Hyholde Restaurant

A few weekends ago, Henry and I joined two other couples for dinner at a nearby restaurant for a chef’s table. It was simply amazing.

You basically get a front row seat in the kitchen. The chef picks the menu and, if everything goes right, cooks you one of the best meals you’ve ever eaten. Henry and I both felt that Hyholde was a hidden gem.

The kitchen staff waiting to get started.

All the details were attended to down to the printed menu…

and the beautiful centerpiece.

My favorite hot date!

Our group with Executive Chef Jim Brinkman. From left to right: Nicki, Suzette, me, Henry, Harvey, and Kevin.

The appetizer, which actually wasn’t on the printed menu was bruscetta on toast and goat cheese, pistacios, and honey on whole grain toast. I love bruscetta and I loved the goat cheese combo as well. A great way to start the meal.

Then we tried the seafood chowder. Let me tell you… this is the best seafood chowder I’ve ever had. It was the mother-of-all with lobster, crab, scallops, a white fish, and maybe even more critters thrown in for good measure. I would go back this moment just to have another bowl.

This is John, one of the Sous Chefs flambe-ing something…

It wasn’t this vegetable timbale. No, that’s for sure. This was roasted and it was also delicious. Cooked perfectly.

Next up was a lobster pernod with asparagus and butter noodles. I’m a little leary of lobster because usually it’s tough and chewy. This lobster melted in your mouth. It helped it was served along side one of my favorite vegetables.

With all of these courses, it was hard to decide which was the main course, but if you’re going to go with one of them, it would probably be this elk. Elk, porcini bread pudding and sweet beets to be exact.

By the time the elk hit the table we were all slowing down a little bit. I snacked around noon instead of having a full lunch knowing I was gearing up for a large meal. The handful of almonds had worn off by the time the bruscetta came. But by the fifth course, my brain was catching up with my stomach. We all lingered a bit more over the meat, savoring each bite and enjoying each other’s company. Luckily, both the finishing courses were lighter fare… some organic greens…

and a pineapple upside-down cake with a coconut ball.

Nicki is allergic to most nuts, but was pretty sure she could do coconut. She got out her epipen just in case. Suzette was as the ready…..

Of course, we were safe… Chef Jim googled whether coconut is a tree nut…. oddly enough if you can eat peanuts, you can typically eat coconuts. Since Nicki can eat peanuts (they’re technically a legume) she ate the coconut. Nothing happened. All was well.

One fun aspect of being in the kitchen is that they encouraged us to get up and watch the chefs cooking. Henry went over to see some crepes being made for the wedding reception downstairs. Nicki, Suzette, and I watched some desserts being made, but mostly we just sat and ate, and ate, and ate.

I don’t think I could eat like this every night, but it certainly was a fun experience. If you’re ever in the area, give Hyholde a call.