Dinner 7:10 with Chef Bryan Overdyke

According to Chef Bryan Overdyke, "When people ask me, 'What's your style, what do you do?'  I simply reply, 'I cook food!' And he doesn't JUST cook food; he cooks it well!  The word humble came to mind while I sat in The Shreveport Club and listened to Chef Bryan describe the courses of the evening as well as when he made his way around the room, socializing with the society members asking how everything tasted.  He smiled (insert dimples), listened and jokingly asked, "you're not just saying that are you?" when told that everything was delicious.  Nope, we weren't  (insert clean dishes after every course). 


A fun fact about Chef Bryan's meals, none of them were prepared using olive oil as he is not a big fan of the "green stuff."  All of last night's meals were made using sunflower seed oil, which is his favorite.  Here's what we were served.  [Keep Reading...]

Appetizer

Chorizo poached gulf shrimp, roasted poblano jelly, dusted with crushed dried lime, micro cilantro

  

Think shrimp cocktail, elevated and deconstructed.  The poblano jelly was "soppage" worthy (inside joke, new readers see previous posts) and that spicy number in the background is Sangrita.  Chef Bryan paired this tasty shrimp appetizer with a cocktail mixture of tomato & orange juice, lime, tequila and a little heat.  Unapologetically, I am guilty of popping a shrimp in my mouth and taking a sip of the Sangrita at the same time, you know, to get the full effect.  It was a great, spicy way to kick off the evening.


Soup

Watermelon and pickled ginger gazpacho with horseradish tuile

Palette cleansing time.  Now I myself am not a big fan of watermelon or cold soups, but something about this made me want to keep taking spoonsful at a time and deny myself I did not!  None of the flavors were overpowering and although contrasting, they just really worked well together.  The horseradish tuile was bitter if eaten alone, BUT if you let it marinate in the soup and soften a bit, it wasn't bad.  I found this out by mistake of course, socializing and taking photos of my food allowed this magic to happen and I wasn't even trying.

Salad
Smoked duck salad with mache, chevre, fig and cherry vinaigrette


There was so shortage of "ooo's and aahh's when the most beautiful and photo ready entrée of the evening was placed before us.  It was so pretty that I almost didn't want to eat it, but again, deny myself I did not!  The smoked duck was so tender and full of flavor and the chevre (goat cheese) with slightly bitter flavor of the arugula paired with the fig and the crispiness of the potato nest was just perfect.  Need I say more? Yum! Project destroy potato nest, done!

Entrée
Rainbow trout topped with braised veal cheek and fried quail egg over smoked cheddar stone ground grits

Chef Bryan says "This is me on a plate.  If I were eating at home, this would be it."  Well he can invite me over for dinner anytime!  I'm seriously without words on this course.  It was pretty and it was tasty, Amen.  No, but seriously the quail egg was cute, the braised veal cheek was full of flavor and as soft as butter, the rainbow trout was seasoned perfectly and the grits, creamy as they should they be.  I really enjoyed this one! Note the "soppage", please and thank you!


Dessert
Sweet potato funnel cakes with Abita root beer syrup


Sweet potatoes are healthy so I can eat as many of these as I like, right?  I love funnel cakes and this did not disappoint.  They were doughy and sweet.  The blue berries brought a little freshness to the dish.  This course was also a paired with a beverage.  This time we were served Larry Dewett's sutty Irish Drink with finely ground pecans.  I didn't get the complete list of ingredients to this dink, but I should have, it was really good and creamy.

Chef Bryan ended the night by quoting Dr. Suess, “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened” and a big Viva La Food Prize.  See y'all next time!