The Distinguished Gourmand: Odys + Penelope

Smoked Lamb Lettuce Cups, Green Hummus, Pickled Onions, Yogurt, Mint. I could have done with a touch more lamb but it is hard to find fault in this starter. Although inherently opposed to “finger foods” (as all germaphobes are!) I have to say, I love things that are in cup form. Those Gingergrass shrimp lettuce cups? Divine. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? I’d die without them. The lamb lettuce cups were a beautiful melange of smoky, tender lamb with briny onions, tangy yogurt and the touch of mint played really well together. And that one sentence included pretty much every descriptive word in my vocabulary to describe flavors. Assume the next 20 photos are just going to say “yummy” and “good” and focus on the pictures. K Thanks.

Spicy Tuna “Tacos”, Harissa Aioli, Avocado, Lentil Shell, Pickled Vegetable Salad, Cilantro. This was one of the better starters in my opinion. The lentil shell was a little too fragile to support the heft of the innards and fell apart easily. I was one of the two (I think?) people who appreciated the pickled vegetable salad on the side. Drinks were flowing fast and furious around this time (I was finishing up my first glass of wine) and when a bunch of small plates arrived at once there was a rush to ensure everyone got a taste of everything. So there wasn’t much conversation about what we were eating. There was plenty of conversation about celebrity dick, Snapchat, and the overwhelming size of the table, which rendered casual conversation nearly impossible. Thankfully we were in the back corner, so our progressively loud (and drunk) conversation couldn’t disrupt too many other tables.

Warm Cheese Puffs, Smoked Tomato Romesco. A nice little bite at the outset, the smoked tomato romesco could have been a touch smokier, which would have countered the cheesiness of the puff better. How do you review a cheese puff, anyway? It was airy? Properly cheesy? Perfect temperature? It’s a cheese puff. There’s a reason it’s the first item on the menu. Most people overlook the first item on the menu. These come four to an order, so we had to get two to ensure everyone could consume their own puff. This became a common theme at O+P. Lots of the smaller plates came two or four to an order, and we were eight people, so we had to order multiples of each dish to ensure everyone got a taste.

Fried Wild Mushrooms, Persian Garlic Sauce. I heard these described as a vegetarian-friendly calamari by someone at the table. Sure!

Grilled Bread Crostini, Creamy Dungeness Crab, Avocado, Fennel, Fresno Chili. This was one of the best bites of the meal for me. A fantastic, buttery crostini with delightfully rich crab meat, made even creamier by the addition of avocado and just a touch of heat from the chili. I could have eaten all four of these by myself. And look at the size of ’em. If you like bread-y, spread-y plates this is the one for you. At this point Erin announced very loudly that she doesn’t eat seafood. Due to the size of the table and inability to hear people who weren’t shouting their faces off, this led to at least three people asking her how she grew up on Cape Cod not eating ANY seafood. She didn’t seem pleased having to answer the same question three times. And since I don’t remember what her answer was (I’d moved on to my second drink at this time, a bourbon cocktail with blackberries I think?) I’ll have to ask her again the next time I see her.

House Made Pappardelle, Pork Belly Bolognese, Fried Sage. This was a favorite for all in attendance. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the bolognese porky and smoky, and the sage was a nice contrasting touch. By this time we were contemplating bottles of wine because everyone was drinking at a ridiculous pace that was completely individual in that pretty much every time a server came by they were carrying someone else’s drink, but never really two drinks at the same time. The conversation was growing much louder and more raucous. There was an intense debate about #Gumgate from our meal at Otium. Photographic evidence was dissected. There was some shouting. There was some emotion. Eventually, there was an apology. Then I showed Nate and Kelie the newest face-switching Snapchat filter.

Slow Grilled Tri-Tip, Charred Broccoli, O+P Béarnaise. Although I tried to steer us towards the skirt steak, our waiter told us the Tri-Tip was one of the best and most popular items on the menu. I don’t really remember it, though by the look of it it was cooked perfectly. I made sure to sneak some broccoli onto my plate because I liked the look of the char. By now everyone was pretty buzzed and we were discussing porn and cancer. It was around this time I started to notice the nearby tables were starting to empty. Oh well. Dinner Club gon’ dinner club!

Kennebec Fries, Za’atar, Yogurt aioli. Also pictured: Grilled Snap Peas And Tendrils, Chimichurri. The peas were gone by the time I got around to them. I think I got two peas. The fries were crisp with a nice amount of herbs. I thought the aioli provided an intriguing creamy element, but it was a little lacking in flavor. There’s my bourbon drink in the background. Did I have one or two of those? Mark had the spicy cocktail with jalapeno which tasted really good as well. There was a lot of drink sharing going on tonight since we were all on different pages with our alcohol intake. Speaking of which, the face-switching Snapchat filter started picking up momentum around this time. Everyone wanted to live out their John Travolta/Nic Cage childhood dreams. Like Erin and I, for example:

Creamy Cauliflower + Millet, Walnut Pesto. Louise thought the cauliflower flew under the radar, and was one of the best dishes of the evening. I was too busy eying the nightly special (see: next photo) to pay too close attention to it. I did take seconds though, so that must have meant I enjoyed it. Either that or I was making up for the fact that I didn’t get any peas so I wanted someone else to get screwed out of the cauliflower.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thigh, Lemon Date Sauce. This could have been the star of the meal, although two of the four nightly specials were sold out by the time we arrived at the restaurant. The smoked short ribs and the pork ribs were both gone, so we went with this and we were not disappointed. I’ve always been a thigh man, so I couldn’t have asked for a juicer, more delectable section of bird. The bacon and the chutney were almost too much, as some of the birds savory charm was lost in the sweetness of the date sauce. Still pretty good, tho. Also Kelie snuck me an extra bite. I don’t know who she stole it from, and I don’t care.

Around this time a couple diners decided to take a pre-desert smoke break. During the lull in service/conversation, I Face/Off’d Mark and David.

Warm Brown butter Crostata, Strawberry-Rhubarb, Lemon Gelato. I’m glad I photographed dessert when I did, because we decided to go around the table and say what we were thankful for before touching the food. By the time everyone had spoken, everything had melted and it looked a mess. Tasted delicious, though! All of it!

Yeah, I don’t remember what exactly this was, but the candied lemon was soooooo good. Have I ever mentioned how I’m not a big dessert person? I almost never order dessert at at restaurant, unless it’s with dinner club. And even then I keep quiet and let others choose what they want. In other words, I was too busy Snapchatting to pay attention to what I was eating. What am I, a 25-year-old? Ugh. Anyway, this was some kind of cake, another gelato-ish thing, and creamy stuff. Candied lemon. Fuckin’ candied lemon. So good.

Honey-Vanilla Budino, Caramel Pine Nut Shortbread. Kelie and I stole the shortbread cookies because we were the two Taurean birthday celebrators (am I using that word correctly?) so hopefully no one noticed they were missing a crucial element to this dish.

The funniest part of dessert service – nay, the funniest part of the entire meal – was when I decided to pretend I was a sophisticate who drinks port wine with dessert. Never having consumed port wine before, I professed that it was the perfect accompaniment for literally everything we had ordered. I don’t know why I chose that moment to lie about enjoying something I’d never even tasted before, but it convinced David, Mark and maybe Amanda to go along with me for the port wine ride. It wasn’t terrible – although a touch too sweet for me – but I played it off as being delicious. Of course it was delicious. It’s port wine. It goes with everything. What, you didn’t like it? Oh, it must be your unrefined palate. I’m a distinguished gourmand. I drink port wine ALL THE TIME. Deal with it. That said, I think we’re a pretty good looking dinner club, no?