The cell phone lit up Wednesday night. One simple message. One invitation. One great venue. One…read moregreat cause. One great five-course dinner paired with five potentially fabulous cocktails. One wonderful reason to get all dolled up. By six o'clock the very next night I was ruffling up my puffy a-la- sex-and-the city black mini skirt and annoying my downstairs neighbor with the incessant clicking of my very high heels. The Spirited Dinner sponsored by Northern Trust and on behalf of the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for Performing Arts had just begun. Each table exquisitely decorated like your own very small English garden. Roses, and silk. Candles and crystals. Emily introduced herself. Friendly and knowledgeable about the benefit and the history of the conservatory and its importance for Tampa. Blue eyes filled with light and enthusiasm. The rum to be featured throughout the night was Twisted Sun. Ordered a "Cuba Libre" (rum and coke with lime) and, when I turned away from the bar, the amuse bouche were passed around. A charcuterie plate with savory slices of salchichón and blue cheese. A curried beef tartare on a sesame cracker. A scallop hidden in a pastry puff. A panko covered fried oyster decorated with caviar eggs and floating on its shell in a light sauce of Tabasco and citrus. Waiters attentively and encouragingly passed by and always stopped to offer. The fried oyster was so fresh and lightly breaded... I discreetly swayed many times in the direction of the server. It was a gastronomic waltz we were doing. I hope only he noticed.
The strangers at my table were the perfect companions. Within five minutes of seating, we managed to drown our candles with the water they were floating on and a handsome man spilled his first cocktail on the table and his tie. The ice between us officially broken and skated on. Ferrell Alvarez (Rooster and the Till) prepared Lamb Heart Tartare with green harissa, pistachio and radish. I was apprehensive. Heart? Lamb? Somehow I began to feel like Maleficent. Ignored the first impulse to deny myself the experience. The texture of the meat incredibly tender. Unsavory but to be eaten along the drops of various sauces. The grains of sea salt distinctively discovered. The drink was called "Bitter Blush." A bittersweet pink cocktail created by Brenda Terry (Ciro's Speakeasy.)
The second course was prepared by Chef Massimo Patano (Massimo's). Kurobuta pork belly and a scallop glazed with Twisted Sun Rum over bean ragout. The scallop, a smell of the ocean. This plate was served along an "Italian Sun." A cocktail confectioned by Brad Coburn (Pangea Lounge) and composed of Twisted Sun Rum, jack simple, garnished with pumpkin seed rub, fresh red pepper and lemon peel. A kind of classic Old Fashioned, but with rum. Smooth with a discreet kick. The rub kindly placed on only one side of the rim of the glass. A choice. A blessing, really, as I am allergic to pepper and my lips would have looked like Angelina Jolie's, but in steroids. An instant kissing-fish transformation unlike Cinderella's.
The third course featured red miso coconut tea cured tuna, smoked pineapple crab salad, edamame, peanut puree, blood orange curry salt. A delicacy created by Marty Blitz (Mise en Place). What a beautiful plate. The drink was "War on Winter," a libation of Twisted Sun Rum, pineapple juice, white coconut tea concentrate, Giffard orgeat and angostura. The fourth course belonged to Maestro's. Hay smoked duck breast, savory goat cheese cake, rum braised figs, pea shoots and roasted golden beets. If my table mates and I had had our way, we would all have stood on our chairs and salute Chef Benito D'Azzo with a rendition of "Oh, Captain! My Captain!" This foodie madness was paired with Justin Gray's (Anise Global Gastrobar). "And the Gander" was Twisted Sun Rum, cinnamon-mango reduction, honey syrup, lemon juice and garnished with a puff of cinnamon. Lovely sweetness like a fruity kiss. The gastronomic hallucination ended with a carrot cake, goat cheese mousse, pineapple jelly, carrot -orange foam, brown sugar streusel, mint rum fluid gel. Look at the picture and behold an edible miracle. Evan Schmidt from Cena balanced all components and flavors. Autumn on a plate. The last drink perfectly named "Better Days" (by Scooby Oliver) an alcoholic version of a milkshake. Twisted Rum, coco lopez, carrot juice, orange juice, vanilla ice cream and grated nutmeg. It tasted like Christmas. The Spirited Dinner spoke about spirit and to the spirit. The name no longer about the spirit as in alcohol, though very present, but rather, the spirit of every talented chef and mixologist who poured his or her spirit into the event. Everyone left feeling satiated, a tad tipsy or a bit drunk... and in awe of the culinary holy.
