Ended up at the Nomad tonight with a few friends. All in all a good meal, though it was by no means sensational. As always, the space and service was fantastic.
We started with radishes in dipped in butter. For the little snack that they were, they were superb. Very fresh radishes in a visible coat of butter, think like chocolate on a chocolate-covered strawberry. It ended up being a real cool mix between buttery goodness and the earthiness of the radish.
There was also a strawberry salad with hazelnuts, cucumber, and basil. This was nice, though the cucumbers did very little for this dish. The strawberries were so damn sweet that I woulda been content with just a bowl of those.
A ramp tarte with manchego and Calabrian sausage may have been the highlight of the night. Think a very thin crust, more like a flatbread than a typical tarte with a wonderful mix of the sweet ramps, the spicy/barnyard funk of the sausage, and shaved manchego.
We also did the carrot entree, which was basically carrots prepared two ways, with pistachio, nasturtium, and ginger. There were a few shavings of raw carrot, almost made to look like decorative flowers. Then there were some grilled and gloriously buttery ( a theme of the night) carrots that were spot on.
The waiter said the suckling pig was the best thing on the menu, so we ordered three of those, because we’d done the chicken earlier in the year and nothing else was really jumping out at us. It was suckling pig with smoked strawberries, spring greens, and onion. The strawberries were the highlight of the dish, the smoke was a wonderful contrast to the the almost jam-like sweetness. The crispy skin of the pig was perfect, but unfortunately the meat was a little dry, and given the fact there was no accompanying sauce, it ended up being rather mediocre.
Had the milk and honey and the rhubarb cobbler for dessert. Both were excellent.