Despite the blight and the uncooperative weather, tomato season has come to New Jersey, and Restaurant Serenade in Chatham celebrated with their annual Tomato Extravaganza. As a major perk of the job, A. and I scored seats at the press table for the dinner, which was fabulous.
I'd been meaning to try Serenade for a while--their menus sound amazing, and I wasn't disappointed. The five-course meal kicked off with tomato cocktails (we tried the tomato water with, presumably, spicy vodka, which was interesting. What the heck is tomato water, anyway?) and some little bites before progressing to amazingly velvety corn soup, halibut, fried green tomatoes, little bison burgers, and a particularly inventive tomato bread pudding with an outstanding basil ice cream--quite the inventive take on the traditional tomato basil salad.
To my (kitchen nerd) delight, I got to chat with the chef/owner before the dinner, and in doing so I learned a couple of things:
1. The cold, wet weather has played hell with the tomatoes. Apparently, hot, sunny days are needed to get great, sweet, ripe tomatoes. Even the ones that ripened properly have a watery flavor this year. I had no idea.
2. This unfortunate situation required a complete overhaul of the evening's menu. A last-minute overhaul, by the sound of it. Apparently, in years past, the tomatoes have been the star of the show, but this year they were relegated to more of a supporting player role because the flavor wasn't all there. No matter, everything was still delicious, and I loved the gazpacho served in a small, hollowed-out tomato that served as a side for one of the entrees.
As a bonus, the farmer who grows Serenade's tomatoes (and peaches, and...well, almost all their produce, really) was on hand to answer diners' questions in a dessert-time Q&A. I learned more about tomatoes and cutting back peach trees during that 20-minute session than I thought I ever would. Maybe someday I'll put it to good use and manage to keep a plant alive for a change. Well, a girl can dream, can't she?
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