form just made me want to hang out for awhile.

So after some shifting, we were able to get a table for five.

All I can say is I believe we may have all overconsumed. We tried everyone’s dishes. Two stand-outs for the entrees: Linguini and Clams, as well as the “Skinny” Chicken (although, I think its just called the Grilled Chicken on the menu).


And, overwhelmingly, my favorite dessert was the Strawberry Cheesecake Sorbet.

The space is decorated in what I can a grown-up version of eclectic. While most of the D’Amico restaurants don’t “take themselves too seriously”, I felt like Parma 8200 was attempting to be just a little bit more serious. I say that despite the fact there is a picture of a cat on the purple surface of the billiards table on the patio.

Definitely worth checking out.

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