Chef Holly Hambright adds some crispy duck skin to Alan’s main course.
My friends and I are really loving this “Taste Bud Tour of the World” that chef Holly Hambright is staging throughout this year. At her restaurant in Bearden, Holly’s Homberg, she is offering five-course dinners featuring dishes from some of the world’s best known food cities.
We signed up for three of them. Recently, courtesy of Holly, we went to Barcelona.
These dinners are limited to 26 diners and cost $120 per person. You bring your own wine, which I think is fun because you can go to the liquor store and select wines from the same country as the menu for the evening.
Still to come are dinners featuring food from Bologna, Italy (Sept. 10), Montreal, Quebec (Oct. 22) and good ole Knoxville, Tennessee (Dec. 3).
Call (865) 330-0123 for reservations or email [email protected].
But, for now, let’s head to Barcelona.
Cucumber gazpacho was the perfect cooling opener. (There might have been a little bit of cream in there. Ha.)
The guys at Downtown Wine + Spirits helped us select Spanish wines to go with our meal. We picked a sparkling wine called cava to start. Think “Spanish champagne.”
Alan doing the honors. We were on the second floor, a part of the eatery in which we’ve never been seated before. Loved it.
The amuse bouche was local chanterelle mushrooms on crostini. It was earthy and fabulous.
Next up was a escalivada terrine with green salad and anchovy vinaigrette.
“Escalivada” is a traditional Catalan dish of smoky vegetables. The name comes from a Catalan verb, “escalivar,” which means “to cook in ashes,” a reference to the dish’s traditional preparation in the embers of a wood fire. Holly said the tomatoes and eggplants in this terrine came from Bill and Donna Cobble’s nearby farm. The accompaniment on the right side of the plate is a mousse made of the same vegetables as the terrine. I thought this dish was creative and delicious.
Here’s the Spanish red wine we selected.
This is the white, which I found to be light and refreshing and perfect for a summer supper in Barcelona.
The fish course was octopus confit with saffron potato salad and sofrito dressing. Unbelievable.
Here are our dining companions, Dawn and Richard Ford.
We were happy to see Cathy and Mark Hill come in and be seated at the next table.
Seared duck breast with duck leg confit with prunes and olives. This was accompanied by a cauliflower gratin. Very Spanish flavors.
You know you are at a happening place when you see Kevin Diffley there. He’s the fun-loving proprietor of Chez Guevara.
Dessert, which Alan adored, was a fresh fig tartlette with creme Catalana and a piece of pine nut brittle.
A little bit about Holly. She attended Baltimore’s Culinary Arts Institute, graduating number one in her class in 1983. She has held the positions of executive pastry chef, executive sous chef and executive chef in various luxury hotels in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Boston and Bermuda feeding such notables as Presidents Ford and Clinton, Lamar Alexander, Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand, Former First Lady of Egypt Jehan Sadat, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme and Barry Tuckwell. And us!
Look! Holly has a blue streak in her hair! The Blue Streak just loves that!
Click here for a story about our wonderful dinner at Holly’s featuring food from Seattle.
