In Search of Perfection: Coi + Manresa

The Story of Tonight's Dinner

This dinner will benefit the Bocuse D'or USA foundation, an organzization comitted to inspiring excellence in American Cuisine, the foundation enables young culinary professionals to continue their education through stage in France. It also recruits and trains a qualified American chef to represent the United States at the Boucuse D'or culinary competition in Lyon, which takes place every two years. At next year's competition, America will be represented by James Kent, Sous Chef of Eleven Madison Park in NYC.

To emphasize the foundation's commitment to sustainability and great American products, they asked us to crate a menu utilizing American heritage poultry, inspired by the influence of chef Paul Boucuse. We chose to use Chicken and eggs from soul Soul Food Farm in Vacaville, which we think are the best birds in the country. I am thrilled that my friend David Kinch from Manresa restaurant in Los Gatos agreed to cook tonight's dinner with me. I think that his cuisine is incredibly exciting. For those who haven't eaten at his restaurant (which you should), I am pleased to introduced his cooking to you.

Thanks for coming in - we hope that you have a great time!

Warmly,

Daniel and the staff at Coi

Daniel Patterson and Bill Corbett, Coi

Firethorn Soda

Birds eat it - get drunk - fall off the bush - get eaten by the cat. In that respect the berries are very fatal. The Center for Poisen Control says the berries are "mildly" toxic and cause gastric upset in some people. So - unless you are a cat looking for a bird that has eaten too much - or unless you are a Texas Aggie with a taste for adventure - its probably best to avoid eating the berries.

I guess we were adventurous as long as the Center for Poisen Control says OK.

Mandarin Sour

Satsuma ice, kumquat, angostura bitters

The kumquat gave Satsuma ice a kick. Unfortunately, we only had one bite each.

an elemental oyster

Nice oyster with kombu 昆布 dashi yields sea water flavor. So Zen !

Shellfish with radish and apple

a seawater of unripe tomato

Very traditional Japanese cooking. Simple and elegant.

Home made butter and whole wheat bread

Beet and goat cheese tart, broken, inverted

rye , dill

I loved beet salad and goat cheese at Baume and Ubuntu. I made Ubuntu's beet salad with Greek yogurt all the time. Patterson's broken beet salad is delicate, interesting, creative, and with improved flavor.

steelhead trout with onion and marrow "tears"

chervil cream