2010 Fall Dining Guide By Tom Sietsema Sunday, October 17, 2010 Every dish Clay Miller dreams up includes an "aha!" moment. I thought I knew what mulligatawny soup was until Miller, one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs of 2010, served the traditional hot South Indian soup to me as a cold, creamy elixir whispering of curry and vermouth. The pale yellow puree was poured over a nest of sweet shrimp garnished with a dab of snowy yuzu sorbet and a single sail of golden apple slice, an accent that echoed the pureed fruit hidden in the soup. In another dish, twists of pasta filled with goat cheese were tarted up with brilliant red sticks of pickled rhubarb, a course that crackled with … dehydrated olives? The combination sounds strange, but it did a jig on the tongue. Meanwhile, melting roast pork shoulder sported a bright green powder of crushed bay leaves; a cylinder of pineapple poached in plum juice added yet more pizazz to the plate. Miller's Achilles' heel is the sugar bowl. Branzino with cauliflower cream and raisins suffered from the sweets. Still, there are plenty of incentives to visit this romantic country restaurant. One is Trummer's airy Winter Garden, a dining room wrapped in glass and facing a waterfall. Another requires a sense of timing: Order between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, to take advantage of Miller's three-course "Rush Hour" menu for $38.
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