Food Presentation Adds the Wow Factor
With impeccable culinary skills, meticulous attention to detail and an imaginative eye, highly skilled chefs deliver more than just sustenance. They stimulate and delight us with immersive and artistic dining experiences. For these chefs, each plate is a palette to create not only gastronomic sensations for our mouths but a visual presentation that heightens our appreciation of the cuisine. I caught up with some chefs in Northeast Florida to learn more about their techniques and thought processes behind such edible masterpieces.
At Rue Saint-Marc, chef-owner Scott Alters also views each dish as a tabula rasa. "I take a very artistic approach, composing each plate in a way that mirrors the way an artist creates a painting, ensuring a visually exciting and intensely satisfying dining experience for our patrons," he says. The restaurant offers a menu inspired by culinary traditions rooted in France. "While we embrace French influences, the dishes we serve are uniquely ours,” says Alters. Across the menu, Alters embraces the complexity of ingredients and presents them with a creative flourish. This approach can be seen in the shapes, textures and composition of ingredients assembled for his North Atlantic monkfish with a spinach mousseline, roasted artichokes, Bang's Island mussels, nori dusted potato chips, summer herbs and finished with a sauce "bourride" split with leek oil.
Often a meal becomes more than just the food on the plate: it is a glimpse into another culture. Guests at Llama Restaurant come away with more than a taste of Peruvian cuisine. "Dining at Llama is the whole experience,” says chef-owner Marcel Vizcarra. Using authentic Peruvian ingredients and flavors, the restaurant takes diners through a geographical and agricultural lesson about the South American country with a gastronomic flare. Take for instance the highly popular anticuchos, marinated chargrilled beef heart skewers served with giant Andean corn, golden potatoes and panca pepper aioli. Arriving tableside under a smoke-filled glass dome, the smoke cascades over the plate and reveals the dish as the dome is lifted. A showstopper at the table, this presentation consistently turns heads throughout the restaurant. “A theatrical flourish adds dimension and intrigue to our dishes and heightens the overall experience," says Vizcarra.
Some foodways and the ingredients associated with them are so unique that they require special handling and distinctive presentations. Such is the case at Lotus Noodle Bar, according to executive chef and owner Barry Honan. “We source unique ingredients from Japan, then plate and present them in a manner that creates exciting experiences and enduring memories," he says. "My intent is to deliver an immersive Japanese-styled experience that exudes peace, tranquility and beauty.” Evidence of this approach, including the use of decorative tableware, can be seen in Honan's yellowfin tartare (avocado mousse, daikon, katsuo mirin, wasabi and toasted seaweed) served with tamago kake gohan (soy cured egg yolk).
Private chefs can create ever-changing displays of culinary art based on the setting and type of meal, as Joshua Agan, chef-owner of Routes: Culinary Travels, can attest. After years at some of Jacksonville's most enduring restaurants, he now finds deeper satisfaction as a private chef, where he can apply both his visual arts and culinary training to create masterfully prepared ingredient-driven dining experiences. “I love introducing guests to unique and exciting flavor combinations,” Agan says. “It’s always my goal to achieve harmony on the plate through the composition of colors, shapes, textures and flavors." With just one look at his exquisitely plated honey nut squash tartare with espresso middlins chip and yuzu marmalade, the blend of art and cuisine is strikingly apparent.
Main entrees are not the only opportunity to showcase a chef’s artistic worldview. Serving creatively inspired sweet treats gives Rebecca Reed, corporate pastry chef at Pesca and Michael's, an outlet to express her culinary imagination and make people smile. "At the end of a meal, fanciful and creatively plated desserts heighten celebrations and infuse meals with a touch of color, whimsy and fun," says Reed. The colorfully presented guava panna cotta-topped cheesecake with a pretzel crust, dragon fruit, charred lime segments and dulce de leche is a perfect example. "I love chocolate. It's really fun and I can do so much with it in terms of color, texture and presentation,” Reed says. “From a culinary perspective, the most important thing is making the food taste good."
Each of these creative and uncompromising chefs continues to elevate the act of dining into truly memorable experiences. After years spent refining their craft and amassing a broad vocabulary of ingredients, flavors, textures and aromas, they have successfully found innovative ways to source, pair, plate and elevate foods in unexpected and exciting ways.
