When we first contemplated New York (the reason we went is in the next post, I promise!) we thought about flying. Then we thought about what a pain flying is. And then we thought about taking the train (awesome! we love trains!) until we realized it turned a 6.5 hour trip into a 14 hour one. So we took the obvious and fun choice – a road trip! In november, when the leaves are still golden and the sun is still shining until *ahem* 5:30 (we smartly escaped before the time change, but returned in the dark).

Since we were going to drive, and since all I did all summer was read through my virtual ipad-high stack of culinary biographies and other funny food stories, the first thing that came to mind was not ‘ooh…Holland Tunnel!’ or ‘fall leaves. pretty!’, it was more like “We MUST. GO. TO. THE. CIA.”

And so we did.

For those who don’t read stacks of food books, the CIA is not, in fact, the american intelligence agency. It’s better!

It’s the Culinary Institute of America! And it’s also my new favourite place.

We decided to fit it in our return trip home so that we could (A) avoid disgusting highway food and (B) take our time and not worry about how late we were getting to New York. And it was a perfect plan.

On Monday morning, we woke up in our Park Avenue hotel, grabbed a coffee, spent some time at Kinokuniya perusing japanese craft books and hit the road. Two and a half hours (and some ridiculous Monday morning New Jersey turnpike traffic) later, we took a quick left off the highway onto Chive Street (we also exited on Parsley Lane, cue foodie eyeroll here).

First impressions are everything, and this one definitely left me wanting more time (and $160,000 for tuition for their 8-semester degree program). Breathtaking views of the Hudson, spotless gleaming hallways in gorgeous buildings, chef’s jackets everywhere, and even the café looked out over an adorable little courtyard complete with a working fountain.

The campus is really lovely, but that’s actually not why we detoured here. It was (no shocker) the food that was our real motivation. I had heard great things about the Apple Pie Bakery Café, the one spot on campus that’s nearly always open and doesn’t require a reservation. It’s also more casual fare, and perfect fuel for the remaining 5 hours of our drive back to Montreal.

We perused the menu and ordered a few small plates so we could get maximum tasting opportunities. First up? Truffled grilled cheese, served with freshly made kale chips and a truffle aioli. It put every grilled cheese I’ve ever made to shame. Deep, deep shame. And those Kale chips? If we hadn’t ordered this, I would have paid any sum of money to take a bag on the road with us (and I’d like some right now, too).

Since we were very hungry when we ordered we paired this dish with a bulghur salad (sorry! so good I forgot the photo!) and a truffled pint of freshly cut fries, sprinkled with parmesan and sea salt. I should state for the record that we couldn’t finish ANY of these orders (but almost!), and I refused to leave a single kale chip behind.

We followed our moderately gluttonous meal with the quick purchase of some macarons and other treats for later, and some desperate wishes for a carb-induced nap. After a quick wander around campus and a stop into the campus bookstore, we had to hit the road. I had a hard time leaving and I’m already plotting my way back. Who’s up for a 5-day pastry bootcamp?

IMG_1925, originally uploaded by mintyfresh.

This all started off very innocently. A simple tweet, about a simple dinner, that somehow turned into four and a half hours, fifteen courses, and what may amount to a most fascinating dinner that I was completely unprepared for.

The short of it: I crossed something off my life list (hello, #47).

The long of it:

I’ve been loving this book that a friend got me for my birthday – Ideas In Food. It resonates with how I think about food, for the most part, and it’s really interesting from a food science, how-things-work sense.

I also love Atelier. I’ve been twice and still swear up and down that both of those experience were some of the best dining experience I’ve had (and may ever have, they were so fantastic).

So when the two combined (as in, the authors of Ideas In Food were going to cook a 6 course meal at Atelier), I was all over it. A perfect excuse to come to town and to round up some of my favourite people.

At the last minute, it became a 12-course meal. And the start time got pushed up to a moderately-insane 9:15pm.

And then we arrived.

The great thing about Atelier is that they never show you the menu – it’s always a surprise, and usually it’s delightful. Having had meals there before, I had an idea of how crazy a meat-inclusive menu might be, and not wanting to change the experience (and being fairly willing to eat the meat inclusive meals of the past), I didn’t opt for a veggie version. But this time around the menu was on the table. And I was instantly scared.

Did you count them all? I did. A mind-blowing fifteen courses (sixteen if you included the popcorn starter). And most of it included offal or other unusual meats. This was most definitely not what I expected, and it was also most definitely not something I could change now. Uh oh.

And so it began.

Meyer Lemon Ice Cream. This was great. A little ashy, but still great. Also, salty (that’s a lot of whitefish roe, that yellow blob). Overall good but not something I’d eat again.

This looks so basic. Deep-fried something (yum!). Sauce (also yum!). Except the deep-fried something’s were chicken hearts. The sauces (a coleslaw puree that would rival any southern style slaw and a tabasco-dandelion honey sauce) were exceptional. Overall I tackled this dish without feeling the least bit queasy AND it actually tasted good.

Crispy duck tongue is astonishingly delicious. Sea urchin is mildly repulsive. But I tried them both.

The soup looks totally innocuous (it was a delicious parsnip puree). But the fried bits? Why, they are sweetbreads (read: braaaaains).

My mostly-vegetarian body loved this dish because it was all veggies, but the sweet potato was sweeeeeeeeet.

This dish was destined to be pretty much everything I didn’t like about food choices in china. Raw egg yolk, congee AND duck gizzards. Yes. But I tried it, too.

I don’t like squid (read: calamari) but I would willingly eat this squid dish over and over and over again. It included a papaya salad and culantro – the vietnamese version of a favourite herb.

When the menu said “Halibut for Two” I totally thought they were kidding. Turns out they were not. This *whole* fish was eye-popping for most of us – at least at our table. There was some gasping when it arrived.

Tripe. With Cabbage. This one was a challenge and went back to the kitchen with most of the tripe still intact.

Beef tongue on smoked oatmal with Dr. Pepper sauce and watercress stems (which seemed like boring green onions, really). I had to talk myself down from imagining baby cows munching away in a field for this one.

Elk loin, sunchoke hazelnut puree, green brier, and pickled milkweed pod. This was actually good, though I have to admit that I only ate around the edges. Pink meat and I do not go together.

La Sauvagine, birch syrup, black garlic powder. All so very delicious. Now I need to hunt this cheese down in Montreal.

Palm sugar ice cream with citrus cells (think frozen pulp bits) and grated shortbread with pop rocks. I loved this dish but it was HUGE and totally pushed me over the edge from full to bursting.

The fifteenth and final course was a tube of chocolate pudding, and sweet cream granita (I swear that is not popcorn). Diners had to break the seal on the tube (cool!) and “created” our own pudding/granita combinations.

And that’s it. Are you exhausted reading this? I was exhausted eating it. But it was one of those experiences that I couldn’t say no to – especially not in the moment. I don’t regret it, but I don’t plan to repeat it again any time soon, either.

Special thanks to Lana, Emilie, Jen and Marnie for braving the menu with me. It would not have been the same without you all!

homemade pesto, originally uploaded by mintyfresh.

It’s been hot here for so long that I’ve forgotten how to cook things that involve heat – using the stove for anything has been an impossibility.

But a break in the heat meant I could spend some time in the kitchen for a change, with burners on, and everything!

Today’s project? Homemade pesto from the field of basil we have growing on the balcony, and fresh fettucine, the perfect use for the Tipo 00 flour I scored the other day.

While the process takes patience, the end result is totally worth it.