Foodbuzz 24x24: The Art Walk presented by Cloak & Dinner

As many of you know (mostly because of my constant barrage of tweets, emails & facebook posts) I have an underground supper club entitled Cloak & Dinner. Our mission is to constantly push the boundaries of cuisine & cocktails by incorporating a variety of eccentric inspirations in our intimate dinner party setting. With my good friend Sean Brogan to co-chef (and write all our witty invites) and my wonderful boyfriend Isaac Zucca shaking things up at the bar, we hope to warp expectations & redefine what one can expect from 3 amateur foodies.

Loving to share our crazy attempts and interpretations of food, it's always awesome when one of our dinners coincide with Foodbuzz's 24x24 challenge, (and of course even more awesome when we get accepted!) Every month Foodbuzz chooses 24 food bloggers was 24 different areas of the world to all host a party on the same day and then blog about it. Having participated in the 24x24 event last year with A Day in the Life, I knew what this was all about and am coming to the table even more prepared this time.

From ashen scrawls on the walls of Cro-Magnon caves to vibrant vistas rendered on canvas in glowing realism, humanity's artistic prowess has cemented our status as elevated lifeforms and established a language that every subsequent generation will understand. Tonight we praise a handful of the masters, the artists who reflect their small slice of history with dedication, passion, and bravado. With each course you'll take another step through a gallery that spans our favorite epochs of creative history, seeing the world at once through an artist's eyes and a chef's palette. It's often stated that every great meal is truly a work of art. Allow us to finally remove all doubt.

The table was set... up as a Piet Mondrian of course!  Hey if we're going to do an art walk, we're going to do it all the way.  One question we get asked a lot is "which came first, the food or the concept?" Unfortunately there isn't an easy answer, it's very chicken or the egg, but with this dinner I can most certainly pinpoint it's origin.  For Christmas my amazing boyfriend invested in a lovely little cook anthology entitled "Modernist Cuisine" & after flipping through page after page of gorgeous inspiration, I knew that Cloak & Dinner was going to come back from our little break with something artfully magnanimous.

What it was hadn't quite come to me yet.  Then one early evening, sipping Chardonnay at BLT's happy hour, reading "Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli," and imagining the exquisite dishes presented in the chapters, a warm fuzzy feeling took hold and I pictured a warm consommé as a perfect canvas to create something spectacular.  The ocean perhaps?  No, it was a little too small.  A pond?  A pond covered in lily pads & flowers?  Monet's water lilies?

I immediately began texting my co-chef ideas & his first response was LOVE. A whole dinner inspired by art, how... well let's be honest it's a little pretentious, but it was also a ton of fun!  Out of that moment our next meal began to take shape, and I'm so honored to share it with you all as well!

Abstract Italian inspired by Jackson Pollock

tomato, basil, balsamic, burrata, garlic, onion, bread

Monet's Water Lily Oxtail Consomme

oxtail consomme, spinach, flower croutons

Mark Rothko Multiform Tartar

spicy ahi tuna tartar deconstructed

Picasso's Cubist Porcine Heaven

rosemary pork tenderloin, honey pork belly, mirepoix of fruits & veggies

A Gargouillou Study in Edible Glass inspired by Chihuly

broken glass jello, pretzel crumble, lavender ice cream, lemon curd raspberries, fruits

And of course, who can forget the cocktails...

War & Beets - Leo Tolstoy

Beet, Lime, Brown Sugar, Ginger, Tequila

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

Mint, Cinnamon, Lime, Blackberry, Rum

The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler

Bourbon, Lemon, Maple Syrup, Jalapeno, Luxardo, Angostura & Orange Bitters

Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

Gin, Irish Whiskey, Orange, Lime, Cayenne, Nutmeg, Chocolate Bitters